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

[Paul Danik]

Just talked with Rick, the Penton is running great! Almost 250 miles today with 75% of it dirt. He said it was a long and dusty day and he is covered with red dirt from head to toe.

One bike locked up on the highway yesterday and the rider went down and slid to a stop, unhurt. The bike is now on the trailer with the rider in the tow vehicle.

Rick still had to get his tent set up and he wants to put a clean air filter in yet tonight, that info at 9:10 pm.

He said he is having a blast and that the other riders are all really great folks to be with.

He sure loves riding the Penton and he said if that little Sachs engine makes it all the way he will surely bow down and thank it..


If my numbers are correct, I think he has ridden over a thousand miles already since leaving home. Now that the rings are getting seated he better hang on a little tighter...

He isn't sure if there is wifi where they are camped so maybe no direct comments from Rick tonight. He said he is taking plenty of photos.


Anyhow, Rick's  enthusiasm is still off the meter and he has nothing but praise for the Penton...  He said he missed two shifts today and he hopes to do better tomorrow, not bad for almost 250 miles.

Go Rick Go !!!!!

Paul  

[Paul Danik]

Another day is in the books for Rick and his mighty Penton 125. They are camping on St. George Island, Florida tonight. 1394 miles from when they left home. Rick said he figures they are at the halfway point of their great adventure.

Rick said he is starting to hurt in places that he didn't know he had. The one example he gave is that his big toe is really starting to hurt from all the shifing and he cut a piece of cardboard and stuffed it in his boot to try to cushion his toe. I don't know if I want to hear about the other sore places....

He sent me a picture on my phone of his Penton front wheel to front wheel with his brothers Honda on the beach with the ocean as a backdrop, one cool photo.... I just have a flip phone so I can't upload it.


He said they rode a decent amount of deep sand today and that a few of the bigger bikes did some tank slappers and went down, but the Penton kept chugging along. Seems they were in a big National Forest with lots of sand roads, and some of it was deep.

 Rick gives much credit to the Penton and the Sachs powerplant, but without a doubt Rick has some pretty darn good riding skills combined with a logical mind and a strong will, plus incredable mechanical skills as evidenced when he figured out how to rebalance that Sachs crank to take away much of the inherant vibration, plus he did build his own airplane from scratch

At 7:53 when I talked to him he still needed to get his tent up and he was hoping to get the sand washed off of him.

He said he did an airfilter change today and greased the airbox. I had asked him earlier in the week if he had greased the airbox and he said that he had not but that he had some really good grease with him.
He said when he gets home he is anxious to check the end gap on the rings and see just how much wear there is.

He said that they have to stop a occasionally as folks need to do repairs on their luggage carriers and such. I am sure the others are happy to have Rick and Randy along as they are both pretty darn handy at figuring out how to fix stuff with what they have to work with.

As always, Rick is upbeat and looking forward to the next part of their great adventure. AND, he never stops praising that little Sachs 125cc engine that is powering his Penton along !


Go Rick Go !!!!!

PauL

PS  Just talked with Rick again and he said they are chowing down on fresh caught shrimp cooked on the BBQ....  He said it doesn't get any better than this...

[Admin]

[400gs6]

Thanks for posting these updates Paul, really enjoying following along. Sounds like a blast!

[email protected]

[Paul Danik]

On Thursday evening, May 9th. at 8:41 PM Rick called in to report that all is well with him and his trusty 125cc Penton Sportcycle.

He said they rode about 225 miles today with more sand roads as well as some pavement. He said the area they were riding in was heavily damaged by the hurricane with the tops of many of the trees just snapped off. The local logging companies are working at cutting the remains of the snapped trees off in an attempt to salvage as much timber as possible, but in doing so they are really putting a hurt to the sand roads which is making the riding a lot tougher.


The Penton is leaking a little bit of oil around the shifter / kickstarter area, and the forks are weeping a bit, but the Sachs is just humming along. He is keeping an eye on the transmission fluid level just to be safe which is wise as he said he is running down the highways at 55 - 60 mph in 6th. gear with lots of throttle left.He said the little Sachs just purrs along at those speeds with a bit of a roar coming from the airbox from the turbulence of the air rushing in.

He rode with group 3 today which included the event organizer, Adam, who stays with the rear group acting as a sweep rider. He said guys luggage racks will break sending their gear onto the highway at 55 - 60 mph and they all stop to gather it up and try to get the rider ready to continue.

Adam, the event organizer, originally tried to talk Rick out of riding the Sachs powered Penton in the event saying "those two strokes don't have the power", but Adam is now a convert.... Rick says that the others are starting to realize that bigger isn't better....gee, who does that sound like...  I guess the guy with the 750 Honda is rethinking his machine selection.  He said a few folks are starting to ask "where do you get one of those".


Two more days left till the end of the trail ride then they still need to cover the 700 or so miles back home. Rick is still quite upbeat and even talking about riding more events such as this one on
his Penton. He said he plans on riding his Penton to the next POG meeting, that would be the June meeting.

His trusty Penton has a build date of 404, that would be April of 1974 with the rest of its serial number being 72722. 404-72722.


