See that tree over there? Watch this.. This is a 1969 Rokon Trail-Breaker MK3 and it’s in Colusa, Illinois. This rugged climber is listed on eBay with a current bid price of under $1,000 and there are four days left on the auction. But, the reserve isn’t met. I wonder what this one will go for?

I recently wrote about a Yamaha BW200 that had more than one reader comparing it to the famous/infamous Rokon Trail-Breaker. This is the real deal. The Yamaha was rear wheel drive, as you’d expect for a motorcycle, the Rokon Trail-Breaker grabs traction from both wheels! The Rokon is actually more similar to the Arctic Cat Cub that Barn Finds writer, David, wrote about back in early-March. The one that I missed out on by a $50 sniper-bidder in the last few seconds of the auction.. not that I’m still bitter.. The Rokon story starts way back in 1959 when Charles Fehn invented a “Motorcycle for slow cross-country travel over obstructions and in mountainous regions, and over snow and soft ground.” On his third try, in 1963, he was finally awarded a patent for his “Motorcycle having driven two wheels”, as seen in this patent drawing.

Most of us have seen a certain pawn shop tv reality show episode where the owner of said pawn shop has a Rokon Trail-Breaker restored by yet another tv reality show that specializes in restoring anything and everything. At the end we get to see how slow the Trail-Breaker really is; they’re not fast, 20-25 mph, tops. Being a lover of all things vintage, I’d almost always rather have something old than something new. That being said, Rokon is still around and they still make a new version of the Trail-Breaker, in case anyone was wondering, at a price of $7,350. I’d rather have a three+ decade old Trail-Breaker any day of the week, but that’s just me. Another interesting aspect of the Trail-Breaker is that J.B. Nethercutt, the founder of Merle Normal Cosmetics and founder of the Nethercutt Museum in Sylmar, California, one of the world’s premier transportation museums, was an early backer of the company, and the Nethercutt Trail-Breaker was the name until 1963.

Mr. Nethercutt eventually lost interest and sold the company to their top distributor, Orla Larsen, who owned a Nethercutt Trail-Breaker sales company in Vermont called Rokon. The Rokon name comes from Mr. Larsen’s ski lodge in Vermont, “On The Rocks”, so the Rokon name may actually be pronounced “Rock On” instead of “Row Con”, as most of us have pronounced it for decades. The company moved to a bigger facility in New Hampshire in 1969 and they’re still headquartered in that state. Pretty interesting, eh? School is out, let’s get back to this Rokon Trail-Breaker for sale here!

This one is all original and the seller says that it wasn’t ridden too often as it was his dad’s bike, but that it “runs good, everything works.” Apparently, the “only thing missing was the swing out kick lever”, so they made one to fit. It looks like the tires have some cracking and here is a YouTube video showing you how to change the tires. It would be nice to be able to find some OEM-type tires, I haven’t looked too extensively, I’m guessing that they’re out there. They don’t mention which engine this is, and Rokon used several two-stroke engines, so if they’re not smokin’, they’re broken! I’ve always wanted a Rokon Trail-Breaker. Have any of you ridden one, or better yet, have any of you ever owned one? Let us know your thoughts on the Trail-Breaker!