2WD Roko Ranger ~ The Ultimate Off Road Bike

[@martinburgess4814]

That is a proper work horse off road king.All the best to you all.

[@OGTtom]

Man , that bike can go anywhere

[@kevinsellsit5584]

What a beautiful example of a rare beast. I am almost deaf from standing by a shop compressor most of my life, but without being negative I would recommend you re-commentary 90% of the existing audio. There is a lot of good information in this video but I spent most of the time trying to clean up the audio with my 10 channel equalizer. I would label the gears as 1) Tractor 2) Slow 3) Faster The one I road in the early 80's looked like it fell off a cliff but still worked flawlessly. Nice bike indeed!

[@davidholcomb9961]

Perfect for an older guy like me. I love it and i cannot wait to see more about this!

[@RockyXTR]

If you put anything larger than the GX160 in it you need to update the frame by adding the gussets at the top tube & down tube junctions as well as the top tube and seat stay junctions. Its also a very good idea to add the head steady upper engine mount. Otherwise you will crack that frame.

[@roadislandratcoon]

one of the most badass bikes ever 2WD mini bike so cool

[@John-rw2zf]

Great review. Can't believe there are still so many people who have never heard of ROKON. They are definitely the ultimate point A to point B machine. They can even go on narrow trails and cow paths and in between trees where 4 wheelers cannot go. I have read that because they are a small company you might need to order one if you want a new one. They are becoming more popular these days and there are numerous clubs around the country. There are many accessories sold for this machine for off grid use. The simplicity of the machine is a plus because chances are good that you could fix most problems with a pair of pliers and a screw driver and maybe a crescent wrench. The sticker price is a factor but that depends on the individual and how bad you want want one. It would be very useful and tons of fun any way you look at it. It is so unique and well made that most people would keep it for a long time. Very easy to maintain. Very well made.

[@Bigmike3406E]

Mine is a 1969 ROCON trail- breaker and has a Chrysler Power Bee 820 two cycle engine. It’s fun

[@WoodieCoalburner]

I have a 2017 it has all the upgrades you are installing LOVE IT!

[@1hasbeen531]

I had an early '70s Trail Breaker with the Chrysler/West Bend 2-stroke. Tons if fun.

[@davidortiz173]

I don't remember the last time I had this much fun watching a video! I'm in the market for one too now that I see this thing in action!

[@supertrucker200]

Blaster is great stuff I used it on my semi truck all the time for my chain binders and other things

[@Jesuswinsbirdofmichigan]

🍒, born 1959 seen only in sports afield. Thank for the first time ride! Smiles and great time🤗

[@momdadhendry3304]

I have a 2019 Rokon Ranger with side car, Street legal. electric start. top speed without side car 37mph . Great machine for all around farm work. Looking forward to seeing your upgrades. Thanks

[@KySouthbridge89]

The Rokons are pretty cool bikes, and only found out about them afew years ago when drivin by the HQ afew times on the highway

[@davidowen888]

I seen one of those before, cool invention, your woods is a mess ! Those logger guys give up ?

[@demandred1957]

I saw the black and white ads for this bike back in the 70's, in the Mother Earth News. Kinda neat they are still around

[@nathannero9338]

Some also have solid, hollow wheels so it can float. Or carry extra fuel etc.

[@3GingerCats]

Well it's official... you have to head to Utah and go rocon-ing with Matt's Off Road Recovery and Robby Layton (but do a Tillotson 225 swap first lol) MORR built a trailer for a Rocon to be towed behind a Suzuki 4x4, but if you think about it, you could make a trailer for it to both carry and tow behind it

[@nicholasmarinelli4575]

I have a one with the mechanical brake and two others with hydros. The mechs are far superior! Regarding your comment about tire pressure - It is super important that the tire pressure is equal so the driveshaft clutch (a spring over a couple collars connecting the front to the rear part of the shaft) does not get over stressed. Another cool feature regarding the brakes and the the way the drive shaft is clutched, the front brake alone will lock up both front and rear wheels, the rear brake will only lock up the rear!

