Suzuki Reinvents the Rokon

Suzuki reinvents the Rokon

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THOSE WHO HAVE KEPT A CAREful eye cocked toward the weird end of the motorcycle

spectrum will recall the Rokon. a strange and wonderful two-wheel-drive utility piece that prowled the fringes of the motorcycle scene in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The U.S.-built Rokon 2WD). with its tractor tires mounted on waterfilled wheels, was far too strange to ever fade completely from the startled consciousness of anyone who has ever seen one in action. And it apparently is deeply embedded in Suzuki’s institutional memory, for that company has announced that effective July, I 992. it will sell, only in Japan, a machine that bears more than a passing resemblance to the late, unlamented Rokon.

The machine in question is called the Suzuki XF-4 Lander, which Suzuki brass describe as “a leisure robot” aimed at growing numbers of Japanese who have the time and money to use it to explore Japan’s out-of-doors.

A report in the Japanese motorcycle magazine Auto-Hi indicates that the Lander is powered by a 1 25ec two-stroke Single and drives both front and rear wheels through an automatic transmission. The twin-shock-suspended rear wheel is driven by chain. There are two points of interest having to do with the Lander's front wheel.

First, it uses an Earles fork arrangement.

Second, its drive is taken from the left side of the engine, and is directed through a convoluted system of shafts and chains that transfers power across the chassis to the upper right of the engine, forward to the fork, then back across the chassis and down along the left side of the fork to the front wheel.

The Lander shown in Auto-Hi is set up to be a fisherman’s friend, and is complete with a gorgeous paint job which depicts a leaping fish.

That fishing theme is continued through other accoutrements, which include a pair of carbon-liber tubes intended to be fishing rod carriers, mounted at the bike's right-rear, and a metal-mesh creel hung at its leftrear. Last but not least, the bike is shown with a rear hitch, presumably for hauling the tent trailer that is Je rigueur for any sort of comfortable out-of-doors adventure.

Well. hey. we can live with that.

In fact, we wouldn't mind living with a Lander. It could well be that in the very near future, the thing will be the most expeditious means of dealing with urban traffic. Now, if we can just get the thing done up in a Terminator 2 paint job. with the rod carrier swapped for a rocket launcher, we'll be happy campers.

Jon F. Thompson