Pantah?

[PSk]

What's wrong with these bikes, ie the 500 Pantah's as they are quite-ish cheap in Australia.

Not a fan of the seat boxy design but they are very classic looking up front.

Is it an early belt drive or still a bevel? ... are they reliable?
Pete

[Le Kiwi]

Pete, the 500's are a belt drive, and they are fairly reliable. The cases are a bit weak on well thrashed examples, but overall they are not too bad. Electrics on the early ones were a bit iffy, Bosch ignition boxes and pickups, and later ones had ND pickups. See Brooke Henry or Gowanloch's for updates.
Handling is good, but the swingarms were bushed, and will have some play on high km examples. Standard mar'shock'ie rear units are crap, so Koni's or "Ikons" help your posterior here, but the forks are quite good for the period. Watch the rear wheel cush hubs and bearings, and try to ensure that the bike has only been run on synthetic oil (a Ducati instruction for these machines...)
The 600's tend to be crap, the gearboxes were weak, and the cases let go, but the 650's were very good, although rare.
Gearboxes on the 500's suffered abuse badly, but overall, it was the base of the whole generation of two-valve belt-drive engines, and with a well set up pair of Dellorto's supplying the suck, and a Verlicchi or Conti supplying the bark, you'll have a whale of a time on the twisties.....

[PSk]

Le Kiwi,

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I really like the look and happy with the smaller size engine for what I do ... thus will include them in a possible purchase list .

Pete

[Vince]

I like my TL 600 Pantah,the TL was a touring version,lots cheaper than the SL,mine has had a much modded past,made to look like a TT2 and now its half an SL and half a TL,I think the problem with them was they started as a 500 then grew to be a 600 with not much extra strength,at the time the
major market for bikes were 750 and people rode them like 750s,with the reputation for high revs that the desmo system can handle the bottom end suffered,it took YEARS for the Pantah to develop into a 750,at the time everyone wanted one and what with the bean counters running the factory at the time and an obvious major engine strengthening needed they missed the band waggon,they could have sold a boat load of 750 Pantahs in OZ what with Keven Magee riding the Bob Brown bike and pushing Mal Cambell on a Honda and Rob Phillis on a Kawasaki,good old days at Oran Park,a couple of weeks away from a housing development.

[PSk]

Originally Posted by Vince

... Oran Park,a couple of weeks away from a housing development.

... but it is too late now I guess :sad:

Pete

[Vince]

Pete I heard that the Government is looking at another site for a replacement circiut further out,would be a good idea,with Easter Creek choc a block,thats what we vote them in for,but dont hold your breath.

[sh_duke]

Vince, I heard that Oran still has a couple of years left in it. You never know though with bloody housing developers.

With the Pantah gearbox, it was only the early 500s that used the five dog gears. When the 600 came out, they beefed up the [slippy] clutch (basket made of steel) and made the gearbox gears three dog for greater strength. Other than that the Pantah engine is strong. That's why it is still the basis for the current belt drive engines. Try and avoid the 500, the 600 is better all round. A 650 better again but they only made 400 of them (or something very small).

Check this out for some useful info: Desmo.org.uk

Cheers,
Simon