[@000302lf]

If you are going with hydraulic brakes put them on the wheels. I had a chain fail and lost rear brakes and drive. that was a scary ride home. I didn't know the chain was gone for a while as I was on a muddy road and couldn't find it, but the down hill ride home was something.

[@muddypawsadventurer7775]

Yup, the 14hp engine is the way to go. Hyd. disc is a yes. NOW, ROKON's all have chevron tractor tires... FANTASTIC in mud. Personally, I'd upgrade to a nice round low pressure profile knobby that the nobs go really low on the sidewall. Wider spaced in the back and tighter on the front. I think you'll go over fallen trees, climb rocks and cover sandy terrain much easier. Rokon's are 2wd tractors. Just look at the attachments they make for them. As a farmer.... yeah, I need one for my stable of 2 wheel collections...

[@bobsbarnworkshop]

First gear is what you need to go up a trail to your deer stand… and to drag that big buck back out!

[@CODOutdoors]

Awesome bike! Thanks for the maintenance demo, never seen that done before!

[@Columbiagorgekayaker541]

I stripped down and rebuilt A 1971 Rokon trailbreaker that looks almost identical to this one, for a 52 year old bike it runs great

[@darrellnichter9894]

Really cool bike! Way out of my price range last I checked

[@mof4104]

I always wanted one...congrats RB.

[@Tennesseemountainhomestead]

Given your skill set, shop and tooling you could probably fabricate a two wheel drive bike out of another bike frame.

[@jasons4622]

Yes!!!!

[@anonymousf454]

I always wanted to do something like that but do not have the skill. It would be really cool to be able to attach accessories to the thing as well, like an off the grid, wilderness type of workhorse. A generator with outlets, a cable winch and cathead for hauling things, or pulling the bike up steep terrain...hell you could pull it up a tree if you wanted to...lol Maybe a quick release so i can use the motor to power a small band saw mill....or a hydrolic hook up to power all sorts of stuff like a log splitter attachment, or a hydrolic chainsaw Big detachable work lite on the front that I can told off and mount on a pole for area illumination at night, utility trailer extension to haul gear food and fuel. Small outriggers setup to cross small water....lol Idk...think it would be pretty cool to be able to have the capability to get to places no one else could even dream of without a helicopter, and be able to build a structure of sorts.

[@Tennesseemountainhomestead]

@@anonymousf454 that’s a lot of interesting thoughts, I like it. Just imagining a bike like that and the engineering it would take, I think it would have to be larger than the one in this video, and in turn heavier. It would be cool though!

[@jamesgeorge4874]

It's an air cooled, two wheeled tractor. Super cool.

[@thomaspryor8202]

I have watched several vids on the Rokon, yours was insightful. Well done!

[@kenjohnson5498]

I support Blaster the orange scent goes great on salads lol

[@davidgun6826]

the older rokon with the Chrysler power Bee 2 stroke was my favorite the bikes wight was only 180 lb and the motor putout 10 hp plus the gearshift was on the side of the tank and with practices' you could shift on the fly.

[@Manandmachine772]

Looking forward to seeing the upgrades on the Rokon

[@mikesbarn1858]

I agree you don’t want to overpower the transmission. The electric start engine is a good idea with billet rod flywheel and chromemoly push rods for reliability. Think about adding a couple of USB charging ports.

[@6speedguy845]

I would like to see more road to horsepower videos please

[@gregpiecuch3802]

Yep, that's what I 've been waiting for!

[@bradleyj.fortner2203]

I've seen these before. But, they were the old ones. I didn't know they still made them.

[@Skiridr22]

I also love the M1030-M1 the diesel powered freedom fighter aka the Kawasaki Kl650 it’s like the a tank of bikes 😊

[@PineyRider]

Lucky you! Running condition and ridden?

[@lizzard7473]

I've always wanted to ride one of these

[@nicholascervone4734]

I like the the rubicon's that actually have tanks in the rim of the for extra fuel and also those mini bikes one-hundred-percent amazing.

