Cycle-liner trivia

[BobJones]

I know what you mean about Monday mornings I used to teach & my 1st class was at 7:30 so a lot of times I got home in time to shower & go to school.Back then before VHS & DVD teachers had to check out 16mm films from the county library to show to classes.They used to have several produced by Suzuki when DeCoster was World Champ.I would plan to run those on Mondays after a National or a 2-Day.The kids loved it & it would keep me awake also! Remember this was back in the early 70's when teachers could still teach & dirt biking was still a novelty.

Bob Jones
Show-me state
(2)74 Harescramblers,72 Jackpiner,68/69 6-Day,73 Harescrambler.

[firstturn]

Bob,
  I remember those days.  I used some of the World Championship films (16mm) to show after my Service Updates each year with my Honda Dealers.  I always was fortunite to have a 100% attendance and made some great Friends by showing these films that were very hard to find back then.  I do remember when teachers could teach.  I live in a area of the Country that they still do....they even have the a Texas Ranger come in and teach gun safety.

Ron Carbaugh

[Jerry Chafton]

I remember CCR being played around the bus the night prior to the Stone Mountain National Enduro in Georgia, probably 74'. Danny Young, myself, the Penton Team and the Honda Hut Team were in attendance...Those were the days!

[BobJones]

I found those films on DVD about a year ago & they are still as good as they were back then. I love the way the English announcer pronounces Maico Mico it always cracks me up.I also found some old stuff on Yamaha that was filmed around 73-74.Good stuff

Bob Jones
Show-me state
(2)74 Harescramblers,72 Jackpiner,68/69 6-Day,73 Harescrambler.

[Mick Milakovic]

Bob and Ron, those days still exist in Indiana!  I have a mural in my classroom of Mike Lorocco (Indiana boy) and a picture one of my kids took of me.  I also tell my classes about some of my more memorable crashes and show some home video of our races, too.  You're right, Bob, they eat it up!

Mick

[Gary Roach]

Thanks to Paul Danik for sending me these 2 Cycleliner photos.





Does anyone have a photo of the Hi Point accessory bus before it was modified?

[Gary Roach]

Here's a photo that shows the garage door that was added to the back the Cycleliner.



This is probably what the back looked like before the garage door was added.

[OhioTed]

These van stories bring back some fun memories.  I had a purple-colored '74 Chevy C20 back in the day, with a good ol' 350 V-8 in it.  I installed a plywood floor, then cut a 18" x 36" rectangle out of the wood.  With the back of the rectangle section hinged, and a prop rod underneath, the bikes could be rolled up against it and the van would go from cargo-hauler to bike-hauler in mere moments.

My riding buddy drove a '67 Chevy window van.  We spray-painted the insides of all the side and rear windows with black paint (so they looked tinted), shot the body with bright yellow, and named it "The Screaming Yellow Zonker".  

On the way to and from the races, Terry in the Zonker and me in Big Purple would conduct what we called "The Great American Van Races".  We invented bump-drafting long before those circle-track guys did, and had a lot of fun tapping each other's bumpers.  That is until one dark night on the way home from an event in Pennsylvania.  Terry had just given The Purple a 60 mph nudge, when the engine, lights, power steering, power brakes - everything - went out!

In the sudden blackness, I tried steering my way onto the shoulder.  Without power, my speed dropped dramatically, and Terry (unintentionally) REALLY slammed into me.  Amazingly, I managed to come to a safe stop.  Terry did too, and pulled in behind me.  At first, we couldn't figure out what the heck had happened.  But, with the help of a flashlight, I found that The Purple's main hot wire was routed through a metal tube, between the block and one manifold, and had rusted through, allowing the wire to melt and ground against the hot manifold.  

Ah, but using Yankee/dirt bike ingenuity, a non-grounding stick was located and shoved into place to hold the melted-down wire away from grounding surfaces.  The Purple then fired right up and we back to draftin'.

[Paul Danik]

I have wanted to tell a story about the picture above of the Penton Cycleliner taken at Doe Run Cycle Park for awhile, tonight seems like a good time.  If you bore easily just click away now

    Any time that I was ever around the Penton gang it seemed that the ISDT was always a topic of reference or discussion. In the evenings, while attending Penton dealer school, movies would be shown in the R & D building of the Berkshire events and possibly an earlier ISDT, it didn't take long for ISDT fever to set in. When the event came to the USA in 1973 I decided to try to make the team, I sent in a letter of intent to the AMA as required, and I sent in my entry fee to the first Qualifier at Fort Hood, Texas. I had absolutely no idea how I was ever going to get to Texas, but so much for minor details. One day I decided to call out to Pentons and see if they could possibly haul my bike and I would take a Greyhound bus if needed, the person who answered the phone and heard what I was calling about asked me to hold for Doug Wilford. When Doug got on the phone and I laid out my predicament he simply said, "why don't you just come out and go to Texas and Potosi with us in the Cycleliner? "  You know what my answer was......
   
