1974 Penton Sales figures

[desmond197]

I was going through a 1975 Cycle Buyers Guide and ran across a quote from a spokesman from Penton saying" We could have sold 8000 units in 1974 but we could not get them. So that means they must have sold 7500-7900 bikes in 1974. This number coresponds with sales figures for Bultaco 12,500 and Husky 10,000 for 1974. I wonder if the Commerce Dept. has data on the number of motorcycles imported from each manufacturer. How many bikes does KTM sell in a year today?

[Admin]

If you use the frame number list in the Production Year Guide found on this website, you will notice that the lowest 1974 serial number is 401 70375 and the highest for 1974 was 412 80254.  If you subtract the smaller 5 digit serial number from the larger, the end result is 9,879.  I believe this is roughly the total production of KTM/Pentons for the year 74.  This method could also be used to calculate production for any other years as well. So the Cycle Buyers Guide article could be correct if 2000 or so bikes were left in Europe and tagged as KTM's.

As individuals send me their frame and engine numbers, this will make this list more and more accurate over the long term.  If you do have frame or engine numbers, please send them to [email protected].  The list will be updated periodically.

http://www.pentonusa.org/prodyears/default.asp

Bill