A Fickle Motorcycle Named 'Goat', 1909

Republished by permission of the California Historical Society and Gary F. Kurutz

“Roaring Around the San Francisco Bay Area on a Fickle Motorcycle Named “Goat” as Recorded in the 1909–1911 Manuscript Logbook of Walter Brooks”

by Gary F. Kurutz

One of the most unusual manuscripts found in the California Historical Society Library’s great treasure trove of handwritten documents is the “Log Book of the Belgian F.N. Four Cylinder Motorcycle ‘Goat’ owned by Walter Brooks.” The logbook also includes a photograph of his motorbike and illustrations of its engine and other details. What makes this so exciting is that there are many handwritten journals and diaries generated by the pioneers documenting overland journeys and sea voyages and even firsthand accounts by motorists narrating their trips in Model T’s, and other early motorcars, but a handwritten logbook of adventures on a motorbike is a true rarity. Brooks, who lived at 1717 Sutter Street in San Francisco’s lower Pacific Heights, purchased his motorcycle on June 26, 1907 and gave it the curious name of “Goat.” However, in his logbook he simply referred to his mechanical mount as “F.N.” As shown by his entries, Brooks rode “F. N.” for pleasure taking twenty-seven day or weekend trips roaring around the Bay Area. One can only imagine what his neighbors and others thought as they would see and hear him whiz by on city streets and country roads clutching the handlebars and squeezing the metal frame with his legs.

Infused with a new sense of freedom, Brooks loved to explore the Bay Area riding his “car on two wheels” down the Peninsula to Redwood City; across the Bay through Oakland to San Jose, or northward by ferry to Sausalito to enjoy the delights of Marin, Sonoma, and Mendocino Counties including the Russian River country. He described in detail road conditions, scenery, other motorcyclists, and where he stopped for lunch or an occasional beer. The left-hand side of his log book included space to note distances traveled, expenses, towns passed through, and reasons for stopping. His first recorded outing took place on March 14, 1909, when he crossed San Francisco Bay by ferry and then motored from Oakland eastward to Dublin or Dublin Corner as he called it. His total expenses for the day amounted to sixty cents which included the ferry trip, gas, lunch in Lafayette, and beer in Dublin. One of his most ambitious outings started at dawn on July 2, 1911, with the goal of visiting Mt. Hamilton and the Lick Observatory with its famous telescope. The motorcyclist scrawled into his logbook a detailed three-page account writing, “At Smith’s Creek [San Mateo County] I had a beer and went on the final seven miles with its 265 turns many of them true hairpin turns and began to see scattered rock along the road that had been shaken down by the earthquake of the day before.” An exhausted Brooks made it to the observatory at 11:35 a.m. and met with Alvin Clark, a staff member who showed him the damage to the delicate astronomical instruments caused by the seismic event. From there, he spun down the mountain and reached San Jose by 4:00 where he had a late lunch. Experiencing enough excitement, he hopped on “F. N.” and made it back home to Sutter Street at 7:52 p.m., finishing an adventure of 155 miles.

However, the joy of these adrenalin pumping sightseeing trips did have a downside. Virtually every entry features some sort of mechanical problem as his 363cc air-cooled inline four-cylinder marvel frequently broke down or balked at having to climb into the bucolic foothills near San Jose which required the very patient Brooks to use “a good deal of leg work” to reach his destination. Even the comparatively mild slope of Sutter Street forced him to walk his beloved but frustrating motorbike home. Fortunately, as well documented in the logbook, Brooks possessed instinctive mechanical skills and patience with “F. N.”, and managed to make it back home having to stay overnight in a hotel only once. It seemed, too, that “F. N.” had an unquenchable thirst for motor oil. Other times, he had to stop and clean spark plugs, adjust the carburetor, or repair a flat tire. At one point, on a trip to Half Moon Bay, he had to be towed by a buggy. Occasionally, too, he noted that some of the turns were dangerous when a horse-drawn wagon or a flivver (Model T Ford) made for close calls or near smash ups. A couple of times, the more appropriately named “Goat” bounced him off of the “compound spring saddle” of his Belgian.

His last entry was made on July 9, 1911, recording a trip with a friend to San Andreas Lake and its dam near Millbrae and San Bruno in San Mateo County. His buddy owned a more reliable and speedier Indian motorcycle. True to form, Brooks encountered much trouble as they returned back to San Francisco, writing: “I had trouble with the carburetor and had to make two tries at a grade but we got back all right and I guess this was about the last long ride I took on the old F. N. as I sold it shortly after this.” Nonetheless, his odometer recorded that he had put 6,205 miles on “F. N.” and it gave him many pleasurable days of adventure bounding over the roads and trails of the San Francisco Bay Area.