Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1521336
Vintage Resurrection Vintage Resurrection 1972 Penton 100 Berkshire 1972 Penton 100 Berkshire By Kurt Flachbart By Kurt Flachbart 34 Trail Rider www.TrailRider.com This month's vintage feature has a fun li le story behind it. On a snowy December morning just a er Christmas, I received a message from loyal Trail Rider subscriber Jeff Paine that there was an old Penton project in western Massachuse s that could be had for the measly sum of 500 bucks. Now the days of finding Pentons for 500 bucks seem to be long behind us, but I s ll jump at the possibility of finding that steal of a deal. Included in the message was a link to FB Marketplace and as I was shoveling down a plate of eggs, I shot the seller a note with my phone number. You can imagine my surprise within minutes the seller rang back with the good news. The bike was s ll available and yes, he'd take $500. He also said he wanted to make it clear he had taken the bike apart with plans to restore it someday... The fact that it was apart wasn't really a deal breaker for me. Of course, it's always nice to start with a complete project but building a bike from pieces is something I'm not shy of. Wan ng to secure the sale, I offered to send the money im- mediately via PayPal or Venmo and the seller said no worries, just send a check and he'd pull the lis ng. Love the fact that there are s ll some solid old school sellers out there. I popped a check in the mail that morning and a week later, I got a call to let me know the check had cleared and to come on down any me to pick up the bike. I'd hit the road the next morning and four hours later, I rolled up to the seller's home, a large stately property with an oversized garage. As we walked into the garage it was apparent his words of picking up the bike were in the most literal sense of the word. Yes, it was as described, a 1972 Penton 100, but it was an exploded version with the bike completely disassembled down to every last nut, bolt, washer, piece, and part. Now I'm certainly not new to this game but I was a bit floored. The bike had been taken apart on a cement floor, no work benches, no boxes or bags, just randomly taken completely apart, all over the floor with pieces sca ered in a 20-foot radius. Now this guy wasn't a kid, and it was obvious by his home and property he was quite successful in the game of life, so the scene was a bit odd to digest. The fact remains, people are strange beings and some mes do bizarre things.