Transportation, or why I need a Rokon Ranger

I am saving up for a Rokon Ranger motorcycle. My reasons are that it is fast enough for my country road, is street legal, it floats, It is lightweight, It has 2000 lb towing capacity, It can climb a 60 deg slope, it can be used as an ATV and driven up the side of a mountain, it is compatible with a single bottom plough if you get tractor tires, it can be hooked up to generators, pumps, and pto devices, and it can go anywhere a horse can go. I absolutely want one and it is my only new year's resolution to buy one and become a good rider.

It is going to take 4-5 months to save up for the down payment, but I need transportation and this thing is able to be used as a street legal motorcycle, an atv, and you can hitch a small trailer to it. I plan to use it for all of the above. It is much cheaper and much more useful than a small pickup. I plan to start saving in March of 2020 after I have brought the greenhouse home in February. It is American made in NH, has factory financing, and I have excellent credit.

Very cool bike! It could be incredibly beneficial on our place, too - It's too rocky, woody, & very steep ravines, for almost anything else. Thanks for putting it on my radar!

Carla Burke wrote:Very cool bike! It could be incredibly beneficial on our place, too - It's too rocky, woody, & very steep ravines, for almost anything else. Thanks for putting it on my radar!

Oh, no problem.

This would probably work for you. Look up some youtube videos. The darn thing is a beast.

I plan to get mine in Forest Green. The Ranger is the only one that's street legal. But they have The Scout for ATV optimization, The Mototractor for Farm optimization, The Prepper for people who want to be Mad Max, and several others.

Street legal would make it even more useful, for us - we could ride it down the gravel road to the mailbox, or the other way (where the 'road' gets REALLY rough) to a not-doing-so-well-friend's house, to check on him. I love that it floats, lol. One of those ridiculously steep slopes is a cone shape, with a pond, at the bottom. If either of us dropped it, and it ended up down there, a floating bike would be much better than a sinking one.

What I like is that you identified what you need, and matched your needs to a specific machine. That impresses me the most.

For some people it iust may be a two wheel tractor. For others an ATV. For you it is the Rokon.

I like that you have looked outside the box, and matched something to your needs. If I had the money Ryan, I would buy it for you. I really would, but I know when you do get it, you will eally appreciate what you have, and take care of it. And I know you will use it too.

Travis Johnson wrote:What I like is that you identified what you need, and matched your needs to a specific machine. That impresses me the most.

For some people it iust may be a two wheel tractor. For others an ATV. For you it is the Rokon.

I like that you have looked outside the box, and matched something to your needs. If I had the money Ryan, I would buy it for you. I really would, but I know when you do get it, you will really appreciate what you have, and take care of it. And I know you will use it too.

I really appreciate that Travis. <3 Thanks buddy.

I joined a motorcycle group on mewe today to learn about the culture and the maintenance. I know there is a culture around the motorcycle and I don't want to offend other riders. Culture is something I understand academically. I have studied many cultures and subcultures. I will be applying my understanding to what I learn. (The difference between Modern Gothic subcultures and say, the Classical Greeks is restricted to style. They both value art and philosophy, have varying regional fashions, and... well, you get the picture, humans will be humans no matter the era.)

I spoke long last night, to a friend that has been riding for many years. He recommended I join a club. So I found this one in my area:
https://magazine.americanmotorcyclist.com/5354/portsmouth-motorcycle-club-celebrates-125-years/

He said clubs help you learn to be a better rider, give you lifelong friends, and keep you safe on long trips. 99% of my friends are online. Otherwise I have my neighbors and a nice couple in Otway. Friends to ride with would be a welcome addition.

Katie and I had fun looking up some of the videos on the Rokon.

My wife is from New Hampshire, and there you have to love two things:

1) Downhill skiing or snowboarding
2) Motocross

You would not think that state would be into motocross, but they are insanely into it. My wife's whole family was into it, so much so that my Brother-In-Law was a semi-professional motocross racer, and fabricated frames and suspensions for them.

I know the Rokon would be perfect for my Father-In-Law because he loves New Hampshire, and so buying a bike made there, and was 2x2 would be just what he likes, not to mention hunting, fishing and prospecting.

For me, I would not mind having one because it can be a pain to try and backpack out ore samples. I always joked I wanted a Pack Mule named Pickaxe, but an all terrain motobike would be better.

I have to admit - off-roading, on our place does scare me, a bit. I ride my own Harley street bike, and when we moved here, our gravel driveway and the (not exactly 'maintained') gravel road we live on scared the hell out of me. But, over this past riding season, I've gotten used to it. A big part of the fear comes from knowing that if I drop it, I'll have to pick it up, possibly while injured. But, my bike weighs 850#. I can pick it up, on solid ground, but on gravel, it will slide, and on hills, it will slide down, possibly into a spot I might not be able to pull it out of. This little thing FLOATS! And, has tires wide enough to grip better than the narrow street tires. I'd imagine it will be scary a thrill, but one I would grow into, as my skills build.

Ryan,

I have to say this is a really cool, simple, elegant solution to many off road mobility issues.  I love it.  Great job.

Eric

And here's what they look like:

I went looking on their site for a trike and couldnt find one. Is that trike home modified or do they have a kit?

I have a need to tow two kayaks on a trailer. My truck wont fit under the stilts to park it and its too muddy to back the trailer in. This would work. Especially if i could drive it up a flight of stairs and park it inside. Its at the coast and salt will eat it up if parked outside.

wayne fajkus wrote:I went looking on their site for a trike and couldnt find one. Is that trike home modified or do they have a kit?

