Hemmings Penton Article

[Nick Ghnouly]

If any of you read Hemmings, you may have seen on page 64 in the Sept. '06 issue a great one-page article on Pentons which features a '69 125 steel tanker owned by Kip Kern.  I ripped the article out and have it taped to my monitor at work.  The pictures of the 125 take me back in time to my youth when I lived in St. Louis and, at the age of 13, used to beg my mother to drive me a couple of miles to Dave Mungenast's dealership (on Gravois as I recall) to stare at the Pentons and Huskys. Many a warm summer evening was spent with my nose pressed against the glass of the showroom window drooling over the Pentons.  Great memories!

The Hemmings article mentioned the Penton Owners Group and that's how I came to learn of this site.  I've been lurking for the last couple of weeks and must say that the civility and helpful nature of the folks who post here is really commendable.  I've learned a lot and I'm trying to do some outside reading to learn more about the history, models, etc.  My POG membership application is in the mail, although I'm not a Penton owner and never have been.  I'm hoping to change that in the near future as I'm growing tired of admiring from afar

-Nick

[Mick Milakovic]

Hi Nick, welcome to our group!  WOW, you were up at 1:30 writing this message?  Dedication like that will surely be welcome here!  I've been a member of more than one motorcycle club, and without a doubt the members here have more information and share that information more willingly than all the others.  If you ask an honest question you'll get an honest answer.  Have fun and good luck in your hunt for a Penton, the greatest dirt bike every built! [8D]

[conrad2]

Nick, Welcome aboard. I have been involved with these guys for about a year, trust me you will not find a better and more helpful group of guys when it comes to motorcycles.
The funny part is that we all can relate to drooling over motorcycles whether old or new in fact most of us still do!!
By the way there is a brand new book out about Dave Mungenast and his accomplishments. Much of it  outlines how he got started in the cycle/auto business.
The book is called " Take it to the Limit" The Dave Mungenast Way.
By Ed Youngblood. Published by Motothistory. If you think the Hemmings article  brought back memories, this book should be a "must read' for you.
Also if you want to see a bunch of Pentons being ridden there is a Reunion ride near you in MO on October 28th. Search for ISDT Reunion Ride on this site for more info.
Again welcome and don't be afraid to ask questions, any questions to these guys, they are great.
Conrad Pfeifer
Welcome to the Group


Conrad Pfeifer
1972 Penton Six Days

[[email protected]]

Very cool. I did not know Hemmings wrote anything about motorcycles. Paul Danik was there a few years ago visiting and networking so maybe he had some pull in getting them to write about the Penton brand and POG ?? Seems like it was this time of year when Paul was through Bennington Vermont. Paul were you behind this in your normal quiet way ??[8D]
Paul

[lksseven]

HI Nick,

Welcome.  You've found a great place to hang out.  These are the nicest bunch of guys in the world, and probably the most knowledgeable, too.

There's a "search" button that allows you to search for topics and phrases in the message archives.   A treasure trove of information on every Penton topic is waiting for you there, when you need it.

Larry Seale
I choose to ride

[Nick Ghnouly]

Thanks everyone for the kind welcome.

Conrad, appreciate the head's up on the book by Ed Youngblood which I will hunt down and add to my small but growing collection of info on the marque. I grew up in St. Louis but now live in Orange County, California.  Otherwise I would defintely check out the ISDT Reunion ride on 10/28 which sounds like it will be a great event, particularly with the meet up the evening before at the Mungenast museum.  

-Nick

[Nick Ghnouly]

For those of you (and I'm sure there are many) that didn't see the Hemmings article, I've set forth the text of the article below which was nicely written by Craig Fitzgerald.  Apologies in advance for any typos which are mine and not the author's.  


"BUILT FOR CHAMPIONS

Off-road motocycling in the mid-1960's wasn't the big, flashy, rock-star business it is today.  It was the Wild West, a two-wheeled frontier shaped by men with talent, guts and day jobs selling the products that they rode in competition.  Understanding the Penton 125 requires a bit of history of the man whose name was painted on the fuel tank.

Following his tour in the Merchant Marine and the Navy during the World War II, Amherst, Ohio, native John Penton came home and immediately started racing off-road motorcycles.  His first mount was a used 61-inch Harley-Davidson Knucklehead he bought to compete in the 500-mile Jack Pine Enduro in Lansing, Michigan, in 1948.

Harleys and Indians were Jack Pine mainstays, but following the war, a wave of European motocycles crashed on the American shore and swept past the big V-twins.  BSAs and Triumphs were as light as air compared to their massive American cousins, and Penton watched in frustration as his Harley was bypassed by the Europeans.  The very next year, Penton returned to the Jack Pine riding a BSA B-33.  He immediately went from also-ran to second place.

As successful as he'd been with the British and the Germans, Penton was on a never-ending quest to find a tighter motorcyle.  In his travels with the U.S. Internation Six Day Trials (ISDT) team, Penton had met a young engineer with Austrian manufacturer KTM, then a builder of bicycles, scooters and mopeds.  Penton coughed up $6,000 of his own money in order to convince a skeptical KTM that he was serious about building competitive off-road motorcycles, and sealed the deal with nothing more than a handshake.

