Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/1524446
on by Bing, and Magura for their easy to adjust on the fly levers and thro les, Radaelli rims, and Met- zeler res. Although built by KTM, all Penton motor- cycles shipped to the United States would be badged as Pentons. A working prototype was created, and by early 1968, six of the very first Penton motorcycles arrived in Ohio at the Penton family farm crea ng the history of Penton Sportcycles that spanned 10 years from 1967 to 1977. As expected there were a few teething pains. S ll, right out of the crate, those first Penton motorcycles, affec onately known as Steel Tankers for their metal gas tanks, were immediately thrown to the wolves in serious off-road compe on all over the country. With KTM being a small company, design changes and improvements were handled swi ly, and the Penton motorcycles evolved rapidly with each and every container receiving new and improved models. John Penton's dream proved to be tremendously successful with over 6000 Steel Tankers produced during its 1968 to 1971 produc on run. As for this par cular feature, it was a chance en- counter that landed this 1969 model Penton Six Day in our lap. While chasing a FB Marketplace find, a 1974 Penton 250 Hare Scrambler, once we agreed on a price and cash exchanged hands, the seller men- oned that they had another old Penton lurking in the corner of an old shed deep in their property. Now picture a large apple farm in New England. We had to hike a bit through a field to an old irriga on shed that had seen be er days. Mostly hidden by heavily overgrown brush and weeds, lurked a small cinder block building with no roof. A tornado, rare for this area, had ripped a swath through the farm years back and made a heck of a mess. Once inside, I laid eyes on an old, long-forgo en Steel Tanker that I just couldn't say no to, and we soon exchanged some more bills and I happily rolled that treasure into the Sprinter. Oh yeah, it was ugly but with solid bones and a fair amount of Penton spares on hand, I knew we'd be able to make some- thing of it. Now there's plenty of squeaky clean overly restored Penton Steel Tankers lurking in collec ons but as much as I appreciate the effort and cra smanship, that's just not my thing. I like the survivor look and my main focus was to rebuild, replace, and refresh the components while s ll retaining the pa na of a properly enjoyed motorcycle.