early steel tank Penton questions

[BrianTaylor]

Paul I would say the holes were drilled to reduce fin rattle  for sound dampning .. they would feed a rubber tube thru them to dappen the vibration .... Was this bike ever a Six day bike ?... bt

Brian Taylor

[242]

Kip,  Could you E-mail the part number of the Ducati gas cap or what Ducati bike used the cap? I get some parts from Domi Racer so problem getting one.  Dave     [email protected]

[Kip Kern]

I don't have a P/N, only ID'd by picking it up form the shelf.  Not sure if it was for a Monza? or not.  Johnathan may be of help at Domi.

[LeeBuff]

Paul,
 I have a pair of 68 shocks I just rebuilt. I will bring them along to the York meet to measure & photograph only. They are not for sale.

Lee Buffenmyer

[Paul Danik]

Lee,

   Sounds great, I look forward to seeing you at York.

Thanks
Paul

[Lew Mayer]

York's getting closer,Paul.

Lew Mayer

[Paul Danik]

Brain,
 
     Actually this bike has very little time on it from what we can tell.  It appears to have the original tires with the nubs still on them, the paint isn't wore off the tank, the fenders are original with hardly a scratch, the frame bottom isn't scratched, the chain block has very little wear.  Everything that we can think of to see how much it was used indicates a very low time bike.  We actually rolled it into the KTM boardroom last Thursday and all of the assembled experts really gave it a good going over.

     It was neat to take this machine back home to Amherst after it was gone for almost 39 years.  It got me to thinking that maybe we could to have a POG event where we see how many Pentons we can return to their roots,  " Take'm Back To Amherst Day ".  We could parade the bikes down past JP's place and have a line up according to vin #s, maybe even visit the places where the Penton organization operated out of in their day. Just a thought.....

Lew,
   If we are going to have some ice and snow it will be that weekend, it never fails.  Old Alan won't commit to going till he sees the weather for the weekend, he doesn't seem to enjoy rolling over those cental Pennsylvania mountains in an ice storm. That picture of Carl Cranke on the homepage just might look like a guy running his bike around the fairgrounds parking lot if tradition holds true.

Paul

[Lew Mayer]

I don't blame Al a bit. I won't know if Glenn and I will make the Penton Day meeting until that Friday depending on the weather.

Lew Mayer

[Kip Kern]

P/N 02-011783503, Ducati 450 R/T, "68" Gas Cap NOS available from Domi Racer!  CIAO  $27.78

[firstturn]

Paul,
  I own the engine that came out of V001 when it was found by Norm Miller.  I got the engine out and it doesn't have Phillips Head screws as your does, but it doesn't surprise me as Norm said John's engines were always being rebuilt and checked for the next big Enduro.  To date I haven't found any serial numbers on two of the early swing arms (less than V100)that I have, but one of them (V050) was powdercoated.  I will keep checking.

Ron Carbaugh

[Paul Danik]

Thanks Ron,

     Maybe we will never know the answers, but the fun is in the digging. The mag cover and clutch cover screws are the normal slotted ones, its only the main case screws that are phillips head.  Doug mentioned that someone at the Penton Honda shop had checked to see if the Honda phillips head screws would fit the Sachs engine cases at one time, maybe this is the engine that they put the Honda screws in. It appears that they possibly had this bike out of the crate to weld the forks stops on so maybe they did a bit of experimenting.

   The swingarm numbers are not stamped near as deep as the main V number so it is harder to see, it just must have been used as a way to match the swingarm to the frame that it was made to fit.

    Keep digging:D

Paul



     

[firstturn]

Paul,
  Yes I think in early production, even at Honda, companies are careful to try and get things as good as they can so that the first bikes out make a good showing.  I agree this is the fun part of looking at the early pentons.

Ron Carbaugh

[Admin]

Ron,
Just read your message.  Sounds like you might have a few early steel tankers.  Maybe you could fill out a questionnaire or two for me???

http://www.pentonusa.org/steeltank/steeltank1.asp

Thanks,
Bill

[firstturn]

Bill,
  I sold all of my early number steeltankers before I went in the hospital in 2002.  You have surveys on all the ones I owned.  I have some different parts still of those bikes.  I have done all my bikes and help a few others get their surveys done.  Thanks for asking.

Ron Carbaugh

[ABORN]

Paul and all---On the shock subject, we could have Bill Smith take some pictures of my #003 Saturday at the museum, as it has the correct rear shocks on it  Al