The bikes would be built to Penton's own specification.  Six 100cc prototypes arrived in early 1968.  Penton rode one himself and put other top riders on the other five.  Immediately, demand for Penton's machines took off, and by year's end, 400 Pentons were on their way to new homes.

Penton 125s were landmark off-road motorcycles that changed the way these enduros were ridden.  They were an assemblage of the best parts in the world.  Big 35mm Ceriani forks and shocks, Magura adjustable levers, Sach's trademark radial-finned, aluminum engines, Bosch ignition, Bing carburetors.  Whatever was considered the best in the world was standard equipment on a Penton.  They were also designed with miles of ground clearance, allowing the bikes to leap over obstructions that had the competitors high-centered and foundering.

Penton went on importing bikes for ten years, as KTM went from a double-digit employer to one with hundreds of workers at its factory.  Penton's handshake deal with KTM started to dissolve by 1978, as KTM realized it could sell its own bikes in the U.S. without the Penton name on the tank.  KTM bought Penton out, but still runs its U.S. headquarters from Amherst, Ohio, to this day.  John Penton is still alive and well, and enthusiastically involved in the preservation of these motocycles today.

The 1969 version of Penton's 125 shown here belongs to Kip Kern of Van Buren, Indiana.  He had the bike on loan to the Motorcycle Hall of Fame Musueum in Pickerington, Ohio.  Kern restored the 125, bumping the displacement to 152cc with a top-end kit.

Pentons are still actively traded, with steel-tank bikes like this one bringing the most money.  Still, it's relatively easy to find a nice, well-restored 1970s Penton in the $3,000 range.  For more information, visit the Penton Owners Group Web site at //www.pentonusa.org., which features an excellent rundown of individual models and year-to-year changes."

[firstturn]

Nick,
  Welcome to the Penton Owner's Group site.  If you go up to the search topic on the top of the page and click on it, then put Hemmings in the search box you will see the other comments on this article.

Ron Carbaugh
Kerrville, Texas

[Nick Ghnouly]

Thanks Ron. Should have known you guys were on top of this!

-Nick

[firstturn]

Nick,
  I was only meaning to point out how to help you navigate around the site....this site is meant for people to have fun and learn.  What if no one had know about the article???  Great to have you aboard and keep the great info coming.[8D]

Ron Carbaugh
Kerrville, Texas

[leoheyman]

hey nick

i think i may know you.  did you play goalie at lindbergh high school?  i probably met you at sperrung middle playing hockey during gym class.  i went to  chaminade h.s. and my buddy was a friend of bwight bouck.  
i too used to drool at the motorcycles at the dealership off of gravios road.  dave mungenast sold my dad a z50 honda  and then later
a 1973 honda xr-75.  i lived over by mentz hill and there was alot of
places to ride back then.
never could afford a penton or husqvarna back then but now i have one of each(77 ktm 250 mc5/78 husqvarna 390 auto). just reliving
my wayward childhood.

leo

leoheyman

[Nick Ghnouly]

Leo, I did go to Sperring Middle School and Lindbergh High School where I was the goalie on the hockey team!  Wow, small, small world!  Never expected to run into anyone here from "back in the day!"  The only guy I know that attended Chaminade was Matt Klosterman.  Not sure if you knew him or not.  I graduated from High School in '78 and Matt may have been a year or two prior to that.  

I used to ride back around Mintz Hill Road so I know the trails you are speaking of.  In fact, the girl I ended up marrying lived at the very end of Mintz Hill Rd.  What a coincidence.  Greg Flier, Paula Heimtz (sp?), the Milligan girls (Lisa, Lori and Tracy) all lived back in there.  Maybe some of these names ring a bell with you.

Like you, I couldn't afford anything other than basic Japanese machinery back then.  I cut my teeth at the age of 12 on a Yamaha Mini Enduro, then a Honda CT70, followed by a Honda SL75, a Kawasaki KDX175 (great bike the first year it came out), etc.  Lusted after the Bultacos, Ossas, Pentons, Huskys, et al., but it just wasn't in the cards back then.  Many congrats on your Husky and mc5. I hope to join the ranks of you Penton owners someday soon.  

Great to hear from you Leo!

-Nick

[leoheyman]

yeah
matt klosterman was in my carpool.  last i seen of him he was looking to get into med school.  he graduated a year ahead of me
in 1977.  i knew a bunch of kids who lived down mentz hill/chinamans
castle too.  we used to be able to ride and shoot .22*s down there
in the hollows but no more...its all built up back there.
   i have a sister in santa monica, brother in west hollywood and another sister in berkeley.  i usually make one roadtrip out to
california in winter on my vacation.  i wind up hauling a dirtbike or
two out west to help defray the gas cost.  lots of vintage pentons
out in socal...
   nice talkin to you. welcome to POG.  you can find a penton here
pretty easy.

leo

leoheyman

[Nick Ghnouly]

Leo, shoot me an e-mail on your next trip to So. Cal.  It's in my POG Profile.  Would love to have lunch or dinner if your schedule permits or, alternatively, maybe we go for a ride.  Again, great hearing from you.


-Nick

[leoheyman]

done

may be out for thanksgiving.  nov 25th in santa monica.  

leo

leoheyman