I have a need to tow two kayaks on a trailer. My truck wont fit under the stilts to park it and its too muddy to back the trailer in. This would work. Especially if i could drive it up a flight of stairs and park it inside. Its at the coast and salt will eat it up if parked outside.

It's in the section titled "Accessories". It is listed as a sidecar.

I just got off the phone with them. Ok. This is pretty cool. Rather than keep it at the coast i could bring it in my truck.

Either in the bed as it will fit between the wheel wells with the sidecar attached,   or carry it on a hitch carrier after removing one bolt to remove sidecar (3rd wheel).

Optional hitch reciever on the bike to tow the trailer.

This beats out a side by side utv for my application.

Electric start and pull start for redundancy. He said if i lose the front chain, the rear wheel will drive it or if i break the rear chain the front wheel will drive it.

Pretty cool

Well....I did it. Thanks for posting about them. I didn't know they existed. Lawn mower, tiller, plow, pto generator and pto water pump available.

It seemed pricey. About the same as a side by side gator. It is best solution for my situation though.

We’ve batted around different alternatives to getting around on our property and have looked at various options such as various ATV’s, UTV’s and even golf carts, both gas and electric. Lately the preference was leaning towards an electric UTV and it occurred to me I can get most of what I need with a robust electric trail bike with fat tires and a trailer on which I can carry some tools. Here is an example of what I am thinking:

James Whitelaw wrote:We’ve batted around different alternatives to getting around on our property and have looked at various options such as various ATV’s, UTV’s and even golf carts, both gas and electric. Lately the preference was leaning towards an electric UTV and it occurred to me I can get most of what I need with a robust electric trail bike with fat tires and a trailer on which I can carry some tools. Here is an example of what I am thinking:

You might want to test that out before you pull the trigger on that. I can see where it would be tempting, but I would think the rolling resistance of those fat tires would be incredibly difficult to overcome by pedal power. I could be wrong, and that is why I would try it first.

I am not an engineer, but I do like engineering and know that generally, when you double a tire's width, it takes (4) times more pull to overcome the resistance, it is therefore compounded forces and not linear. Just doing a quick calculation on that bike towing a trailer (empty) means it would be about 16 times harder to pedal up a given hill then a normal bike. Now add a load...

Travis Johnson wrote:

James Whitelaw wrote:We’ve batted around different alternatives to getting around on our property and have looked at various options such as various ATV’s, UTV’s and even golf carts, both gas and electric. Lately the preference was leaning towards an electric UTV and it occurred to me I can get most of what I need with a robust electric trail bike with fat tires and a trailer on which I can carry some tools. Here is an example of what I am thinking:

You might want to test that out before you pull the trigger on that. I can see where it would be tempting, but I would think the rolling resistance of those fat tires would be incredibly difficult to overcome by pedal power. I could be wrong, and that is why I would try it first.

I am not an engineer, but I do like engineering and know that generally, when you double a tire's width, it takes (4) times more pull to overcome the resistance, it is therefore compounded forces and not linear. Just doing a quick calculation on that bike towing a trailer (empty) means it would be about 16 times harder to pedal up a given hill then a normal bike. Now add a load...

As we have only sand or silty sand on our trails we figured the fat tires would be less likely to get bogged down on our ground, especially in the wet season. I spoke with some e-bike guys and they felt they would be ok for our ground. Also, the cost of the bike isn’t such that switching out tires wouldn’t be that expensive if it turned out a regular wheel works better. I rode around on one at the beach and peddling was harder in the soft sand but the thing really moved when under battery power.

Here’s a clip of a guy riding an Uber fat tire e-bike on the beach effortlessly and I’ve seen commuters downtown riding them (electric or pedal power) and they don’t seem to be straining much.

Here’s another clip of a hunter transporting a deer on a cart (I think Gorilla) he tied to the bike;

I took.a rear hitch carrier for a truck and mutated it into a feed/hay hauling trailer for the rokon. It was well under $150 for everything from harbor freight.

I like the idea of a bike that can go lots of places, but for me they are mostly to get down the road at highway speed. You can get a pretty good Enduro motorcycle for about $2,000. This would get most people, most of the way home, if not completely. Then a horse could do the final leg.

But I'm only looking at it as transportation, since I don't think I'd ever want to use it as a water pump or tractor or all the other things that it can apparently do.

When I eventually buy some land where I am likely to need to get over rough terrain, I expect to use a regular road bike, combined with a horse or water buffalo.

I had to redo the trailer. Casters bolted to the bottom was a bad idea and would tip over with a tall load. I added an axle and it is doing great. On the ranch it does a lot with less wear and tear to the ground. I even pulled my manure spreader with it. I'll try to get someone to snap pics next time. I'm sure its a funny sight.

I wouldn’t mind seeing some helmets on those riders as a backcountry first responder who dreads dealing with head injuries, but it looks like an awesome tool.

Wife snapped a pic while i was spreading manure

Do Rokon's have an electric option?

Googling only brought me to Ural's electric sidecar concept; which being non-production is equally unobtainable.

Ash Jackson wrote:Do Rokon's have an electric option?

The closest thing I've found is a Grunt https://volcon.com/grunt/

Jerry Ward wrote:

Ash Jackson wrote:Do Rokon's have an electric option?

The closest thing I've found is a Grunt https://volcon.com/grunt/

Just as a word of caution, they boast what they call "app based vehicle controls". I'm unsure what they mean by that but you will probably want to make sure it won't become unusable when out of cell range or if they go out of business and shut down the app.