1975 model year

[metalkfab]

I'm curious to find out how many 125 MX framed Pentons are out there. For the 1975 model year Penton introduced a 125 MX bike that had a different frame than the Enduro model.The MX version had one bolt hole in the swingarm for shock mounting and it had three mount positions in the frame to lay down the shocks for increased travel (very similiar to the 175/250/400 frames of that year).I have a old " Keeping Track " that shows the 1975 line up.If anybody has one of these MX models ,please advise. Thanks

[jj]

I have one of those. It has a 411 serial and Sachs 6D engine. It's mostly complete, but
currently in the early restoration stage.

John J Slivka

[Dennis D]

I gave Mark Annan a picture of a bike like you are describing. He should be back from vacation this weekend and maybe he can scan it and send it to you. Dennis

 

[LINDEMAN]

I have one also.I raced it in that first Penton only moto at mid-ohio,1998 I think.It handles great,I rode it at the Arizona National this year in 125 Sportsman Exp.I don't think very many were sold.The CR-125 era began in 74 and Euro 125 sales tanked!

 

[Larry Perkins]

I had one of those with a D motor and it was sold to Ted Landers who races it.

 

[Randy Kirkbride]

I have a 125 like you described with serial #412. I bought it six years ago and am currently restoring it. It's exactly like the one I raced in 1975.
Randy Kirkbride

[tlanders]

Yes I have one I bought from Larry. I love it. If it only didn't have 9 gears (5 speeds and 4 neutrals). It handles gloriously and has lots of power when it is in gear. Phil Ketchum is campaigning to get AHRMA to allow reed valved 100cc Hodakas run in the 125cc Classic class. I told him to reed valve his bike and bring it to Moberly on Sept 8 for the MOVMX race and we would see if they were comparable. Let's hope I only have 5 or 6 gears that day and that Pentons prevail. Teddy

 

[metalkfab]

Well gentlemen,I count 5 including mine.I thought there maybe only a dozen or so.Ted,if yours has that many neutrals maybe you should talk with Doug W. or at least learn to adjust the tranny.Mine only has 6 gears and 1 neutral and I run it almost every week at the local track,rarely missing a shift.It just takes time to keep adjusted and you must be very positive at shifting.Hell,I run in the CRA sanctioned vintage series and have always come out of turn one in second or third (CRA runs all size vintage bikes together),it sure is fun to give 250's and 400's a run with 125 !

[tlanders]

When I bought it from Larry, he said Doug had come to his shop and set up the transmission. It really doesn't have a million neutrals, it just consistantly finds the neutral between 1st and 2nd. You cannot shift fast from 1st to 2nd, you have to be deliberate, so deliberate that your competition gets by you while shifting. The best technique I have for not letting this happen is to NEVER shift down to 1st, just slip the clutch in 2nd. Sometimes there is a neutral between 2nd and 3rd also. Oh well, c'est la vie. Teddy

 

[metalkfab]

Ted,Being a AHRMA competitor,have you ran your 125 in any Sportsman classes and how do you think the bike faired against the competiton ?

[rob w]

Hi Karl, when you said " I thought there may be only a dozen or so", I am wondering, do you have information as to how many of a certain model were produced? or was that a guess as to how many members might respond? Thanks, Bob.

 

[Larry Perkins]

There were not good records kept on what was made and what was sold.  This has come up before.  

Ted, Doug did the motor at his place and sent it to me actually.  The hot set-up on racing the Sachs was to gear it low enough to do second gear starts and make first a bail out gear.  This dodges the worst potential neutral.  You have ridden the bike a bit now you might be due for a selector key or key and selector rod.  We replaced selector keys every five or six races back in "The Day" but I have always been a bang shifter.  I would always buy that bike back if you ever want to.  

Karl the 125 Sachs powered Penton can not really compete with the Sportsman bikes if l riders are equal.  McDougal recently won in that class at expert level with a very trick one but he was by far the superior rider.  Back in the last year of "The Day" I and the shop I rode for banged our heads against the wall and out on the tracks of Texas trying to beat the Elsinore and what began to come after it.  When you got the bike fast enough it would begin to lose reliability and even when the shifting was spot on with a KOBE shift kit at the wrong moment in the heat of the battle it would blow a shift.  Once the real Japanese race bikes came here the writing was on the wall. I think I won one of the last National races in MX on a Sachs powered machine but it was on a Berkshire in the 100cc Schoolboy class in the GNC in the Astrodome.  In the 100cc class the Japanese still had bikes that were converted trailbikes and it was a year or two away from the RM 100 and the YZ 100.  What came first that took me off that bike were sleeved down E.C. Birt 100cc Elsinores.

 

[metalkfab]

Question for you.According to AHRMA Rule 11.1.4 Classic 125:Eligible machines include Sachs 125/5A or 6A,125/5B or 6B,does this exclude the 125/6D ?

[tlanders]

Karl,

I haven't run it in Sportsman class but I keep going to races where Phast Phil Ketchum's Hodaka dies and I loan him my Six Day so he can ride. He then rides in the sportsman class because that is where the Hodaka was. He hasn't won on it yet, but he was in first place against a 125cc Husky (I think) ridden by Chenowith and about 6 other bikes, but missed a shift just before the end and couldn't make it up. He says the Penton handles better, has great power and has fantastic brakes compared to his bike. Also, the 6D Sachs is legal for 125cc Classic as I read it in the rules.

Larry, what's a KOBE shift kit? Are they the fix for the shifting problems? Are they available or do you know how to make one? Also, what sprocket ratios did you use for the second gear starts? I might go to Chadwick again this weekend, wanna go?

 

[Larry Perkins]

There is another part in the rules that includes all Sachs powered machines as Classic bikes and it would also be included in like design.  There is exclusion on all Classic bikes that show extra-ordinary horsepower.  There are some D bikes and others that have the booster ports added in the back and one of these could be that fast.  That is the way we built them back at the end of "The Day".  I believe the Monark factory bikes were like this and a few of those sleeves are around.  I smell one from where I sit.  This is where reliability goes out the window.  Rings no longer last long and a long straight or too many missed shifts with an internal rotor flywheel and the rod goes Ka Wham.  Even without that I remember passing on a long straight with a smile and then blowing a shift and being repassed with a frown.  

Okay I am going to let the cat out of the bag.  My OPINION is if you want the fastest and most reliable Sachs with the best results and cost is no big deal follow this formula:  

1.Use the LA Sleeve copy of the D GS sleeve.  It has got the widening and raising of exhaust and intake similar to the GS and has lowered transfers like the GS but has extra ring protection by bridging the exhaust port.  
2.Run a Wiseco single ring forged piston.  3.Match the cases to the cylinder.  
4.Change rings on a regular basis.  
5.Stuff the crank holes with cork and epoxy.  
6.Use a PVL internal rotor ignition.
7.Run some type of Snub pipe like the FMF style or better yet a down pipe if you can find it.
8.Learn to or have someone get the shifting as spot on as possible and start out with a new selector rod and key.
9.Replace selector keys on a regular basis.
10.Use a short shifter for less leverage.
11.Gear low enough that first is a bail-out gear and second gear starts are easy.
12.Stick with the Classic class because what you built is short of a great Sportsman bike but is virtually a cheater bike againt the Classic competition.
13.Practice, practice, practice.  In the end it is you and your technique.  I have fallen off many a super-fast bike in my years of racing and none of them went far on their own.

That is my opinion and if anybody has any questions on it give me an e-mail or call and I will try to help.