1970 Rokon Trail-Breaker Explorer MK-III 2×2
We’ve seen quite a few of these unique, usually yellow, 2WD, two-stroke, smoke-’em-if-you’ve-got-’em motorcycles here on Barn Finds over the years. That being said, we’ve also seen many, many, many Camaros, Corvettes, Mustangs, Challengers, etc., so hopefully, if those of us who are motorcycle fans can sit through those dusty muscle car articles, seeing another Rokon post isn’t too much of a hardship. Someone other than me must like these things as Matt H. sent in this tip, so thanks, Matt! A few of you know that I have a very similar example to this 1970 Rokon Trail-Trailbreaker Explorer MK-III, although mine is a 1971 model.
An inveterate inventor named Charlie Fehn (“Fayn”) came up with the idea of the two-wheel drive motorcycle way back in the late 1950s in California. Having a 2×2 motorcycle may have been tried in the past, but Mr. Fehn came up with an ingenious override system of allowing the front wheel to spin faster than the rear wheel so a rider could take corners without being thrown to the ground. He was a true entrepreneur who enjoyed the challenge of inventing and marketing something more than the fortunes to be made and, unfortunately, lost, which often happens. J.B. Nethercutt, the owner of a famous cosmetics company, became interested in this machine and bought the company, but by 1964, the company was sold to Orla Larsen, the top distributor. The company moved to Vermont where the Rokon name was attached and the rest is history, lots and lots of history, since there have been six decades of development and sales since then.
The seller of this 1970 Trail-Breaker doesn’t give too much info in their craigslist ad here, other than it has less than 30 hours on it since new, it comes with an extra engine (!), it runs excellent, and they’re asking $3,000, which is a deal in the Rokon world. The engine should be a West Bend or sometimes Chrysler 134-cc single two-stroke (mix your gas and oil as God intended). I love that the old ones have both a kick-starter and a pull-starter. It’s located in Castle Rock, Washington area, between Tacoma and Portland, and here is the original listing. I’ve asked this before, but have any of you owned or ridden a Rokon? They aren’t fast but they sure are fun, in a vintage way.
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Comments
Seen old pics where hunters have the field dressed deer 🦌 strewn across the front rack, and up over the handlebars. Cool 😎 machines.
Learned about the Rokon a couple years ago from Robby Layton and Matt’s Off Road Recovery on YouTube. They restored Ed’s Rokon and surprised him with it. Ed was a real gold prospector back in the day and used his “Golden Nugget Rokon” to haul dynamite.
I’d like to publicly apologize to the author, I ripped on the last he posted, then I felt bad. These are loaded with less than favorable features, and horribly inept to the trail machines of today, but when introduced, it was actually well received. Back then, off road was relegated to “shoe leather express”, meaning, you wanted to go back to that secluded fissin’ hole, start hoofin’ it. ATVs were non-existent, save for some homemade gizmo, this was 1st civilized attempt at such ventures. Obviously, it’s no BMW G650 dual sport, but a Model A was no Tesla either, and you had to start somewhere.
Regardless, just by design, not much will stop it, provided the motor can slog you through, they are a bit underpowered, but that motor powered everything from ground pounders to motorized wheel barrows, so no issues there. I think inexperienced riders can get themselves in a lot of trouble with this, so as usual, buyer beware. With new ATVs pushing $10 grand, with P/S and A/C, this will get you there for a lot less, if you can do without P/S and A/C, that is.
They are fun to putt around the fields and streams. I have a 1970 orange Ranger, (spoked wheels), Chrysler OB 2 cycle engine. Kind of slow and weak. But, she will climb! Might put in a hemi 212 4 stroke in it.
At my camp in NH my neighbor Al had 1 in the early 70’s. To us kids it was the strangest motorcycle we had ever seen. He told us many years later that he loved that machine and wished he never sold it. He also had 1 of the vehicles that they tow airliners with that he used to haul wood.
I have never seen one of these in person, and since I have a 2011 Honda Rubicon 4wheeler, probably wont be buying one, but it would be cool to see one up close ….
I owned two Rokons when I lived on the edge of wilderness in the central Colorado mountains in the early 90s. I absolutely loved riding them into the White River National Forest. I even rode into a herd of elk on day and they just stood there in apparent wonder at the strange sounding machine and rider. It was so cool! The gearing on these machines and the clearance on the underside coupled with the 2×2 feature combined to enable me to go virtually anywhere. If I could stay on it, it would go. When I was considering buying them the previous owner showed off their unique versatility by powering one up a vertical wall while he stood beside it and worked the throttle control. The two stroke engine proved to be very reliable and would just sip fuel. Day long trips were no problem from a fuel perspective. The wheels were hollow drums and could be filled with extra fuel for extended outings. These machines were wonderful work horses and a perfect match for the many back woods adventures I enjoyed during the years I lived there. Eventually we purchased horses for the same wildernesses accessibility and they were fun as well. But I never had to feed the Rokons when not in use and I never had a Rokon shy at the occasional bear and leave me stranded and head for home without me. Great machine! Great versatility? Great fun!
The seller has removed the listing, someone must have grabbed this Rokon.