Go Rick Go !!!!  You too 404-72722.

Paul

[KJDonovan]

Paul,

Thanks so much for posting Rick's progress – I really enjoy bike chronicles like this...even more so when they are about Pentons!   Your post this morning especially piqued my interest when you posted the frame number of Rick's Six Day.  

We all have our own unique quirks....one of mine is an odd unintentional habit of memorizing numbers, dates and things like that.  I can spend a Saturday afternoon cutting the lawn and afterwards tell you the state and license plate number of every vehicle that drove by that day.  Mind you, I couldn't tell you what I had for breakfast yesterday – but somehow manage to squirrel away useless sets of numbers for recall.
 
Anyway, when I read that frame number (404 72722) while having my coffee this morning the first thing I thought is – I know that bike!  I thought about it for a minute and said, yup – that's Ron Corporon's old bike that I resurrected for him 2012 from several boxes of parts and fresh 6B motor (#7663044 – yea I remembered that too) that Kip had built for Ron.

So, I went back through some old pictures and sure enough – one in the same bike.  It sure is a small world and that appears Rick's Penton is even more well-traveled than this event as I recall Ron purchasing from someone in Maine, it making its way to me for build in Rhode Island then back to Ron in Massachusetts and then finally to Rick in Ohio.  

My last memory of this bike was Ron (with an ear to ear grin [^]) doing a shakedown run on it on Saturday April 7th 2012 – the bikes 40th birthday...and it was snowing while we were riding!

Thanks again for posting this – awesome play by play!

Hopefully the links below are accessible - just a couple I snapped while the bike was visiting Rhode Island

https://photos.app.goo.gl/PyESKHJDKrtpv3H48

https://photos.app.goo.gl/aYbFYUcMv3p1qhhy5

https://photos.app.goo.gl/aD4Y4R3XHA3DkHcv5



Kevin J. Donovan
Foster, Rhode Island
72 Jack Piner
72 Six Day
73 Berkshire
74 Hare Scrambler

[hankthecrank]

Wow! Think how smooth that machine must be running if Rick can pick airbox noise out of all the background sounds! Amazing!

Hank Rinehart

[Don Roth]

In the downhill skiing world losing your equipment/luggage is known as a yard sale, things scattered everywhere. Paul thanks for the updates and Rick thanks for carrying the torch.
-don

[Paul Danik]

Text from Rick at 4:20 pm Friday May 10th. "Stopped for pecan pie and ice cream, Penton running great. Almost 2,000 miles in".

Kevin,
   Yes, I do believe that Rick said the Penton came from Maine. I asked Rick for the serial number last night as I like to document machines that have a pedigree or interesting history of any sort, that is why I made note of it in the post. As for the engine that came with that bike, I do believe that it is at rest on a shelf at Rick's shop. Rick started from scratch and built the engine he is running, starting by sourcing correct original NOS bearings, no repops or cross referenced items. He wanted the real things that Sachs used as he felt the quality was then a known factor. We had a discussion about this last night.


   I had provided Rick with the original crank out of my 1973 ISDT Penton which my local dealer and engine builder had balanced to a much higher degree of perfection than Sachs did, it takes much of the vibration out of the engine and reduces many of the issues that come from the excess vibration. Rick duplicated the balance we had achieved on his own crank and that is what he is running. In a moto cross or hare scrambles the vibration is not such an issue, but I found in running National Enduros "back in the day" that when running hi speeds for any extended time on high speed trails, dirt roads or paved highways that the vibration was significiant, that is why we worked to get the engine into a much better state of balance. The difference is increadable especially when Rick is running miles and miles at high speeds and fairly high engine rpms between sections of trail.

John Penton carried one of our balanced cranks in his suitcase back to KTM "back in the day" as he was then and surely still is a firm believer in the benifits of a well balanced engine. That is why he loves the BMW boxer engine, and when I picked him up one day in my Subaru the first thing he asked is if it had the four cylinder engine, which it does. He said if he was going to get a new car that is exactly what he would buy because of that engine and its more natural state of balance.

Paul

[Paul Danik]

At 7:39 PM on Friday the 10th. of May Rick checked in and all is well

 He said they rode 273 miles today with roughly 60% paved and 40% gravel roads, with just a bit of the more nasty rutted type of dirt trail thrown in.

   Tomorrow they will reach their starting point for the run which will now be the end of it. Leaving Rick and Randy with a 700 mile jaunt to get back home, they hope to reach home Tuesday evening.

    We talked about how gravel roads are not always the easiest to navigate and he said the Penton will sort of wander about a bit and he just makes sure it keeps going in the general direction he has in mind. I am sure many of you can relate to that feeling. He said on a few bends at speed in the gravel the bike started to dance towards the outside of the cornor but with proper throttle adjustment it would stop the sideways drift.

     He said the Penton by far is his favorite bike and that he has a barn full of Hondas that just might need to go when he gets home. Rick said he is running Golden Spectro at 50 to 1 and he has nothing but praise for it as he can lug down the Sachs pretty far and then start to accelerate with no bog at all. He also made note of the fact that this Penton had a Mickeyrunie carb on it when he got it and he pitched it and put a Bing on it.