   Now for the picture, we had run the ISDT Qualifier at Fort Hood, Texas, then we went to Penton Central in Amarillo, Texas and worked on our bikes before heading to the Potosi, Missouri Two Day Qualifier.  I am almost positive that the Doe Run Cycle Park was owned by Dave Mungenast and that it was located pretty close to where the Park Hills ISDTRR rides are held, maybe someone else can confirm or deny these facts.
   
    We were invited to stop at Doe Run and use the facility to finish off any prep work that was needed and to get a little riding in. I am almost positive that Dave was there and that he asked about getting the Cycleliner parked in such a way that the sign could be displayed along with the riders in the picture.  This next part is what meant an awful lot to me, Dave asked for the Team to line up their bikes for the photo, being as I was just a guest for this trip and most certainly not a member of Team Penton, I made my way off to the side as the guys assembled their machines. Dane and Jack saw me move off to the side and called out for me to get my Penton and to get into the picture, I get goose bumps even now writing this as it was such a wonderful thing for them to do, I am sure that many of you can appreciate what I am saying.  Many years after the picture was taken I was visiting with Dave at his Museum in ST. Louis, I saw the picture on display and was amazed to see it, Dave asked if I had a copy of it and I told him that I didn't.  He insisted that I take the original of it, along with the Huskyliner picture with me and get them copied, then just send him back the originals. What a kind gesture.

Back to the Qualifiers.
   
    We rode the Potosi event and I was fortunate enough to pick up a Gold, to go along with the Silver from Fort Hood where I tried to win the award for most stupid crashes in one event.  When we returned to Lorain we unloaded at the R&D building, my Mom had driven out to Lorain to pick up me and my bike.  After loading up the van she instructed me to ask Mr. Penton what we owed him, John was right outside the R&D building at the time. I went over to John and asked him what I owed him for transportation, staying in the hotel rooms and all of the parts that I needed while working on my bike at Amerillo, (that is a story in itself).  I will never forget his words, "Paul Danik, you don't owe me anything, and further more, there is a container of new motorcycles coming into Baltimore in about a week and there is a brand new motorcycle for you in that container".
   
    About a week or so later I received a call from Penton Imports saying that a crate with a new Penton motorcycle was waiting for me
   
     The folks at Penton whom I first made contact with, Jack, Dane, Doug Wilford and John Penton are all great motorcycle riders and racers, but what really sets them apart, is the fact that they are all Great People.

    If you have heard this story before I am sorry to have wasted your time, but I will never tire of telling others just how wonderful the Penton folks always were and still are today. If you attended the 40/10 event this past year you saw many times over just what I am talking about.

Paul

[Larry Perkins]

Paul,

Cool story!  How did the throw it to the wind young guy become the make sure all my ducks are in a row guy I know today?  I guess time and age bring that on.  It has not worked as well on me.[8D]  

Doe Run Park was up by Potosi which is a little ways from Park Hills but in the general direction in the sense of Missouri as a whole.  There is some National Forest up that way and I think it was part of that tract.  I raced a State Mountain Bike Race there some years ago and they were still riding motorcycles there at the time.  Not sure about now.

I rode the Ft. Hood Qualifier one year when I lived in Texas.  I think it was there that Leroy Winters helped me fix my sheared flywheel key on my Six Days.  It was the only time I met him.  How about those tank tracks?  Did you ever meet the Army Team from there?  They used to come up to Austin Motocross Park on Friday Nights occasionally and race Moto.  They were pretty good for off-road guys.  Riders were more versatile then it seems.  Today a lot of off-road riders can not moto and moto guys just bounce off trees.  There are exceptions.  Of course moto has gotten a bit unreal with the jumps and that may be a factor.

Anyway thanks for the story and as always the memories.

Larry P

[rob w]

Reading that Paul, was the most enjoyable time I've had today. Thanks very much for taking the time to tell it.

