Nice score!

[wfopete]

Check out the story here on Tom's (I beleive) latest find.

http://ktmtalk.com/showthread.php?530498-125-Penton-Six-Day-shed-find-ressurection

Pete Petrick
175 Jackpiner
Slow but Good

[JCHubbard]

Yep, that was a good story with a great ending!

[Daniel P. McEntee]

I'm not a KTMtalk member, sop can't see the thread. Anyway to copy and paste it here? I love a good story!
  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
   Dan McEntee

[JCHubbard]

quote:Originally posted by Daniel P. McEntee

I'm not a KTMtalk member, sop can't see the thread. Anyway to copy and paste it here? I love a good story!
  HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
   Dan McEntee

Dan, I tried to copy and paste the story here, but it just wouldn't format correctly and did not include the pics.  So, I just asked the KTMtalk member to sign up on POG and share his really great story.  We'll see if this mediation to bridge the old and the new works!;)

[Dale Sonnenschein]

here is the story

 125 Penton Six Day shed find/ressurection
Thought I'd share some pics of a pretty cool 125 Six Day survivor I just picked up.
Last Summer, I had ridden my '76 400 Cross Country to the marina restaurant down the road from our house. While I was eating lunch, a guy pulled up in a boat, saw my 400 and went looking for me. The guy said he bought a 125 Penton brand new in 1972 and hadn't seen another one in decades, He mentioned the bike was bought from Charlie Hildebrand, Cape Ann Cycle, (Penton Hodaka, Norton) in Beverly MA. That was so cool as when I was a kid, I owned a Hodaka and my Mom would drive me to Cape Ann Cycle every Saturday for parts and Golden Spectro.
I then asked him if by chance he still had it and he said yes, it was in his shed but had not been ridden in years. I asked him if he would consider selling and he said he'd like to see it go to someone who will enjoy it again and yes, he'd sell it to me. Well, it took 6 months but we finally connected yesterday. I asked the guy if I could take his picture and he said wait a minute and came back with the NETRA enduro school certificate he earned on that bike 45 years ago!
I've now got it home and on the lift, it's like a time capsule and will be fairly easy to get running again as it's got great compression and strong spark. It's so original I'm not sure what direction to go with it or if I should get the mechanicals squared away and leave it as is. It's got some cool period correct mods such as spare cables in place and lots of tube bands, Preston Petty fenders etc.

After spending a few nights giving it a proper cleaning and going over the fuel system I got it fired up. It's pretty cool how a bike can sit for literally decades and given some attention, clean fuel and a good priming, how they can fire right up. After priming the bing for a few seconds, it started first kick! Very excited to enjoy this bike next spring. It runs well, shifts fine and the clutch works perfectly. (amazed that plates were not stuck) Other than new chain/sprockets and wheel bearings, I think I'm going to enjoy this bike as it is. Love the survivor bikes.

I would just clean it and do any mechanical issues and ride it!!

Here is a link to photobucket. It's only 1 pic. There are quite a few on KTMtalk

http://s817.photobucket.com/user/klflashroadrunner/media/IMG_0410_zpstzgtoxew.jpg.html


75 husky wr250
73 Husky 360 WR/RT
76 Husky WR360
78 husky cr250
82 husky wr430
10 ktm 250xc
02 bmw r1150r

[Daniel P. McEntee]

I would vote for leaving "as is." And maybe getting some good photos to post here on the list. That would be great to see.
   HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
 Dan McEntee

[Dale Fisher]

Kurt also has recently taken on the responsibility of providing Trail Rider Magazine.  There is a bit of a new format and the January issue recently rolled out.  More info on the Penton project and the magazine is on social media.

http://trailrider.com/magazine/?page_id=51

http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/105496-january

Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - President/Memberships
POG Merchandise
Mudlark Registry
Facebook - Penton Owners Group - Administrator
Facebook - Cheney Racing Group - Administrator

[Dale Fisher]

A few photos and text from the Penton Motorcycles FB page (not to be confused with the Penton Owners Group page)...

