On the road with Rick...and his twin brother Randy

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

   Rick Bennett on his 125cc Sachs powered Penton road warrior has put the first 250 miles of his trip in the rear view mirror and reported that the bike is running great. Rick says the Penton will really clip along with the gearing that he is running, a ratio that he says is very close to 14 x 54, his gearing however involves a 15 tooth on the countershaft.

   They are spending the night at an airfield that belongs to one of his crazy flying buddies, near Jamestown, Ohio. Rick says he is busy checking over the bike and making sure the motor mount bolts are snug as well as checking over the rest of the Penton.

    I didn't realize his twin brother Randy was riding with him on a Honda, it is nice that they are doing this together.

     He says the plan is to knock off another 250 miles tomorrow.


Go Rick & Randy GO, and the best of luck...


Paul

[3putt]

That first 250 mile is a nice sign for me, things appear to be working properly.  Weather may be a challenge tomorrow.  Safe and Steady, Rick !!    Nelson McCullough

[Admin]

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

     Day two is over and the guys now have over 500 miles behind them. They rode in a good bit of rain on Thur. and in the picture above they were in Richmond, Kentucky taking a break. Rick said the Penton is running great and they will have a shorter ride on Friday.

    It is interesting to note that Rick's fuel tank is an aluminum one that he painted to try to keep the stock Penton look. Rick hopes to have internet service after Friday's ride and will provide a more complete update on their progress.

Paul

[tooclose racing]

It was great to catch up with Rick at the recent Irish Valley, PA XC round and hear about his pending "trail ride".  Amazing challenge he has put in front of himself and his Penton Six Day.

For those who don't know, the Bennett Brothers are highly respected in another corner of vintage racing/motorcycles/etc.  They know how to make the (125 and 175 SL, XL) Honda four stroke motors go fast, and if desired, very fast.  The small bore four strokes (and their "built" motor variations...) have become very popular in our mid-atlantic/northeast XC scene, particularly in the Vintage race. Dave Kutskel is blindingly fast on a XL175 motor that's been embedded in a CR250 Elsinore frame.  But I digress...

Good luck and Happy Trails (and highways) Rick and Ralph Bennett!!

[Paul Danik]

Text message from Rick at 7;38 a.m. Third day or rain yippie.

Text message from Rick at 7:53 a.m. Ah the smell of two strokes and wet Barbour in the morning. Boots still wet, tent wet.

Text at 10;40. Stopped for breakfast and the sun is out !

Paul

[Richard Colahan]

Brad Close[8D]....that's Rick and RANDY Bennett!
And I'm pretty sure Kutskel's Frankenbike has a Bennett built SL125 engine...they are not fans of the XL175 motor...

quote:Originally posted by tooclose racing

It was great to catch up with Rick at the recent Irish Valley, PA XC round and here about his pending "trail ride".  Amazing challenge he has put in front of himself and his Penton Six Day.

For those who don't know, the Bennett Brothers are highly respected in another corner of vintage racing/motorcycles/etc.  They know how to make the (125 and 175 SL, XL) Honda four stroke motors go fast, and if desired, very fast.  The small bore four strokes (and their "built" motor variations...) have become very popular in our mid-atlantic/northeast XC scene, particularly in the Vintage race. Dave Kutskel is blindingly fast on a XL175 motor that's been embedded in a CR250 Elsinore frame.  But I digress...

Good luck and Happy Trails (and highways) Rick and Ralph Bennett!!

Richard Colahan
1969 V1225
Upper Black Eddy PA

[tooclose racing]

Thank you, Rich...senior moment.

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

    This link will take you to the website of the folks putting on the run.

http://speeddeluxe.com/

     This link will take you to a page that tells a lot of the details of the Vintage 1000 that Rick and Randy are heading out on this morning. Click on this link and scroll down and read the details..pretty neat.   Grab your morning coffee and click on the video.....

http://speeddeluxe.com/sdva/vintage1000/

Paul

[Paul Danik]

"We are off", Rick Bennett text at 8:18am.

Paul

[Paul Danik]

Text from Rick at 9:50 PM Monday May 6th. "Finished no problems dusty bike needs a good look over."

Text from Rick at 11:34 PM Monday May 6th. "Great first day shorter miles, day 2 and 3 will be more dirt and longer, no wifi here".

Paul

[Paul Danik]

Greetings,

   By now I am sure that some of you are wondering "just who the hell is Rick Bennett ?"  Well I can tell you one thing for sure..... we aren't real sure yet either, but maybe this video will help you to understand more about Rick.

   Keep in mind as you watch this video that Rick did not buy the airplane kit they are talking about, no, he just bought a book that told about building your own Nieuport 17 and then proceeded to build one from scratch. And then when it was done, he told his wife he was going to work one day and went and rolled it out of the hanger and taught himself how to fly the darn thing.


     Rick is in this video at the 7:13 mark twisting the prop to start the engine, and then again at the 8:57 mark, at the 8:57 mark he is wearing a Flight Line Staff yellow shirt and keep in mind you surely gotta know your stuff to wear one of those shirts......

https://vimeo.com/32382093

   In closing and in all seriousness, Mr. Rick Bennett is quite a character and the Penton Owners Group is blessed to have him aboard.

  Now grab a coffee and watch that video.

Paul

[Paul Danik]

Text from Rick Bennett on Tuesday May 7th. at 9:42 AM. "Back on the road".

[Paul Danik]

Rob,

   Thanks for the offer to post photos, hopefully more will be forthcoming.

At 1PM I got a call from Rick from their lunch stop in Five Points, Georgia, all is well....    Rick's enthusiasm came thru loud and clear during our conversation.

He said the Penton is running fine and he is having a blast. He mentioned how he rode with a group yesterday who really rode fast and that a few times he reached for another gear only to realize he was in 6th., but he kept right up with the group which he said included a Beemer. He said the other riders are pretty impressed with the performance of the little 125cc Penton........

Today he is with another small group and he said their pace is a little slower. He said that a few guys are having luggage racks cracking / breaking and one guy had his battery come loose and start bouncing around, so stops for repairs are needed from time to time. He said that today he is in 3rd. and 4th. quite a bit. Keep in mind with the gearing he is running he is still carrying the mail when he is turning some decent rpms in 4th. That is not you grandad's MX geared Penton he is riding, Rick refers to it as a road racer with that gearing. Not to digress, but that is the gearing I used when riding National Enduros "back in the day" and how it changes the charactoristics of that machine and its power delivery is simply increadable....


Rick is hoping for some wifi at tonight's campground and if that comes about he will try to post an update on the POG website. He said where they camped last night there wasn't even cell service.


I was at first concerned when the phone rang and Rick's name came up on the screen, but for now all news from Rick is good....

Paul

[454MRW]

Bob you might want to remove the. At the end of your email address. Often people fail to notice that, and with it there they won't go through. It happens a lot on this site. Mike

Michael R. Winter
I enjoy rebuilding and appreciating Pentons!
1974 250 HS Penton
1976 MC5 400
1978 KTM 78 GS6 250
L78-79 MX6 175-250 KTM's
1976-78 125-400 RM's
2007 CR125R Honda
1977 MC250 Maico
2017 KTM Freeride 250R