Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/1521029
T he motorcycling company known as Pierer Mobility AG is the purveyor of KTM, Husqvarna, GasGas, and MV Agusta two-wheel - ers. They are indeed a Leviathan, but just a few yesterday's ago, they were a wee little fishy in the very big pond of mo- torcycle manufacturers. They offered one brand, a motorcycle better known in the USA as "Penton" (a story for an Archives column all its own), and in early 1974, Cycle News put their 250cc two- stroke to the test. Attempting even to acquire a machine for the magazine proved to be something of a challenge. In 2024, companies fully realize the importance of marketing and promotion. Such was not the case in 1974, and the Cycle News staff had to barter like smugglers at the border just to get their mitts on a Penton/KTM for a test. They found a machine that had just been purchased by a local bank vice president, which neatly adds punctuation to CN's assertion that the bike's $1600 MSRP was an outlandish sum to pay for a dirt bike—at that time. The banker agreed to loan his steed to the staff; the agreed-up- on interest rate is not mentioned. The Penton 250 may have been an upstart in off-road racing, but it was quickly mak- ing a name for the company. A Soviet MX racer named Gen- nady Moiseev had recently won the Yugoslav 250cc motocross Grand Prix on a KTM, and U.S. rider Carl Cranke had earned a gold medal in the ISDT on one. American riders were learning about the unfet - tered joy of riding dirt bikes, and the companies were scrambling, so to speak, to provide them with purpose-built motor - cycles. Magazine testers of the 1970s often focused heavily on the frame of the motorcycle; geometry played an important role in how a motorcycle han - dled, and this write-up was no exception. "Two thin-looking downtubes," CN said, "wrap under the engine, both originating and terminating in a set of heavy gussets, rein- forcing tabs, and the like. The degrees of bend, the joining and angling of the frame tubes seems to be correct as the handling, in absolutely every respect, is superb insofar as the frame is concerned." Metallurgy was also impor - tant to testers; chrome-moly steel was inspiring and sounded tougher, especially when the alternative standard was referred to as "mild steel." No off-roader could bear the milquetoasty shame of being mild. Chrome- moly it had to be, and chrome- moly it was on the Penton/KTM 250. CNIIARCHIVES P124 1974 PENTON 250 BY KENT TAYLOR American riders were tered joy of riding dirt were scrambling, so to with purpose-built motor the 1970s often focused the motorcycle; geometry was no exception. "Two thin-looking downtubes," Worth The Money? In 1974, the Penton (KTM) 250 off-roader sold for an "outlandish" $1600! In today's money, that's approximately $10,600. Hmmm.