Preston Petty Fenders

[Dale Fisher]

An interesting video on the introduction and manufacturing of the new Preston Petty front fender available through our friends at Strickley Hodaka (if you have ever wondered how they do it).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0qHRXqTaSk

Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - President/Memberships
POG Merchandise
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'70 Six-Day 125 - V2017
'72 Mudlark - W257
'73 Jackpiner - 175 21159727
'74 Berkshire 100 - 40171056
'98 HP-14 Hi-Point
And some silly other bikes...

[[email protected]]

Wow thanks Dale for the post!!
Mike and I are having a blast working with Preston on all these new projects.It's exciting , fun and you wear a different hat everyday around here with the Preston Petty Products.

Here is a slightly different updated YouTube video we have just finished.This shows Preston trying to deliberately break one of the new fenders. The "Preston test" consists of freezing the fender to what I am told is -20c. Preston takes this frozen fender and lays on a concrete floor and tries to shatter or break the fender with a hammer. All through this process he instilled one major point to us. He said "quality MUST be #1".
Thanks again Dale
https://youtu.be/Nh9QcbJTP2Q

[MikeMurphy]

Hi Dale,
I really appreciate the post. Couldn't work with two better people
than Paul and Preston.It's great to see all our hard work come to
fruition! It's been a great ride so far!



Michael Murphy
Preston Petty Products
1978 400 MC-5
[email protected]

[Larry Perkins]

Wonder why they did not reproduce the MX Rear Petty fender?

Larry P

[Paul Danik]

To me, the "rebirth" of the Preston Petty Fender and Preston Petty Products is one of the most incredible and heartwarming stories ever.

"Back in the day" while in Oregon for the Trask Mountain and Bad Rock ISDT Qualifiers, we traveled in the Cycleliner to Preston's factory and were treated to a tour of the facility by "the man" himself. I recall Preston beaming with pride as we toured the facility and he explained the process, and told of some of the heartaches he went thru to get his dream product to market.

In watching the video and seeing Preston signing the fenders and discussing the new product, the obvious pride in the product by "the man" is what really stands out to me, and surely is as much a driving force behind this rebirth for Paul and Mike as any hope for worldly rewards.

A few years have passed since that day in Oregon when Preston gave us that tour, but watching "the man" in that video sure has a familiar look to it.

A heartfelt Thank You to Paul and Mike, lots of folks could recreate a product, but you brought The Legend along as well.

Paul

[[email protected]]

Paul thank you!! As a valued trusted friend we have had many discussions over the years.None as gratifying as working with Preston and Mike. Just yesterday a long phone conversation with Preston over what materials we should use for the new taillight lenses.
It looks like our friends at Acerbis in Italy will be making these for us along with the IB Muder front and the IT rear fender.
Acerbis would like to change to a new material that is less "harsh" on the tool as what we were currently using and what Preston used back in the 70's. This new material was not available to Preston back in the day and the cost is less than what we are using.
Preston fired a few questions back such as what are the optical properties of this new material versus the old material?? Material cost is not an issue to Pres but the quality is!
Mike and I are borrowing Preston's name and we do not take this lightly. I had asked Preston twelve years ago when I first started if he would be willing to be a spokesman for the company. I also said to him only if he feels that the product is good enough quality to bear his name. He agreed and the video shows what has taken us twelve years to achieve.It is great fun and enjoyment for both of us to work with him and I believe he likes working with Mike and I also.

