Rokon (Wilmington, Vermont 1965-67; Keene, New Hampshire 1967-79)
- Trail-Breaker
- Mark III
- Mark IV
- Trail 140
1
" Rokon, Inc. offers three models available from dealers, as far north as Savoonga, on St, Lawrence Island, southwest of Nome, Alaska. This is Rokon's most remote dealer and here trailbikes, along with snowmobiles, have replaced the traditional dogsled team for tundra, hill, rock country, and snow travel.
The Trail-Breaker fulfills a long-standing need for a mechanized, remote-area type of transportation. Features include an automatic clutch, 9 hp engine, independent front- and rear-wheel power, high ground clearance of 15", oversized tires that exert less force per square inch than a man on foot, dual starting system, and kick and rope pull. The trailbike fords streams up to 24" deep or can be floated in deeper water. The 4 to 5-pound air pressure in the tires absorbs shocks. The vehicle scampers over logs 28" in diameter, and negotiates grades up to 60 degrees. That the Trail-Breaker may sink to a depth of 12" in mud and still be able to maintain a constant forward motion without necessitating any manhandling is due to its 2-wheel drive, the oversized and cleated wheels, and the elimination of the need for hand clutching. These remote-area bikes come in three models: MK-III, MK-IV, and Rokon Trail 140.
Price: $695 and up. Options: front cargo rack, water-tight tool box, rear tow bar, emergency tool and spare parts kit, bumper rack, rustless chain, and rear passenger kit." 1
"Vermont frightens me," wrote Ernie Pyle. "The people who Iive there like it." Vermont's cold weather, rocky soil, and two long mud seasons are legendary - appropriate territory for the Trail-Breaker. But it was Jim Fowler, not Vermont's weather, that brought about the long move from sunny Sylmar to wintery Wilmington. Fowler had left one of his old Trail-Breaker bikes at a Wilmington garage where a gas station attendant found it ... along with one reason for its poor sales: unstable cornering.
At low speeds familiar to the Trail-Breaker, a driver had to turn the front wheel which, had it not been powered, would rotate faster than the rear wheel since it had to cover more distance than the rear wheel in the same amount of time. Since the front-wheel speed was limited by the drive system, the bike's rear wheel tended to spin the bike around. The attendant solved the problem by installing on the drive shaft a sprag clutch, a set of dry plates that press together when turned in one direction and which loosen when turned in the other direction. "
"After the anonymous gas pumper fixed up the Trail-Breaker with his version of the limited slip differential, investors Larsen and Harris gathered together $30,000,000 in venture capital and in 1965, started the Rokon company, naming it after a Larsen motel called "On the Rocks."
"Rokon stayed in Wilmington only 2 years, from 1965 to 1967, during which time just one basic model was produced, the Mark lIl Explorer. Some were exported to distant shores where roads are in bad condition, to Australia, India, Canada, Africa, South America, Chile, and Brazil, and to the U.S. Army in Vietnam."
"With Rokon sales growing, Larsen and Harris moved to a larger facility at Keene, N.H, in 1967. From there, they continued production of Rokon cycles, specifically the 1969 Trail-Breaker and, in the early 1970s, the Trail-Breaker Mark IV with a 3- speed gear knob near the left front of the gas tank. But as early as 1970, Rokon began replacing the straight clutch and gear knob with a Salsbury torque converter; sort of an automatic transmission. These types gradually replaced the manuals, and the generally unloved backup pull cord start became mandatory because the kick start and torque converter were physically incompatible.
While the pull cord was not user-friendly, it was much lighter than an electric start system and the torque converter did free riders from the dangerous motion of taking one hand from the handle grips to reach for the gear knob. By 1972, the Ranger featured the new automatic transmission, while that year's Trail-Breaker stayed manual.
After winning a Gold Medal at the 1972 Berkshire Two-Day International Trial, Rokon began producing a conventional cross-country bike, the RT-340, four prototypes of which won medals at the 1973 Berkshire International Six-Day Trial (ISDT), the first such event to be held in the United States. The wins encouraged Rokon to build various RT-340 models, most powered by a pull cord 335 cc Sachs engine. Starting with the 1973 RT-340 TCR (Tom Clark Replica), which was a racing prototype developed by Tom Clark, Rokon produced a plethora of conventional motorcycles including the RT-340-I (1975); RT-340-II (with laid-down shocks); RX/C-340 (1977); RT-340 Enduro; MX 340, MX- lIGP, and MX Cobra motorcross bikes; 30 or 40 flat trackers; the ST 340 and street legal RT-340S.
The '70s also brought the Trail 140. Similar to the Trail-Breaker, the 140 was rear-wheel drive only, and didn't really work; it lacked Rokon's main feature - the 2-wheel drive - and could not compete with bikes like the Honda 70.
While producing a confusing assortment of Trail-Breaker units, Trail-Breaker Mark IV Standards, Trail-Breaker Mark IV Automatics, Rangers, and Scouts, Rokon's rear-wheel drive division brought the company to its knees by 1976 when inexpensive Japanese bikes produced by well-financed firms proved a formidable problem. In 1979, Rokon went into receivership and there followed 2 years of reorganizing."2
Photo/text credit: 1.John Malo, All-Terrain Adventure Vehicles, 1972, The Macmillan Company | 2. Compressed Air Magazine