The Kestrel started as the unit-engine of a 1970 Triumph Bonneville, with damage to it's gearbox. Ian's solution was to cut the transmission off, redesign the engine, then make the frame from scratch to fit the new engine set up. With the exception of a few critical pieces such as the crankcases, a BSA transmission, and 10 inches of the original Triumph headstock, everything else – including the frame, girder front forks, gas and oil tanks, exhausts, handlebars, levers, even the cylinders - was fabricated in-house. Every design element, from handle bars to foot controls is sketched out, hand drawn by Ian, and then machined to detail in-house by Ian , Scott and Troy...

Our new motorcycle has been a long time coming... In 2008 we made the Bullet (a custom Triumph, based on a 1950 Thunderbird) and lost our workshop. In 2009, we found a new one in the form of a welding factory downtown... and started to turn it into a space where we'd be able to start to build our custom motorcycles and not have to stop again. By the end of 2009, we were ready and rearing to go, and the 'Kestrel Falcon', our first bike since the Bullet is finally completed. 


After shaping and polishing it (for days) into a shape he was happy with, Ian clamped the remaining half of the unit-engine onto a rotary table, and machined it to be able to accept his design for the primary cover.


The engine's matching frame started out as a botched bobber project from the 70s. All of the damaged frame members, hard tail and the other unsightly frame sections filled with endless gobs of terrible welding were removed. All that was left was the cast neck piece and a short stretch of down tube. The new frame was constructed precisely from new DOM steel, on a custom-made cast iron and solid aluminum frame jig.


Ian made a jig for the engine case so that he could mount it, and eventually the various pieces of his engine design could be aluminum welded together.


Saving a couple of the original castings from a damaged 1940s BSA girder front fork assembly, and using new DOM steel, a set of custom-sized front forks were fabricated on a precision jig table, specifically designed to make sure the end result is true within a tenth of a degree — far superior to what came out of the factory at the time.


The Kestrel girder forks and frame were constructed in the technique of frame assembly, consistent with 1970 - by lugging and sweating in frame sections using silver solder.


The custom front forks were engineered to fit a Triumph hub that Ian heavily modified and reshaped.


One of the more complex customizations on the Kestrel are its unique cylinders, designed by Ian and fully constructed in-house  on our CNC, calling upon the expertise of our machinist Dan Kanzler. The cylinders incorporate a prototype fin design that that mates round fins on the bottom to the diamond-shaped fins on the original triumph head.



The Kestrel’s timing cover started out as a rare and desirable ARD racing magneto housing from the 60s, that Ian modified to drive the alternator. This was merged with a pre-unit rear half containing the mounting triangle for a BTH magneto. It took him three and a half days of meticulously carving and grinding the complex puzzle pieces by hand, to ensure that these multiple components from different eras, that were not meant to connect, fit together perfectly and function flawlessly.


The oil tank was made from a sheet of aluminum, and shaped around a carved wooden form, designed to mirror the curve of the rear wheel.



The Kestrel falcon gas tank was made from sheets of steel.


Over 2000 hours of designing, machining, stretching, hammering, rolling and hand-carving have been labored into the Kestrel... Ian's final bow to a decade of building custom Triumph-specific twins....



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