Larry to answer your question why we have not yet made the MX rear fender is because of tooling costs.The 3D design work to build the tool is already done and ready to start but we need to sell a lot of the MX Front fenders to help pay for the tooling for the MX rear fender. To do it right is not cheap but it will also be an exact copy of the original once completed. It is next up to produce.
Thanks guys
Paul

[Daniel P. McEntee]

I just started working in the injection molding business this past year and kind of know what I'm looking at tin the video. How hard was it to duplicate the "recipe" for the plastic that Preston Petty originally used? That has to be a big part of the quality issue. And from what I have learned in the business so far, the only way to do the tooling is to do it "right" the first time to get the results that are desired, and that means the toughness and the nice glossy shine in the finished product. Durability is part of the quality issue also in my opinion. There have been plenty of other plastic fenders made for the vint6age market that have been of questionable quality and certainly not durable. I hope it's a long term success for all concerned.
  Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[[email protected]]

Hi Dan,
Cool that you are working in an injection molding facility. There is a lot to learn for sure.The materials that Preston used back in the day were the best available at that time. He purchased them from Shell Chemical.Today's materials have come leaps and bounds do to technology advance's.Our material today is still polypropylene but it is lighter,stronger, more flexible and more UV resistant than materials from the 70's.
The YouTube video shows Preston whacking the frozen fender. He really was trying to break it!That is why we have no worries about continuing the "guaranteed Unbreakable 1 year warranty" like Preston had.
Success is the achievement of your goals and thanks Dan I think we have done just that. Preston is happy and involved. We are remaking Preston Petty Products with Preston, the plant that originally made these with him (Medway)is again making them.We have Franco Acerbis also involved in working with us.Franco started as Preston's distributor in all of Europe. He too has come full circle as Acerbis will be the EU distributor for Preston Petty Products.
Hard work, long hours, great people = long term success  :-)
See you at York Dan

[Rob Thatcher]

Great topic and information.  It is wonderful how far reaching POG is! I enjoy the "how" about making products and bringing back great items

[Daniel P. McEntee]

Hey Paul;
    Funny that you should mention "UV resistant". Have you noticed how plastic fenders that have been out in the sun for who knows how many years has deteriorated around the edges, in addition to getting brittle as a potato chip! When we bought the first ones back in the day, we thought they would stand up to an atom bomb blast! Not just old PP or other fenders, but any kind of plastic left out in the sun,
   How cool that Franco Acerbis is involved also. I think I heard Speedy Clausen tell the story of how Acerbis got into the after market plastic business. And that you are using the original molding company! Any one still at Medway that was there for the original production? That would be neat!
   Type at you later,
   Dan McEntee

[[email protected]]

Speedy heard the truth from Mike Murphy about Franco's involvement. It is really a great story. When I visited Franco and the good folks at Acerbis in Italy a few months ago there were two specific things there related to the Preston Petty connection.
There is an original yellow Preston Petty Muder on the front counter when you enter enter the building. This is autographed by many famous people and is always there.
Also in Franco's office is the original wooden Preston Petty sign from Newburg Oregon. It is 8ft long and 4 ft tall and hangs in Franco's office. Still a huge connection between Preston and Franco.

Larry Ward asked me to speak a little about Preston Petty products tonight on the Two Wheel Power Hour. Thank you Larry! Preston Petty Products my favorite subject.
Paul

[Wardie]

Paul Stannard from Strictly Hodaka will be my guest at 6:20pm tonight on the 2 Wheel Power Hour!

download the iHeart radio app and type in //www.570wkbn.com or if listening on your computer put that address in your browser when the main page comes up click on Listen Live Now on upper right hand corner. We always podcast everything so anyone missing these shows can revisit them at their leisure. Larry Ward

[Larry Perkins]

Larry, ask Paul why they did not remake the MX rear Petty fender.

Larry P

[MikeMurphy]

Larry, we did answer your question earlier.

Larry to answer your question why we have not yet made the MX rear fender is because of tooling costs.The 3D design work to build the tool is already done and ready to start but we need to sell a lot of the MX Front fenders to help pay for the tooling for the MX rear fender. To do it right is not cheap but it will also be an exact copy of the original once completed. It is next up to produce.
Thanks guys
Paul




Michael Murphy
Preston Petty Products
1978 400 MC-5
[email protected]

[t20sl]

Mike:

Just out of curiosity, what ever happened to all the original tooling?

Ted