Starting was by a pullcord, just like
on the family Victa. Situated on the
right side, the rope meant you had to
get off the bike as you needed your
right hand on the throttle. A gentle
right hand was recommended on the
twistgrip as, with no neutral, the bike
could take off.
It was not the easiest way to start a
bike when stalled halfway up a killer
hill. The lack of neutral also made the
bike hard to push around the
workshop or pits. Despite these design
flaws, three Rokon riders scored
Bronze Medals in the 1975 ISDT on
the Isle of Man.
Rokon is still around today but
targets a niche market, providing
easy-to-ride 2WD bikes for use by
forest rangers, mining survey teams,
hunters, loggers and the like. An
interesting feature is that the drum
wheels can be used to carry extra fuel
or water, or if empty can help to float
the bike over deep water crossings.HONDA MT/MR250
Every reader will know of the Honda
Elsinore motocrossers but did you
know there were also MT125 and 250Elsinore trailbikes and a pair of
enduro models, the MR175 and 250?
The MT’s handled sweetly but were a
little on the slow side. Someone once
suggested they would last forever as
they didn’t make enough power to
wear anything out. True that.
The MR range had a short run as
Honda decided to stick to four-strokes
for everything but the MX bikes. They
were a good looking machine and may
have been a winner in the right hands
with a bit more development.BULTACO FRONTERA
Bultaco had an enduro model, the
Frontera which was a good bike but
suffered a little in ground clearance
due to an underslung exhaust on the
early models. It created a large,
rounded bulge in the bashplate and if a
rider cased out on a log they not only
had to balance the fore and aft
movement but also side to side.
Subsequent model Fronteras solved the
problem with an up pipe that ran over
the motor. The most bizarre thing
about the underslung pipe was that the
previous enduro model to the Frontera,
the Matador, had a high pipe.The MR250 had less weight and more power courtesy
of cylinder porting closer to that of the CR250RThe MT250 Elsinore was a nice looking bike despite
that non-standard low guard for a front numberplateBultaco’s low pipe on the Frontera made engineering
a centrestand for quick tyre changes rather trickyHERITAGE I BIKES YOU NEVER HEARD OF
Did you know
there were also
MT125 and
250 Elsinore
trailbikes and a
pair of enduro
models, the
MR175 and 250?