Prologue
The Adventure Begins

  It all started on a dark and stormy night......... No, not really, I've just always wanted to use that line. Actually it all started about 30 years ago when I saw an ad for a Rokon Trailbreaker in the back of a Popular Mechanics magazine. I was hooked! Little did I know that it would take this long to finally realize my boyhood fantasy (not the one about my 8th grade teacher,that one is still a fantasy although she is probably about 80 by now..shudder..). No, I mean I got me a ROKON!!!

  The way it happened was I was talking to a friend of mine who is a mechanic at a marina. We were talking about bikes and jeeps and stuff and he mentioned that he had an old Rokon in his barn that he had traded a boat motor for a few years back. He said that he was going to fix it up but got sidetracked and never got around to it. I nonchalantly asked if he would mind showing it to me and we went for a look-see.

  When we got to his place we went around to the barn and he dragged the bike out of a pile of horse tack and hay bales. MAN!! talk about UGLY!!, this thing had years of accumulation of dirt,mud,cobwebs and rust. It was missing the front miterbox and fender and the pullstarter was broken so I couldn't tell if the motor was locked up or not. Needless to say I was less than enchanted. I've been a mechanic for most of my life and I've restored many motorcycles and antique cars over the years so I had a pretty good idea of what it would take to bring this old puppy back to life. We talked about its' rarity and condition for a while and I thanked him for showing it to me and left.

  Later that night after I got home I fired up my old Mac (PPC 6100/60, 500MegHD , 40MegRAM,System 7.5, Netscape Communicator 4.0,Hayes Accura 56k modem..for you geeks out there :-). I did a search on ROKON and Bob Gallagers Rokon site fell from Cyber Heaven. Rokons,Rokons and more Rokons,everywhere I looked Rokons. Big Rokons,small Rokons,green Rokons,yellow Rokons,dirty Rokons,pretty Rokons. And stories about Rokons and facts about Rokons and even REAL PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT ROKONS !!!!.

  Well..,I got fired up. That old Scout in my buddies barn started looking better and better. Heck, a little paint, a few parts and some elbow grease and that will be me on my shiny new Rokon. Piece of cake ! (little did I know.....).

  To make a long story longer I started dickering. Over the next few months we haggled over a price. We went back and forth between various cash prices or possible trades. I'm a die hard horse trader and I was determined to get this bike. All the while I was reading all I could find on Rokons and looking for pieces.

  Then one day I sold an old Mercedes parts car I had (80 model 300SD Turbo, for you gearheads). So, with a pocket full of "free money" I went back to see my buddy. Two hours later and a hundred dollars poorer I was the proud owner of "Manyringding" The One-Legged Scout.

  Some of you might be wondering why I named the bike "Manyringding The One Legged Scout". Well, I chose Manyringding as a homage to our proud Native American brothers and sisters (I apologize to any Native Americans reading this) and the sound that a two stroke engine makes. One legged Scout comes from the fact that it is missing the front wheel drive stuff, effectively making it a one wheel drive two wheel drive motorcycle, hence "one legged".

  So, that's how I got my Rokon. I decided to build this site to share with you, dear reader, my adventure of bringing this old war horse back to life. I will be adding to and updating this site on a fairly regular basis as the rebuild progresses so settle back, grab the hot or cold beverage of your choice and hear the tale of "Manyringding The One-Legged Scout".