Mountain Goat
1963—1966

I have tried to tell the Mountain Goat trail bike model history on this page as I know it. I would be grateful of any contributions — sales brochures, magazine ads, magazine articles, pictures, specs, facts, corrections etc. Please scan the material in JPEG format (large enough that all the details are visible) and send them to me. Please tell me the source and the publication date if possible. If you send me pictures of your own bike, please follow these instructions.

Johnny Callender and his Mountain Goat prototype, 1963

The small and tough ”Mountain Goat” was the first farm bike in the world, designed and built in New Zealand by a former speedway racer Johnny Callender, who saw a gap in the market – a need for a motorbike specifically for farmers. It was the beginning of the 1960s, the farming industry was crying out for a small motorised vehicle that could handle hills. After two years of developing the perfect design, Johnny had finished building his prototype of the Mountain Goat. The motorcycle was can be ridden slowly behinf the cows going to milking and have grunt to climb the steepest hills, be tough enough to handle the rough farm tracks and light enough to throw it across a fence. The back tyre had to have plenty of tread to get grip in mud and steep hillsiudes. The Mountain Goat seemed to fill all the criteria. The bike had a low centre of gravity that made it easy to ride in steep country. Johnny used the engine of the Suzuki K10P. It was light and had no paint to chip off. The exhaust pipe was upswept and shielded to protect the rider's leg from burns. The four-speed gearbox had a very low first gear, allowing walking pace when and the top gear gave the bike a top speed of 50 km/h. The Mountain Goat had a steel pipe frame and a fibreglass fuel tank, designed and built by Johnny. The tank was flat on top and narrow at the sides so it wouldn't snag on the rider's clothes. Johnny offered his prototype bike to Sir Edmund Hillary and Peter Mulgrew to take with them on a 1964 expedition to build a schoolhouse in the Himalayas. Although the fibreglass fuel tank was damaged in transit and held only a small amount of fuel, the mountaineer liked the bike and gave it its nickname ”Mountain Goat”, that stuck. Johnny Callender sent a picture that was taken with him and the two famous explorers and the prototype bike to Suzuki in Japan. The motorcycle manufacturer liked what they sew. Ther photo was blown up into a giant poster for Suzuki's stand at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show. But they went further than that. From the photo they made an exact replica of the bike and put it on their stand too! This helped Johnny, who had not been granted a license to import mtorcycle parts from Japan from the New Zealand goverment. After the goverment officials realized that this could be a lucrative industry, they gave Johnny a license to import parts enough to build 120 bikes a year. It took some time though, the license was granted in 1966. Johnny built only 120 units of the Mountain Goat. He sold the right to build the bike to Waitara company Motor Components, that made some minor changes to the bike. The new owners had plans to sell up to 1000 Mountain Goats a year, but the Japanese motorcycle industry had beaten them to it. The Suzuki company built its own machine and other Japanese firms were not far behind. Production at the Waitara plant stopped in the 1970s, by which time the Japanese had introduced their version of farm bikes.

The Mountain Goat prototype that was shown at the 1964 Tokyo Motor Show was a replica built by Suzuki Motor Company.

Sir Edmund Hillary and Peter Mulgrew rode the farm bike prototype at Himalayas and gave it it's name ”Mountain Goat”.

Mountain Goat farm bike, as shown in the 1966 brochure

More: Mountain Goat farm bike

More: All Suzuki models
 
Sources: Te Rangi Aoao Nunui (New Zealand)

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