Home Forums Gear Horses and ATV's Motorized Mini-bikes for the Back Country?

I have some rough areas of private land where walking up to a mile is required to get to the areas to hunt. Couple the distance with gear, decoys and such including game on the way out and it's quite a work-out for a guy in his late sixties.

Short of spending thousands on an ATV does anybody use any of the various motorized mini-bike models?

I'd like your opinions and experiences if you'd care to give them. Thanks.

I'm also in my late 60's. I'm just plain not flexible enough any more for a minibike. I need to sit higher or I'll get cramps in my hips and thighs.
Take a look at decent used full sized bikes. Anything from a 125cc on up will haul quite a bit if it's geared right.

Just saw a video of the Taurus 2x2 bike the other day. Russian and not sure its available here yet. Supposed to be very light weight. You can find a video on YouTube.

Bob

Bob, that bike looks like it's just being sold in Russia now but from what I see of it it's the concept I had in mind.

Rock-, you're right -- I might be better off thinking a little bigger though I wanted light weight, geared low with fat tires and also with a mind of not spending too much.

Oh well, it's fun to just look.

jmho- if you have trouble negotiating the
terrain on foot i wouldn't try to balance
a load on a 2 wheeled bike. it'd obviously
have to packed in a backpack and it would
shift your c.o.g. way up when it needs to
be lower while carrying a heavy load.

Have never used one, but always thought the Rokon bikes looked like they'd go anywhere.
https://www.rokon.com/

Have looked at those online but we are up into the $7-8k range.

I haven't used one, but have looked at them. They all cost thousands too, generally 3-5.

I've ridden a Rokon a little but not off road. They don't have springs so they're rough riding. They'll sure climb, though.

Yeah, I've read that they are "rough riders."

I can't recall ever seeing a mini with springs, either. They put a spring under the seat and call it luxury.

Used atvs can go pretty cheap. Look around for older air-cooled stuff in the 250-300-350 cc range. They tend to be lighter than current stuff and less to go wrong if air cooled. Some of the old 2-strokes had pretty good power in 250 to 300 cc engines.

A 250 to 300cc 2-stroke 4x4 with cargo racks or a 250cc pooaris big boss 6x4 will do a lot, and you're looking at hundreds of dollars instead of thousands. And the 2-stroke smoke cloud keeps the bugs away.

Last year I sold a '99 Kaw 300 for $900. That was the going price at the time. It ran great but I didn't need it and it was just sitting there deteriorating.

Yeah, that looks like the best option. Sold my Grizzly some years back me now regret it.

My 300 Kaw was a 2x4 with a locking rear axle. I never powered out with it but it needed 1 more lower gear. With the axle locked, it would go about anywhere but at too high of a speed. I wouldn't get a 2x4 again. I won it in a farm store drawing. The dumbest thing I ever did was to take possession instead of paying the difference and getting the 4x4 version.

A newbie here, but I just have to weigh in on this thread as I've read that whole four page thread on Rokons back from 2009 and since motorized woods vehicles have come up a few times, it looks like you guys might have some questions about them. Wisconsin guy here riding my third Rokon, but also having a Honda CT110, the one with the big rack on the back and dual range transmission. Plus I also ride a 300 Kawasaki dual range quad and a 400 Polaris quad so I think that I can answer some questions about hunting with any of them.

I used to have a Honda Trail 90 with the dual range. They had a good design but really screwed up with that micro engine. Put a deer on the rack and it wouldn't pull it's own weight. I tried to pack deer up minor hills with it 3 times and I ended up packing both the deer and the bike on my back. I sold the piece of junk. If they'd put a 125 or larger engine on it, it would have been a great bike.

Rock Chuck, first off I'm willing to bet that you are the same Rock Chuck from Swamp's Hunt America a couple years back. Windfall (aka Bushman from back then) here and good to see you posting. Anyway, Honda did make an orange 125 with that big rack back in the late 1970's, but it had a clutch just like my Honda SL125 back in those days so I didn't think that I was gaining much. I never rode the CT90's, but on my little larger CT110 I dropped the counter tooth sprocket one tooth to give it more power and torque on the low end. Even with full knobby tires, it is not much more than a replacement for legs down a fire lane. I did see a full size elk hanging on a meat pole out in Colorado once and I asked the guy how he got that thing out whole? He said to go look behind the trailer and there sat a Honda CT110. I do like the CT110 for fast scouting and covering ground because I can steer around the big roots and rocks that I'd go over with a quad. I did pull two bucks out with a little 50 cc Yamaha Mini-enduro back in my youth, but I spent a lot of the time riding on the back wheel because either of those bucks weighed more than the bike did. One of them punched the heck out of the back of the seat too because I had to tie the head up so high. With a Rokon, I've never tried to pull something out with the CT110 Honda. There is no comparison between the two off the main trail.

That's me, lovable as ever.