Mountain Goat, a marque that goes way back to the beginnings of mountain biking in the early 80′s, has been revived by First Flight Bikes, a shop out of North Carolina. At first, they offered only U.S. built customizable frames with some options for totally over the top paint jobs, which the earlier iteration of Mountain Goat was well known for. These frames were in the 3K range and were out of the reach of many enthusiasts. Mountain Goat answered the call for a lesser expensive option with the upcoming “Escape Route” 29″er.
Interestingly, the first version of Mountain Goat sold an overseas produced frame called the “Escape Goat”, so it seems the new model name is in keeping with Mountain Goat’s heritage. Even the paint scheme fits the mold.
Image courtesy of the Mountain Goat Blog.
The frames are still in the pre-production phase and when available, should retail in the $1500.00 range. (See Editor’s Note below for an update) The frames all will come with sliding drop outs to accommodate geared or single speed set ups. For more information, see the First Flight blog, the Mountain Goat blog, or Mountain Goat’s website.
Editor’s Note: Updated by First Flight on the pricing: The Escape Route should retail for $700.00 range for a frame. U.S. built frames will start around $1399.00. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Where’s the bottle opener??!!!
The first two prototypes are in the shop and being built to test the spec so hopefully we will have an update very soon. Retail should be in the $700 range with the “Escape Route”. The American built models start out at $1399.99 with a single color powdercoat.
As for the bottle opener, we have had Mike Ahrens make us some Mountain Goat wisecrackers
That is a good lookn’ frame. Man, I remember the bikes Jeff did. Classic stuff.
@wESd: I updated the post to reflect your comments. Thanks.
Should correct the original text as some people might not read any further after seeing the misprinted price tag.
@Anonymous: How’s that?
I would buy a Mountain Goat just for nostalgia purposes. I remember drooling over a Mountain Goat at White Pine Touring in Park City, Utah, probably in 1987 or 1988. I owned a 1986 Bridgestone MB-2 and bought a used Mountain Klein frame shortly thereafter (complete with U-Brake
)
Kick me, but I don’t know what special about that frame.
Are they bringing anything new to the table?
I’m digging that frame. Love the retro (grouch) look. Makes me think of my old Fats…
If they are like the geometry on the ‘Goat website they will be pretty std 29er type. Nowt wrong with that and they look great (love the old pannel and spatter paint!) but as you nothing new and one more choice for a reasonable steel HT 29er.
29er geometry (with a couple of exceptions) has pretty much settled down to regular and G2 / Fisher flavours much like the 26″ market did in the late 80′s / early 90′s.
I am waiting for the “underground” geometry frames to start making more of an impact like the Bontrager, WTB and EWR frames did back then (although Mark Slate has started!)
SSP
we have the two prototypes built up at the shop and hope to take some better pics before we head off to NAHBS but will definitely post them after if we dont get to it before. Jeff took some pics of his as I built it up the other night before taking them on the maiden voyage. First pics of it are at http://www.mountaingoatcycles.blogspot.com