Brian Kirby , I see you
Posted by john vanlandingham
Wilson von Kessler Infallible Moderator Location: Lookout Mountain, GA Join Date: 02/28/2006 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,127 Rally Car: Colts are in Finland; now '87 325i, '89 325i |
Sean Medcroft Mod Moderator Location: Edmonds, Washington Join Date: 02/12/2009 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,802 Rally Car: Building a Merkur |
Brian Kirby Mod Moderator Location: Newnan, Georgia Join Date: 01/12/2013 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 18 Rally Car: 1981 Husqvarna 430CR |
John Vanlandingham Mega Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Michael Colangelo Elite Moderator Location: California Join Date: 10/21/2009 Posts: 209 Rally Car: Spec Miata |
Haggis Muncher Senior Moderator Location: Haggisland UK Join Date: 01/04/2013 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 409 Rally Car: VWs (for my sins) |
Robert Gobright Super Moderator Location: White Center Seattle Join Date: 04/27/2008 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,292 Rally Car: 91 VW GTI 8V |
John Vanlandingham Mega Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Robert Gobright Super Moderator Location: White Center Seattle Join Date: 04/27/2008 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 1,292 Rally Car: 91 VW GTI 8V |
Brian Kirby Mod Moderator Location: Newnan, Georgia Join Date: 01/12/2013 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 18 Rally Car: 1981 Husqvarna 430CR |
I dont run any decals unless that company is sending me a check or giving me free product. I dont advertise that I paid a company for its product, and I dont drink that shit anyway. 
John Penton is one of the most important people in the history of off road motorcycling. He started racing in 1948 on Harleys, then later BSAs, NSUs and BMWs. At the 1965 ISDT he was riding a single cylinder 250 BMW four stroke, which was a pretty light bike for its time, but was continually being passed by small, light and nimble 125cc two strokes. He decided riders in the US needed a bike like that, but none were available and none of the companies in Europe would import them to the US, so he decided to build them himself. He first approached Husqvarna, they had a 175cc street bike engine that would be perfect, but they were not interested, they thought Americans only wanted big bikes. He then contacted KTM, which at that time was only making bicycles and mopeds, no motorcycles. They were not really interested either, but said if he fronted the cost for the first 500 bikes, they would do it. The chassis was completely designed by John Penton, used off the shelf Sachs 100 and 125 engines and were built in KTMs factory. The bikes, first sold in early '68, were a massive hit, and KTM started working on their own designs. In '72 KTM released their first chassis design and their first in house engine, the 175 Jackpiner. I have a '72 Jackpiner 175 with the earliest known serial number in the US. As the years when by, KTM took more control and at the end of '77 John Penton sold all the rights to KTM. The KTM we know today would not exist if it were not for John Penton. He is also one of the people responsible for bringing the first Euro champs over to the US in '67 and introducing American riders to real motocross. He was the first US distributor for Husqvarna, one of the first Honda motorcycle dealers in the US, and he created the HiPoint brand of accessories which I am sure you have heard of. HiPoint boots, John Penton convinced an Italian snow ski boot company called Alpinestars to make them for him, were the first purpose built off road boots and now Alpinestars is THE boot company in the motorcycling world. His impact and legacy is everywhere, it really is hard to find an aspect of dirt bikes he did not have a hand in somewhere. Plus, to top it all off, he is just a bad ass old dude. Here are some pics of the old dude and me acting like a fan boy: John and his son Jack in front of a '74.5 Penton 250 
Me getting Jack's autograph 
Me getting the old dude to sign my race number bib 
I have mostly European bikes now because I rode Japanese as a kid, none of us could afford a Euro bike when they were new, but we all WANTED Euro bikes. The Euro bikes are a little heavier than the Japanese bikes but they are far more durable. Japanese bikes were designed to last a single season, they went too far in trying to make everything as light as possible at the expense of durability, they were basically disposable, while the cliche of "old world craftsmanship" is true, the Euro bikes were built to last decades. The Euros also didnt redesign their engines every year, so as many as 10 or sometimes 15 years of engines have identical parts and as a result there are piles of NOS parts left for Euro bikes. Since the Japanese redesigned everything every year, the limited amount of parts the made ran out and many parts are no longer available. Also, as JVL can tell you, the Euro companies were not super secret about information and gave regular customers help competing with their bikes, where just like now, everything with the Japanese was like a national security secret. Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/13/2013 02:09PM by Brian Kirby. |
John Vanlandingham Mega Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Haggis Muncher Senior Moderator Location: Haggisland UK Join Date: 01/04/2013 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 409 Rally Car: VWs (for my sins) |
Thank you very much for taking the time taken to explain that to me Brian.
And with your reply I almost feel embarrassed to have asked the question now, but I can honestly say through my years as a teenager of buying bikes and reading every page of the British "Dirt Bike Rider" and the American equivalent "Dirt Bike" magazines I cannot recall anything referring to John Pelton or the Pelton bikes. Hence why I asked. Whether the reason for that is purely down to the geography of me being in Europe or the era, I don't know. We live and learn everyday and I will certainly pass this on to a couple of lads I know who are half my age that have won championships here in Scotland on modern KTMs. The chap certainly sounds like he deserves far more recognition for the pioneering efforts he put in back then. Disappointingly not yet a Jackass |
Brian Kirby Mod Moderator Location: Newnan, Georgia Join Date: 01/12/2013 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 18 Rally Car: 1981 Husqvarna 430CR |
John Vanlandingham Mega Moderator Location: Ford Asylum, Sleezattle, WA Join Date: 12/20/2005 Age: Fossilized Posts: 14,152 Rally Car: Saab 96 V4 |
Brian Kirby Mod Moderator Location: Newnan, Georgia Join Date: 01/12/2013 Age: Possibly Wise Posts: 18 Rally Car: 1981 Husqvarna 430CR |
OK, make that the first purpose built motorcycle boots widely available in the US.
|
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.