The Beginnings

[Tom Penton]

Reference:    

http://www.pentonusa.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=5735
http://www.pentonusa.org/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13340

To refresh what might be my favorite POG posts, "The Beginnings" if you will. In response to a facebook posting yesterday ("Penton Motorcycles" group, Chase White, asking about Hansa), I responded with cousin Dane's quite definitive story:

"President Danik asked me to share my thoughts about when I learned that Uncle John was going to have his own motorcycle. While I don't exactly remember my thoughts, there are memories that may be interesting to everyone.

After a number of years of experimenting with the European two strokes and in one case, a Japanese two stroke, (an RH250 Suzuki much like the RN 250 that is in the AMA Heritage Museum's Motocross America exhibit) and having seen the potential of the small displacement, European two stroke machines used in the ISDT, JP really began to lust for an out of the box, small displacement two stroke racing machine.

He had been bugging Husqvarna to build a 125, but Husky didn't want anything do do with that idea. Around this time, there was a business man living in Cleveland, who was originally from Mattighofen, where KTM was located, and who was importing a 100cc street machine called a Hansa. The name was supposed to be something like Honda, and he thought that people would flock to them, as a method of inexpensive transportation. I don't remember how Mr. Dengel decided to visit Penton Honda, but he brought one of these things out to the Honda store, and tried to get John to start selling them. The only part of the machine that caught JP's attention, was the Sachs engine. He'd seen these engines in many of the bikes at the ISDT, and knew of their potential. In the end, he told Mr. Dengel that he'd see what it was capable of.

After doing some work to make the thing race worthy, Jack was assigned to ride the bike at a competitive event. I don't know if it was a motocross or a hare scramble, but whatever, Jack learned that the bike wasn't up to the task, and he literally broke the bike in half. When Mr. Dengel came back to check out how the machine had made out, he was presented with the "pile of Hansa". He was undeterred, and told JP that since this bike had only been a street bike, he wasn't surprised that the bike wasn't up to the task of racing.

HOWEVER, he assured JP that KTM had built and could build a suitable racing machine and that he'd get KTM to send us one of these machines.
Not too long after this, a crate showed up, with a bike that I like to think was the catalyst in getting JP going on his idea of building a bike like he wanted.

The bike that KTM sent, was one a Sigfried Stuhlberger built, 100cc, 6 speed (Two more gears than most of the racing machines on the market at that time had!) Hansa. And perhaps the most notable thing about the machine, was that it had an exhause on it, that was used in the enduro world, and it was super quiet compared to all of the open expansion chambers of the day. It was so quiet, that when you wanted to start a race on it along side all of the noisy machines, you couldn't hear it! You had to start the race by feel instead of sound.

Well, that machine kicked the tail of everything it came up against in the 100cc class and even most of the 125's that it was raced against. JP was sold, that KTM could make a real racer, and he got to work putting together his list of ideas to put into his machine.

I think this all took place in early 1967, and by December that year, the prototype Penton 125 Six Day was completed.

Being very honest, when all this was taking place, I remember the broken in half Hansa, and the "6 speed", but I was never in on the conversations about the Pentons. I knew that KTM was going to build a bike, but I really didn't know what it was going to be like.

Up until that time, the only race ready machines that I remembered very well, were the Huskys, the CZ's, some Bultacos, a Greeves, and some Moto Beta's. I think in my mind, I thought that the Penton was going to look like the 6 speed, which was a little beaten, but when the prototype showed up, it was the most beautiful race bike I'd ever seen. Well, at least the small displacement version. I still liked the maroon and silver of the Huskys, but since this was a small displacement machine, there was no comparison.

Later on, I learned that the 100cc verson of the bike was going to be a dark red, and of course, because I liked the maroon of the Husky, I decided at that point, that I had to have one of those.

One side note, the 6 speed's frame configuration looked markedly different than the Hansa and the prototype Penton. Keep in mind it has been 38 years since I saw that machine, but I do remember basically what it looked like. You know the picture of the 50cc machine that is on the front page of this Web site this month? Well, that's just about what it looked like. I remember that the "color" of the machine was a non metallic maroon, with a black frame and silver trim.

The prototype Penton Six Day cost Uncle John, $10,000 and a handshake. The first 10 production machines cost $60,000 and that's what got this whole thing off the ground. Keep in mind, that this was 1967. Think about how much money that was at the time?