"Thought I'd share some pics of a pretty cool 125 Six Day survivor I just picked up yesterday.
Last Summer, I had ridden my '76 400 Cross Country to the marina restaurant down the road from our house. While I was eating lunch, a guy pulled up in a boat, saw my 400 and went looking for me. The guy said he bought a 125 Penton brand new in 1972 and hadn't seen another one in decades, He mentioned the bike was bought from Charlie Hildebrand, Cape Ann Cycle, (Penton Hodaka, Norton) in Beverly MA. That was so cool as when I was a kid, I owned a Hodaka and my Mom would drive me to Cape Ann Cycle every Saturday for parts and Golden Spectro.
I then asked him if by chance he still had it and he said yes, it was in his shed but had not been ridden in years. I asked him if he would consider selling and he said he'd like to see it go to someone who will enjoy it again and yes, he'd sell it to me. Well, it took 6 months but we finally connected yesterday. I asked the guy if I could take his picture and he said wait a minute and came back with the NETRA enduro school certificate he earned on that bike 45 years ago!
I've now got it home and on the lift, it's like a time capsule and will be fairly easy to get running again as it's got great compression and strong spark. It's so original I'm not sure what direction to go with it or if I should get the mechanicals squared away and leave it as is. It's got some cool period correct mods such as spare cables in place and lots of tube bands, Preston Petty fenders etc.
Whatta ya think?
Kurt"















Dale Fisher
Penton Owners Group - President/Memberships
POG Merchandise
Mudlark Registry
Facebook - Penton Owners Group - Administrator
Facebook - Cheney Racing Group - Administrator

[Daniel P. McEntee]

AWESOME! That is what I call an elbow grease special. Clean it up and enjoy it! It perfectly shows some of the period enduro enhancements. Back in 2000 I was looking for an early bike to get into vintage riding and ran across a '72 125 Penton in the news paper, and went to look at it the nest day after work. It was in much better shape than this one, and only showed about 350 miles on the odometer. The owner said it was purchased new in '72 from Dave Mungenast's Dirt Bike Headquarters here in St.Louis. He tried his hand at an enduro and that experience left him with a bad taste in his mouth, so he stripped the lights and such off it and decided to try motocross. On the first lap of his first race, he crashed and broke his leg, but did nothing to the bike. It was rolled into his parents climate controlled garage and parked until I was looking at it years later. Hi parents were moving into a retirement home and he needed to sell it. He had all the stuff that he stripped off the bike, and had a Penton banner and some other odds and ends to go with it. I could not meet his asking price but thanked him for his time and moved on. A couple of weeks later I get paged at work that I had a phone call. Phone calls at work usually meant bad news, but I was surprised the hear the seller on the other end of the phone. In meeting him the first time, I only mentioned my first name and that I was on my way home from working a Saturday where I was working at the time. He found the name of the company in the phone book, asked for me by my first name and we managed to connect! He said people were generally trying to low ball him on the price of the bike, but since I was the only one to be honest with him on it he decided to offer me the bike for what I could pay at the time if I could come and get the bike by the next weekend, as he needed to close on his parents house. I scraped together the money and picked the bike up and started to check it out. The tank had been drained already and was clean as a pin. We flushed the gearbox out and put in fresh oil. The tires both had air in them already and pumped them up just a bit. I cleaned out the carb jets and made sure the air cleaner was OK. Then added some fresh fuel, tickled it, choked it and hit the kick starter. It fired  but died on the first kick, but started and ran on the second, just like as mentioned above! I never did ride the bike other than as a pit bike, and my nephew cleaned it up some more and put all the lights and such back on, and I was able to have John Penton autograph the tank at the 2001 ISDT Reunion Ride at Park Hills, MO. Some times, things are just meant to be and I was lucky that the seller remembered my first name and that I was a "big blonde headed guy" when talking to the phone operator and she new who I was and where I was at or this story might never have happened!
   HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
   Dan McEntee

[400gs6]

Hi guys, it's me Kurt. Been quite a while since I've posted here.  Yes, this is the bike I had recently picked up. I've since given it a deep cleaning and tightened up some loose ends. Although I had struggled with keeping the patina, I decided to get rid of the crummy old duct tape all over and shine it up some. The bike runs great and other than needing front wheel bearings and chain/sprockets, it's a nice tight bike. Looking forward to playing with this ride next spring!

Here's a couple cleaned up

[sccasey]

Hey Kurt,

I know this is an old thread, but just had to jump in.  First bike I ever rode (1974) was a 72 Six Days my uncle bought from Charlie Hildebrand at Cape Ann in Beverly. You must have ridden that Hodaka at Cherry Hill -- what about the Ipswich golf course?  Soooo many great memories -- some of the best were just riding in the woods after school.  Have restored a bunch of old bikes over the years (tend to gravitate to '70s bikes -- Bonneville, CB500, Moto Guzzi 850T3, GT550, RD350, T250, DT250, DT360...), and finally picked up a Six Days project a couple of years ago. My kids are pushing me to get it back together this winter...

Best, Steve Casey

[skiracer]

Okay, so tell me what the piece of pipe that is taped to the fork tube is for?

1976 MC 5 Original Owner
1976 Penton 175 XC

[Gordon Brennan]

Cool story!
Pipe on the fork tube looks like just a screwdriver holder.