[@julesmarwell8023]

Australia here. wow what a machine. could use it in the bush made for it. does it ever get hot ? Thanks for the upload man. really appreciate it. You stay safe. Thank you sir

[@Tennesseemountainhomestead]

That is a very cool bike!

[@johnogassian3024]

Legend activities

[@schizy]

*I take notice the current Rokons have front suspension......but wow! Are they expensive.*

[@kylecurry6841]

Man...2WD... I've visualized how something like this could be configured, but to this day I never knew this existed.

[@jackwhite2422]

So cool you're doing a Rokon I've been a fan of them since the 70's, friend of the family had one that was into hunting and he had one of those old cars that was like a boat and would take it out on lakes. Hope you do more videos of trail riding it, I'd have one too but there stupid high price if the owners of the company would sell them at a reasonable price you'd see them everywhere. How much could they cost to build using old air cooled Honda motors or a Briggs and Straton type

[@jimbefit3073]

To the naysayers! May i open your mind. WHAT CAN YOU DO with a 2wd ROKON? READ THIS! I was 😊Going up hills soo steep, mybelt was in front of the handlebars- but it would be more accurate to say "above" The handlebars due to the bike being more vertical than horizontal. (as the bike sits level. my nose was planted at the 2:30 position.) Throttle control was paramount. with all that (english or Counterweighting?)- At every little TINY bump i had roll the throttle back for a split second because it was "teetering on the precipice of looping" all the way up the hill, every little irregularity! Another similar hill. My younger brother was hanging onto my belt, and i do mean "hanging" like my belt was a pullup bar. One other time, back in the woods, i stopped mid hill, put the kickstand down, stepped off and promptly slid down while scrambling to dig in somehow and STOP! After sliding down about 30 ,feet, i managed to stop. On my feet i fought like hell to get BACK UP TO the Bike!!! I have to admit- i even panicked a little because the bike gave no clue it was that bad. It was just going up like it was no big deal because i asked it too. Enough? OH! But wait! 😅THERES MORE!!! I used to drag deer out of the woods for hire when I was in high school! I've drug a canoe 1 mile through grassy fields, through a swamp, (which, looking back was HILGFRICKINGLARIOUS, because it looked like an Elephant just walked through!) Then over deadfalls, slowly after setting the CANOES nose up on the 2ft dia log after i easily rode right over it & let the canoe gently teeter totter over. WHY? to fish an otherwise unfishable pond. The pond was inaccessable for fishing because every inch of shoreline was growing 15-20 feet into the water was this knarley brush - like a waterborn sage brush if there was such a thing. You could cast, but would lose anything you through in never mind retrieveing a fish.The reward? Some of the biggest, hugest bass I've ever seen, like big catfish. They never disappeared, just vanished soo fast, first you see it, then just grass waving "GONE" I couldn't see where they went! Larger than any other ive seen- Not even in pics, other species too. I think i was the first to actually fish it. I was under gunned! Whether you believe its worth it or not- your right. 😂

[@NCMATT]

I like the Matt's off road recovery bike.

[@PineyRider]

I have the single wheel drive street legal version with improved brakes. But it's called TW200!😂

[@HappyHands.]

i would like to see how this bike does in loose sand.

[@wls64]

Sweet ride. I want one!

[@Bitathisandthat]

Wot a awsom bike...would love to try one of them, mite put it on my bucket list. Looking forward to watching once its got a little more hp like you said your doing to it.

[@Gator-357]

I have two Rokons mine have the rims that you can fill with gas or water. I also have a trailer for one of them. They make excellent trail bikes for camping or hunting

[@honeybadgeractual5734]

Id love to see a RBG bike production that uses off the shelf parts to create a bike that could be used by larger riders or tandem smaller riders for side road atv and trail rides. Something far more reliable than a hurricane or coleman.

[@jamesfry30]

At one time had 7 of these there were three models at that time ,still have 2 , brakes are a problem,need to move from gear box to the hub, In deep snow or mud high up in the west mountains coming down if you broke both chain you are free wheeling , and it gets real scary. Also you can climb to the top of mountain in a half hour going up It will take 3 to 4 hours to get down. Great hunting bike will bring out large elk. As we aged we went to the first 4 wheeler Honda 300 four wheel drive then they started putting trail restrictions on the mountains.