He is guessing they might have about 200 miles to Chattanoga. He sounded a little tired as by all means he should. He commented on how in the morning he hasn't needed to adjust his chain, just oil it up and check over the bike and off he goes. I asked if any bolts are consistantly loose and he said no. Rick is using nylock nuts everywhere and any nut that should not need checked daily has locktite on it. The ones he needs to check, like the motor bolts, have grease on the bolt with never sieze on the threads.

I sent him a text the other night and mentioned it might be good to check the spokes, he did and they were fine.


From where I sit I am comfortable in saying his bike is preped pretty much as well as a Six-Day machine from "back in the day".

Day 6 is coming up, and Rick as Larry Maiers used to say at the end of each MotoWorld show...."Keep your wheels on the ground and your feet on the pegs".

Go Rick Go !!!! You too 404-72722.
Paul

 

[Steve Minor]

Paul..I may have missed it in this thread but (1) do you know the carb set up and (2) what precautions are being taken on those long straight sections to keep the piston from seizing up? Back "in the day" the secret was to apply a little choke. Thanks for all the updates! It feeds my inner "Walter Mitty".

Steve Minor

[Daniel P. McEntee]

quote:Originally posted by Steve Minor

Paul..I may have missed it in this thread but (1) do you know the carb set up and (2) what precautions are being taken on those long straight sections to keep the piston from seizing up? Back "in the day" the secret was to apply a little choke. Thanks for all the updates! It feeds my inner "Walter Mitty".

Steve Minor

   If the main jetting is correct, or maybe just a tad to the rich side, he shouldn't have to crack the choke. With his gearing, he's "cruising" at 2/3 to 3/4 throttle and he says he has throttle to spare at 55 and 60mph. I would be interested in how his plug looks, and if he has changed it at all. That really tells the tale. If he had the throttle pinned all the time, that may be a different story
   I am THOROUGHLY enjoying this thread!! Just shows what a little attention to detail can do for you. Details on how he balanced the crank would be interesting also, once he's back home and rested up. And if he does tear it down to check the ring gap, I'l predict that it won't be out of spec. I hope John Penton is seeing this also. It has to make him proud! Rock and ride on Rick!
   Type at you later,
  Dan McEntee

[Paul Danik]

He did it !

At 7:29 PM Rick called and said he had finished the ride. He had a pretty good get off at speed on a gravel road that knocked the lens out of his headlight and bunged him up a bit, but he said he walked it off, remounted, and was soon back up to speed.

He said he also had a flat rear tire and I am pretty sure he said he changed the tube and was going again in 6 1/2 minutes, and that is with 2 rim locks in the rear wheel. I would say that was pretty darn good.

Tonight he hopes to get his first shower in several days and in the morning will take time to check over the bike and see if he can find a replacement headlight lens.

They hope to make their way back home, some 700 or so miles, over the next couple of days with the intent of being home Tuesday evening.

As always, he was giving great praise to the 125cc Sachs engine and the Penton Sportcycle.

In reply to the questions above.

 Rick said his carb has the choke blocked off so he can't enrichen the mixture in that manner.

  I asked him how tight he set up the piston and he said 2.5 thousands. He knows he could go tighter but he didn't feel he had enough time to break in the engine before the ride to set it up tighter.

I had asked him what main jet he was running, 140.

I also have asked about the plug and Rick said it looked perfect when he checked it.

I do agree that it was critical for him to have the hi speed gearing and not to be pushing the engine to its rpm limits on the open roads.

Paul

[Rick Bennett]

Walking like a pirate as my knee is a bit bloody. I came in to a LH sweeper in third or forth gear, got into a rut and high sided. Took five minutes of wincing before I could restart. Twenty minutes later on a downhill I managed to get a flat rear tire. Picked up a three inch cotter pin right in the middle of the tire. I had taken a 21 inch tube taped behind the headlight and stuffed it in. I guess it was just my turn today.

Anyway...
The vintage 1000 now complete, I will be heading home tomorrow after some maintenance. I have burned up seven headlights and smashed the last one to bits. The last few days all my Penton has needed is oil on the chain. It is hard to believe that this Sachs  motor on this bike stands up to the abuse I have dished out on this trip. It ran the last 40 miles to  Appalachacola at near wide open without letting up. I also miss an average of five shifts a day. It seems to be making more power now than when left over 2100 miles ago. I haven't had any problems keeping up with any of the other bikes. This event covered every kind of road and trail you could think of, mud, sand, rocks, water holes, and freeways.

[Rick Bennett]

The reason the other riders had more problems was twofold. Poor choice of bikes and poor preparation. No oil on air cleaners was a big one. Broken luggage racks was the number one failure. Most of the bikes have never been rebuilt and by the end they were hard to start and smoking. Mine starts first kick, runs when it is soaking wet and has an excellent air box. Credit has to go to John Penton for coming up with this motorcycle. You can truly do any kind of event on a Penton.

 Off to the shower and bandage up my knee...more later.

Rick