Dane"


I added my two cents worth:

"I was there at the beginning, Dane was a Junior in High school still "out on the farm", me a 17 year old Senior, with drivers license, was readily available to be recruited by dad or Uncle Ted to drive into the big city of Cleveland to pick up Hansa's at Fritz Dengle's old multi-level warehouse in the flats. I remember the old dark commercial elevetor creeping and screeching along bringing the crates down one at a time to load on Penton Machine Shop's pickup truck.

We ended up getting not just a few Hansa's pickup truck wise, but actually a couple containers worth (hundred or so). Part of the deal dad had with Dengle and Ktm was that to get his dirt bike made by KTM, he had to accept a decent amount of Hansa's to try to unload some how. Dad wasn't satisfied just selling them the way they were (lots of problems) so I was responsible for winching each one out of the crate, doing modifications, and re-crating. A good job for a high school senior: better than going out into the farm fields!"

Then my Cousin Mike (Kovach, dad's older sister Mary's oldest son) chimed in with this gem:

"Neat, Tom, I may have seen this before but don't remember it. I'm pretty sure I never heard of the sixty thousand dollars It cost for that first truck load-but it makes sense. I've never forgotten how mom (and I suppose dad) were so nonplussed when your dad asked them for help raising the first $10,000 (I remember it being eight thousand.) And you know, I don't even know it they loaned him any money or not. Knowing mom, I'm sure she thought it was foolhardy and probably said, "Oh, John's just off on one of his kicks again". "

Thanks, Mike, for the contribution!






Tom Penton

[rob brown]

Tom,

Thanks for sharing. What a cool story, and great pics! One of the many reasons that Penton is the brand:)

Rob

[paul a. busick]

I remember those early days.  I had a couple of Bultacos that were not very reliable and needed a maximum effort to keep them going. after I had my belly full of the Spanish stuff.  I decided to find another band.  At that time I was hanging around the Honda shop when the first Huskys came in. JP and Micky Pohrance were campaigning a pair of 250 Huskys.  These were a couple of the first to come to this country.  They arrived with 15 inch front wheels (as did my 360) and did pretty well on the TT Courses.  Then the Euros started showing up to demonstrate their bikes and show us what MotoCross was all about. A bunch of us boys made a trip to Pepperell, Mass. to watch DeCoster, Joel and their CZs. We were amazed at their riding ability and the CZs they rode. Ralph Haslage sold me the first 360 shipped to JP. This bike turned me in to an instant winner. Shortly there after, I broke my left thumb (4 pins and a cast) and was unable to work or ride. So I had nothing but time on my hands and nothing to do.  I put a lot of time hanging about the Honda shop watching all the activity. As I remember Fritz Dingel showed up at the shop with a light weight motorcycle. I stood by watching and wondering what kind of a bike it was and what is was good for.  There was much of the goings on between Fritz and John that I missed.  But the long and the short of it was that the Bike stayed with John. Shortly after that Jackie broke the steering head off the bike. Ted Penton mended the bike. John with my assistance returned the Hansa (KTM) to the Hansa House in Cleveland.  Much discussing and cussing was traded between Fritz and JP. That was that.  Later on the first of the Penton Brand started showing up at the Honda SHOP. And as they say - the rest is history.  I Hope that memory as served, for that was a long time ago.  Amherst Paul

[Tom Penton]

Thanks, Art, for contributing to the story  ...  enough of us gather  some consistency in our memories there might actually be something resembling "truth" lingering about.

Tom Penton

[Mike Rosso]

Great thread info and memories. Here's my KTM 50 that Fritz imported via Kalman Cseh. This was one of the very, very first bikes and still had the KTM logo instead of the Fritz "HANSA" tank logo. As an added backdrop that's the "End-O-Way" farm again in the background....or right across the road in front of our home. That's 167 km's on the odo but I added a few riding it at the 40th Penton reunion, it goes pretty good and will run away from my 1964 Penton Brothers bought Honda 50 step through in almost the same color scheme.