[@Skiridr22]

First gear is like goat mood 😂😂😂 it’s the sherp of motor bikes

[@guyallphin1295]

AWESOME!

[@smartacus88]

Definitely cool little machines. Cost WAY WAY too much for what they are. "Made in America" has just come to mean "costs way more than it should".

[@dominator146]

Wish you could buy a long frame like the rokon has put a tilly on it be a bullet proof mini utility vehicle

[@sirrotten6963]

You might want to consider a carburetor that has no bowl, like a chainsaw or something, I think that would be best suited for a rocon.

[@foolonthrn]

Personally I think all that bike needs is nice brakes it's pretty freaking amazing as is

[@Skiridr22]

I bet you can build a better two wheeler drive system Red. 😊 I love the Rokon Hunters

[@deltacx1059]

5:45 says the one constantly doing things to vehicles that were not designed to have said things done to them, if these are as good as they say then it will be fine, the only potential issue may be that one way clutch failing prematurely but that's it.

[@frenchokie]

Very cool

[@lighterguy82]

Seems like a predator ghost magneto with its rpm limiter would be a good fit with a few mods to that 160

[@Tysmopars69]

Man, I’d love to have one of these bikes I would definitely add more horse power and I would swap tires to a upgraded version

[@fabieneldridge3414]

It seems to be designed to go where someone might walk , more than a road or trail . It’s so slow but in the woods 30 is flying. The tractor type tires don’t go for any high speeds. Guess if you can hang on or tie something to it and go ! Looks like it would be undependable ? It looks very busy . It might be something I could use? I’ll have to look at one. Years ago I know they were a pain but looks like they have improved.

[@zorvlatch]

I lived by the little shack where they made them in Maine!

[@deltacx1059]

4:19 there is also the Russian version which I hear is pretty good and the ural which is also good and still being made.

[@michaelcurtis8114]

I use Blaster dry graphite on my CVT also.

[@bodeine454]

If I had one and wanted to upgrade it I'd probably start with adding some good hydraulic brakes like you said and buy a bit bigger or build an engine for more torque because that's where this mini bike seems to struggle. In 3rd gear with a top speed of around 20 mph and the engine seems to be struggling like that tells me that it needs more torque rather than top speed. With the transmission and then the fact that it has to send that power through a drive shaft up to the front and then through a CV joint and then change direction again down from a sprocket with a chain it's losing a lot of torque but another problem with upgrading to more torque is knowing how much the transmission can take without breaking.

[@donbrooks9851]

Sweet

[@knowone-sts2263]

Rokons have always been a service nightmare. Never seen one that ran more than a few days

[@IngenGarage]

I need a 3WD tricycle!

[@rcclassiccrawlers4368]

I’m sure it would be fun for messing around on but, if you were out on a mountain side and ran into a bear with cubs, would that be the bike you would prefer to be on? 🤔……Just saying

[@SlapShotRegatta22]

Always wanted a Rokon, since I was a kid, but the price is absolutely absurd.

[@mattrider533]

You should turn the idle down, not good for the transmission to shift with the idle that high

[@johnkoelliker8480]

Greg, you should build one of those.

[@docholiday6944]

They will float as well. ✌️💚👊👊🤙😊

[@T3NNESSEE]

How much do these cost? And where can you buy these?

[@r35smith]

$10k

[@mickoram7524]

You can buy them direct from the factory or one of the many dealers

[@NCMATT]

Hey man come to east N.C. I'm 20min away from Busco Beach Brandon Price comes here all the time. Let's ride.

[@Helm-w1q]

Had one in southern Colorado late 70s it would take you were you wanted to go. In some ways way better than a horse.

