Jackpiner pic on the Home page

[lksseven]

Isn't this picture backward (meaning that the picture with the negative reversed)?

http://www.pentonusa.org/archive/homepage/default_020606.htm

Larry Seale
I choose to ride

[Paul Danik]

Besure to click on the picture to enlarge it.

Kip,
Nice job, I am anxious to the bike in person.
Paul

[rcrump1]

Kip;
Beautiful bike and a great job. Are you planning to add the enduro equipment at some point in time or will it remain an MX'r?
Richard

[rcrump1]

Larry;
No, the picture is not reversed. This bike used a Puch 175 engine so the pipe and drive line are opposite of the Sachs engined Pentons. A picture of an enduro version of this bike was featured on the site a couple of months ago and generated a lot of comments. As I recall the thread, only one or two prototypes of this bike were built in an effort to get KTM to build a 175 engine.
Richard

[rob w]

.enigne HCUP 571 a htiw epyt-otorp notneP 9691 eht fo acilper motsuc ffo-eno s'piK s'tI ,yrraL







Just stunning Kip ((huge applause)), you are the master of your art.
Where will this masterpiece find home ?
I hope to once again absorb and enjoy the fruits of your labor (this machine) at the AMA next month. Thanks
Bob W  

[tomale]

Very Nice Kip, I thought the first jack piner came out in 70' and had a black KTM motor. I guess I do know as much as I knew I didn't know. Or something like that,

Thom Green,Still crazy after all these years!
76' 250 MC5 (orginal owner)
75' GS400 (project bike)
72'sixday (project bike)

[wolfmanonapenton]

Kip" Great fabracation,looks to be a Puch engine!I bet you're bike will really get down to business,better shifting,faster than the sachs!Great job!;)[^]

[Kip Kern]

This project started when I happened onto original dealer literature, purchased from Ebay, several years ago.  With input from Jack Penton, and Dane Leimbach, and a really good jewelers lupa, I was able to construct the entire machine from a single page photo. This B/W photo depicts Jack riding the bike when he was a teen and also provides the production specifications of the machine.  The project took several hundred labor hours to complete as the frame was cut apart several times, fitted then reassembled (not to mention, painted a few times).  Quite a bit of the machine was hand made making production very slow and tedious.

My two cents worth; No way could a "69" Penton frame have withstood the punishment that a 175cc Puch engine would have given it. I might add too, that the original 1969 Jackpiner 175 came in MX trim as with other Pentons of that era sans, no lights.

  I think this first prototype Jackpiner in conjunction with the 1970 Blue/White Jackpiner (125cc Sachs engine, with "Jackpiner" decal on tank) and the R/D of the 175cc experimental Sachs engine (standard Sachs bottom with 175cc top), was the correct amount of leverage applied to get KTM to build what the Penton family had originally requested, a KTM engined 175cc Jackpiner as we know from late 1971, early 1972.

Many thanks to several POG members and nonmembers for their parts/service assistance as if not for these folks, I would not have been able to produce this piece of Penton history.

Next project, hand built Hiro!;)

[Lew Mayer]

In this case, I wouldn't see a problem. Kip has just made a reproduction of a prototype, which I imagine, is no longer in existence. He has recreated a piece of Penton history and given us an opportunity to view something that is no longer availible. I'm sure there won't be many reproductions like this plus it will always be known as a reproduction. It can't devalue another because there are no others like it.
Just my opinion.
Nice job Kip.

Lew Mayer

[Rain Man]

Kevin, just maybe there is more than one guy on this website that loves his penton  so much that he's willing to spend several hundred hours building a Penton and also several thousand dollars to complete it.  
 As far as affecting the market value, or it being a Mongrel, counterfeit or phony, I wouldn't sell my Penton I rebuilt, welded, fabricated, painted, torn the whole thing back down and started all over again. Ever.  
 I dont think Kip would ever sell that bike, cause there isen't a whole bunch of us willing to put in the hundreds of hours and the thousands of dollars... to construct another.

Made in some Americans garage = built in the USA.

 Kip, simply beutiful, wow
 

 


Raymond
 Down East Pentons

[tmc3c]

Beautiful job Kip!!!



Thomas Carmichael


1970 125 Six Day
1976 250 Hare Scrambler

[lksseven]

Hi Kevin,

My opinion: reproductions don't usually hurt the value of the 'real thing'  ... (lots of watches out there that look alike Rolex watches, but Rolex pricing is determined by Rolex Corp's strict and disciplined distribution, plus the product being handmade over many many labor hours by skilled craftsmen (a Daytona Cosmograph takes Rolex a year and a half to make)).  

As we all know here, vintage bikes require a lot of manhours to restore/maintain, so there will always be a recognition and appreciation for the effort and artistry that goes into a finished Penton product.  Penton's are the best example of a magical, classic period of history - they are a work of art, and like the paintings of the Masters, they aren't making new ones anymore.  Collectors always want the real thing, and Pentons - unlike Beany Babies - are the real thing.

I agree with you, though, that it's painful to see a Penton that's been haphazardly bastardized over the years with spare parts from wherever.  But probably most of the Penton community's response to a bike like that is "hey, here's an opportunity to save another one!"

Kip,  I'm glad I was dumb enough to ask the initial question about your bike - I've learned a lot from this thread!   And the bike is gorgeous.  

PS - I have about 100 Beany Babies of my daughter's in the attic if anyone wants to buy some  

Larry Seale
I choose to ride

[Kip Kern]

Larry

Don't feel too bad, I have cases of 12" GI Joe's MIB stored in my garage!  I like the Beany Babies too.

Kevin, I only built the bike to see if I could as I was bored with the regular production of Pentons and decided to make the prototypes.  I like a challenge and the standard bike wasn't presenting that anymore so now, for a next project, I am hand building a Hiro with a NOS engine just to see if I can and also try to experience something that Penton went through when concocting these things.  I did the same when restoring cars and Harley's, the regular stuff was fun but when it got too simple, I switch to the harder more obscure stuff.  The bike is presented as a prototype of a prototype and will always be represented that way as long as I am alive.  This is a fun hobby/group, kinda neat to do the unusual that noone else is doing.  I sorta compare it to a few of the very early bikes in the AMA museum, they aren't in existance anymore but someone took the time and research to copy them for us to see and enjoy!;)

[checkcrew]

Kip, well said !!, i have a 73 Husky CR125 with a Honda MB5 motor in it, i don't think it will be repoped any time soon but when people see it they can't ask enough ?'s about it, your bike is a 10 in my book, can't wait to see the Hiro !!, thanks, Mike G. from NJ.

[TGTech]

As someone who actually saw and rode (very briefly) the original prototype, I'm tickled to death that Kip has built this machine. It was a very notable piece of the Penton/KTM history, because it probably showed Mr. T that it really was time to get their own engines off the ground. Thanks again, Kip.

Dane