1988 ROKON TRAIL-BREAKER
Here’s a brain teaser: What resembles a motorcycle, rolls on tractor tires, floats like a duck, has two-wheel drive, barely leaves a mark over a forest trail, can climb vertically, and starts like a lawn mower?
While that description might suggest a whimsical character for a child’s Dr. Seuss story, some of you might have barked out, “A Rokon Trail-Breaker!” in your hurried excitement. If so, congratulations, you’re a little more familiar with moto-history than the average gearhead is.
The Rokon Trail-Breaker is a machine like no other. In fact, as a name brand, Rokon ranks among America’s oldest motorcycle companies, second only to Harley-Davidson in continuous years of production, having made not only the Trail-Breaker since 1958, but motocross bikes during the 1970s. However, it’s the Trail-Breaker and its unique design that Rokon is most noted for.
The bike’s saga begins in the Southern California city of San Bernardino when, in 1958, an industrious man named Charles Fehn created a two-wheeler that eventually became known as the Rokon. Up to that time, San Berdoo, as the natives often call their crossroads city near the Mojave Desert, was known for two things: It was one of the townships singled out in Bobby Troup’s famous song Route 66, and it was the first link in what became the McDonald’s fast-food chain.