[@roryfrazier1339]

Make a video of the hydraulic brakes. They use a special tolomatic industrial brakes. If you can get a normal minibike hydraulic brake to work is Rokon owners would love to see what you do

[@Fukuimold]

Look for a slightly older rokon without the spoke rims , look for the fuel or water storage rims that , when empty they add extra floatation when crossing streams and ponds. The gas tank unbolts for easy siphoning position on the ground next to the rim , lots of extra miles

[@kevinbushey1879]

That is so cool how much does it cost

[@ahmondeboxley2950]

Nice video and review we're can I purchase one of these from

[@johnmorgan1629]

Blaster keeping the shop well oiled and graphited, don't you mean.

[@dylanzrim3635]

Perfect for getting that moose harvest up a steep hill

[@bobbusch3817]

I have a older rokon with the 2 stroke. Do you know if a hopped up 212 would swap in and how easy would it be ?

[@heavenlyangel5520]

Hello, I bought a 429cc predator engine. And I was wondering if there was a way to change the predator engine starter switch to the dashboard of my trail wagon.. instead of on the engine itself.. thank you..

[@bmfitz2647]

At this point your Hollywood is showing lol. You should really think of a better way to say “these mechanical disc brakes are trash”. For lots of people, mechanical disc brakes could be an upgrade 😮. Think more neutral when speaking to thousands of people. Imagine the dude watching this with drums on his Coleman lol 😢. Great video, huge supporter of what you do.

[@kevinsellsit5584]

Drum brakes are far superior to these wave-cam calipers simply because they have more mechanical advantage with the same amount of lever pull.

[@jimbefit3073]

Maybe, but it's more possible to fix a mechanical even in the woods. Loose the hydraulics your F___ed. The makers DESIGNED it for maximum survivability anywhere in the world WITHOUT support. Read up.

[@shirleymae30]

Could you use larger drive gear sprockets, and smaller wheel sprockets, to get a faster bike ?. Also, I would think that if you could put larger diameter tires on it, you might increase the speed a little bit that way ?.

[@Krb69]

Did you know the wheels are hallow so you can float on water or you can use them to hold extra gas or water

[@jesseperez7253]

hey Red Beard, im looking for an under 100 pound 4 stroke engine with electric start and exhaust included that will produce close to 50hp, for an ultralight airplane project. something to compete with the 2 stroke rotax 503 engine wish produces 49hp, obviously would need a reduction drive for the propeller. any recommendations? cant be a twin.

[@caseycothron9863]

KZbin won't let me turn on notifications for your channel.

[@lcbcreation8205]

Can you test on a stock 212 comparing the different governer spring positioning holes on the arm coming from the top of the block. There's five on my arm 3 up front and 2 smaller holes behind those. Pretty confident these change the rpm the governer starts to kick in but I've never seen an actual professional video showing it in action. I know most people just remove them but for a project I plan to sell I'd like to leave it and still get the most out of the factory set adjustments even if only a couple hundred rpm.

[@NCMATT]

What up with the orange sxs in the woods

[@rltackett6278]

Hey I have a few questions about a small engine I’m working on if you’re willing to help me out it would be greatly appreciate what’s the best way to get it touch with you

[@trueword247]

I'm attracted to the Rokon but I don't see how it's a better idea than a TW200. One could get two tdubs for the price of one Rokon. And the tdub is fast enough to go on an urban highway for short periods.

[@joeclutchless1944]

Today an electric hub motor up front is much simpler. Keep the gas motor for the back wheel

[@lynntatro7374]

Please show us how to make a 2wd Coleman minibike.

[@trentnicolajsen3731]

A very essential design very needed for mountain trails, as ATV 4 and 3 wheelers will role over on such narrow passage of steep terrain. as many areas do not have flat roads. search and rescue, or fire crews can not carry in such needed equipment, where as this bike equipped with a a compact light water pump, and narrow long hose, and compact arborist chainsaw along with such gear as a wide rage heat monitor with satellite GPS. or such a work horse can help land management drop to wet rot such dry or diseases timber patches or to be burnt at the beginning of winter. or even be used to skid out smaller logs. after all the fires here in canada I would suspect that we are going to have to update such land management strategies, and thus more small time contractors needing such bikes as this.