Motorcycle News - Rescue Mission: A Penton Mint 400 restomod from Chi-Jers
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It also helped that the Penton’s owner and builder, PJ Grakauskas of Chi-Jers Vintage Bike Works, is one of the friendliest and most forthcoming guys you could ever hope to meet. And as it turns out, his love for these vintage, KTM-made dirt bikes goes way back…
“The collection of old Penton parts in the barn is massive. I didn’t have to go far for what I needed.”
After he finished an Indian Scout Bobber for an Indian-sponsored build-off, he decided it was time to build something for himself. And so the Penton went under the knife—with no expectations and no deadline.
The carb is a vintage Lectron unit, built up from a bag of parts that were rotting away in the workshop. And the stainless steel exhaust is custom—modeled after a smashed-up 70s Penton 400 flat track pipe.
“It took some math and engineering to make work,” he says, “including grinding down the rear motor cases a bit.”
There’s only one brake—a Beringer Aerotec setup with a gold finish. It plays nice with the Penton’s stock foot controls, which didn’t get the chop because they’re just too valuable to toss out. The bars are from Biltwell Inc., the throttle and clutch lever are from Joker Machine, and the blue grips are ‘new old stock.’
Even the Penton’s new bodywork is a mash up. The fuel tank’s off a Honda CG125, and the tail section is a flat track unit that PJ had lying around for the right project. Ginger over at New Church Moto handled the upholstery, on a custom built three-piece base.
The frame looks nickel plated, but it’s not. Instead, it’s been powder coated in ‘prismatic super chrome,’ by 6th City Cycles in Cleveland. And then there’s that sublimely retro paint scheme.
Kacey wasn’t too stoked when he later noticed Sharpie scribbles all over his artwork though. “I took it to the Penton Owner’s Group meeting which John Penton himself attends,” PJ explains “so I had to have him autograph the tank.”
Chi-Jers Vintage Bike Works Instagram | Images by Mark Adams Motorcycles via Bike EXIF http://www.bikeexif.com July 30, 2019 at 12:12PM Leave a Reply. |
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7/30/2019
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