So, was the new motorcycle you received from Mr. Penton after the qualifiers, the same bike you rode in the ISDT. ? If so, you own that same bike today, correct ?

Thanks
Rob W

[Paul Danik]

Larry,

   I did become friends with the Army Rokon Team members, as a matter of fact I ran into one of the Team Army riders not to long ago.  We have Chicken Wing joints in the area called Quaker Steak and Lube, every Thursday night in the warm months they have bike night. I decided to haul over a Steel Tanker and set it up amongst the Harleys, sportbikes, cruisers and all of the other machines that show up for these events just for the heck of it.  I was unloading the Steel Tanker when a guy came over and right away offered to help me unload, he said he hasn't seen a Penton in long, long time. When I asked him about his riding experience he said that he rode on the Army motorcycle team many years ago. I asked if he rode a Rokon, he said he did, we did self introductions and he turned out to be Joe Dengler, Joe and I had become pretty good friends way back when and hadn't seen each other in over 30 years. Once again, just loading up the Penton and going somewhere, something interesting almost always seems to come of it.
  The Fort Hood event was quite an experience, I have a pretty good story about that event that I will tell some other night.

Rob,
 
   I picked up the new Penton in mid-late April of 1973, a real bonus of picking up the bike in the crate was backing into the loading dock area and getting to meet Jerry Wilhelm (sp), Jerry ran the warehouse area, anytime I had a bike to pick up he was the man I had to visit with and sign his paperwork, it was a real pleasure to get to know him. I remember Jerry pointing up to a rack in a second story area and pointing out all of the exhaust pipes that were still in their original wrapping paper, he said they were all for the OLD model Pentons and were taking up a lot of much needed space, he lamented how he wished he could just get rid of all that OLD STUFF as he needed space for the current items, If I had only known!!!!!


As for the NEW Penton,

 I rode the rest of the ISDT Qualifiers and raced local events on it, plus my normal fun riding on non race weekends and evenings, so by the time the ISDT rolled around the bike had a pretty fair amount of use.  We received new Pentons for the ISDT, I sold that machine off when I received my Six-Day bike,  somewhere in western PA is a CMF 125 with a bunch of paintmarks on it...

Paul

[Gary Roach]

Paul introduced Toni and me to Joe at Mid Ohio one year. I had not even heard about the Army Team, so it was really interesting to see all of the photos that Joe had with him, and to hear some of his stories. Paul and I had talked about this before, there should be a story written about him and the Army Team.

[BobJones]

Larry is right Doe Run was on Highway 8 about 5 miles outside of Flat River(renamed Park Hills today) Potosi was about 10 miles further west of Doe Run. I never rode at Doe Run because my Mom & Dad's house was about a mile from the National forest & we had our own trails we rode & kept secret except for a few other buddies. We went back there about 15 years ago & they had grown up so much we had trouble finding them plus some of the private land now had houses on them. This is such a great thread very much enjoy the stories.My 1st Penton was a 72 125 I bought from Dave Larson(ran Dave Munganast's store). Dave M was there the day I picked it up & I tried to get him to throw in a Belstaff jacket& I think he gave me 10% off.Dave & I became friends after I got into the M/C business.I would tell him that story & we would both have a chuckle on how things had changed.I got a loan for that Penton from the teachers credit union & it was the 1st M/C loan they had ever made.Sorry for the long winded story but the memories just kind of flood back.Thanks

Bob Jones
Show-me state
(2)74 Harescramblers,72 Jackpiner,68/69 6-Day,73 Harescrambler.

[Paul Danik]

OK, it is really cold out, how about a little trivia.......

If you know ALL of the answers, please play nice, please answer one question and maybe give the others a chance, after 24 hours just go for it..

There are two pictures of riders at Doe Run, Penton riders and Husky riders, who can name them?

Which rider went on to ride Rokons and also developed Hot Grips?

Which rider was a really fast BSA racer, I think he may even have had a factory BSA ride for dirt track events?

Three of the riders pictured were part of father and son teams that rode the ISDT in the same year, who are they?

One of the riders rode in ISDT events, he son later was an ISDE rider, who is it?

One of the riders father, picked up the first 10 serial production Pentons from the Cleveland airport and delivered them to the Penton Brothers motorcycle dealership on March 7,1968, who is it, and who is the father?

One of the Husky riders family had a Husky and Penton dealership, another of the Husky riders pictured was a sub dealer for them, who was the dealer and who was the sub dealer?


Paul