Mike

[Mike Rosso]

Here's the Honda, NOT Hansa:) 50 that I got from the original owner that bought it in 1964 from "Penton Brothers Honda". He rode it a little and then went off to Vietnam for a couple of tours. Came back, rode it some more and then put it away, of course in the "barn". He remembers a lot about the Penton Brothers and the shop and followed along with the Penton family off-road racing through the years. At one point I remembered seeing the bikes in the John Penton movie and ask Todd for this photo still from the movie to see if it might be a look alike but the seat cover looks different. Still no match for the speed of the 50 KTM that flies like a COMET

(the Honda was pretty rough when we dragged it out of the barn, but after a little care and a few parts from the formerly Penton Honda shop now On the Edge (Dale Barris) it fired right up)








Tom I have copies of several letters in German (that I have translated parts of) between Kalman Cseh and Fritz Dengle on the very first back and forth negotiations regarding the first KTM's that Fritz and your dad were thinking about. It went from 80cc bikes to 100cc bikes and concerns about the strength and reliability with the 80cc versus the better (in Kalman and Mr. Trunkenpoltz's opinion) 100cc power plant. IMO there was a "kismet" that happened and if it wasn't that Kalman knew Fritz from Fritz living in Mattighofen, Fritz moving to Cleveland, Ohio and then Fritz meeting John Penton none of this may have ever happened. One thing for sure John was the biggest and final driving force for the long term success of Penton/KTM as Fritz and Kalman were businessmen and John was the ultimate off-road racer with a much better business sense.....sort of the "build the best and they will come". John once said to me "Mike all this crap about this and that and you and I know we just wanted to build the best bikes for ourselves so we could go out and race and WIN!" We had a good laugh

Mike

[Tom Penton]

Mike, enjoyed your post! What a neat possession, the KTM (Hansa) 50. And having a Honda step-through from the Old Shop! Looking at the Penton Bros. Tag, I'm reminded how I miss the old street addressing for Pentonville neighborhood. Marianne (Jeff's wife) was right to have it pushed to be annexed by Amherst from township, but I wish the addressing didn't have to change! I still remember the old ones.

Re: your letters from Kalman and Fritz, I vaguely remember some 80cc vs 100/125 discussion. Regarding dad's Sachs engine choice, he  wasn't just influenced  by seeing them at ISDT's. In 1966 he became a dealer for Hercules/Sachs and sold a few 73cc Boondockers in the retail store. I remember Topper Moran rode one and thrashed it soundly, but with great fun! I rode one  later 1966 ( a definite step up from the Suzuki Bearcat) through 1967, with some "Giant Killer" success. One of my finest rides was a second overall at the Toledo four hour marathon harescrambles (flat and sandy)  behind a 250 Husky. Also a 125cc class win at Jack Pine.
I remember a concern about our Penton motorcycles to come being of larger displacement: the Boondocker was so light (180lbs advertised) and nimble. Apprehension somewhat justified, a dirty little secret: when I moved "up" to the Steel Tank Penton 125, I really missed the lighter weight of the Boondocker, and felt I took a bit of a step down handling wise. But larger displacement was to be the future, and the sales leader, and so onward and upward we went. I was sad to go from 125cc to 250cc, and seeing that larger displacement was the future. I think dad was too. But, damn, we really got things dialed in on the 250's in the latter 70's, and you would have had to pry my 250cc Carl Cranke cylinder from my cold, dead hands!

A story about the field across from your home, down to the End o' Way sign:
I was maybe 12, Dane 11, Jeff 10 and I was visiting during Summer Vacation. Uncle Paul, of course, wasn't going to let us just goof off all the time: there was work to be done. He had just plowed and disced the field, and there were too many rocks, and plenty of hands to pick them up! At the time there was still a horse on the farm, kept around, to hear Uncle Paul tell it, to please his father, Grandpa Leimbach. I'd ridden behind the horse before during a couple sleigh and hay wagon rides. Grampa suggested that the horse pulling the steel rock sled was just the ticket for that morning. Uncle Paul gave in, and struggled hitching things up, but finally got the horse and sled lined up with us just behind and to the side. Things didn't go so well: the horse had it's own mind about things, and Uncle Paul was constantly admonishing us kids to stay well aside lest the horse bolt and "kill us for sure" by being kicked or run over by the sled. It wasn't long before the tractor was brought from the barn! But now I can tell stories about the horse and buggy days!

An early picture from Leimbach's, three pictures from a "photoshoot" I did:











Tom Penton