KESTREL | 1980 | UK :
The 1980 Kestrel belongs to a brief and crowded moment in British moped history, when the redefinition of what constituted a legal moped, the availability of capable Italian rolling chassis and engines, and the persistent belief that a sports-styled 50cc machine could find a market in Britain combined to produce a wave of ambitious small ventures. Almost all of them vanished as quickly as they appeared.
Kestrel Motorcycles was established by Managing Director Richard Newton, with its head office at 132 High Street, Southampton. Given the hometown’s historical maritime association and some members of the business coming from a powerboat racing background, it was unlikely that glassfibre work would not feature significantly in the design.
The machine’s origins traced back through a lineage of related Hampshire enterprises. In August 1977, Chinwood of Andover presented the AJW Fox Cub, a 50cc automatic Minarelli-powered machine offered as either a moped with pedals or a kick-start motorcycle, destined to become the very last AJW model before discontinuance in February 1979, manufactured in very limited numbers. Kestrel settled on an Anglo-Italian combination for their machine, going to LEM at Lippo di Calderara di Reno near Bologna for most of the rolling chassis components. LEM was a relatively new company, only established in 1973 to manufacture mopeds, scooters and children’s mini-cross bikes. LEM replaced the fabricated sheet frame with a tubular form frame, and updated the spoked wheels to cast alloy.
An initial picture appeared with the first press release in August 1980, describing the bike as powered by a Moto Minarelli 49.6cc single-speed automatic engine, aimed at sales in the sixteener sports moped market, and quoting an initial price of £303.47 plus VAT. A notification had been circulated to the trade, and 63 dealers across the country had reportedly already expressed interest in selling the machines.
Studying the accompanying picture, the cycle chassis comprised a formed tubular spine frame with swingarm rear suspension and telescopic forks, extensively clad with sports-styled glassfibre moulded body fittings, a single saddle, cast alloy wheels and a semi-faired headlamp. Three versions of the KRM50 were announced: an automatic, a four-speed model, and a faired variant. Three Kestrel models were indeed shown at Earls Court, one white, one green and one red, all prototypes based on the earlier fabricated AJW frame. At the Earls Court Show, Kestrel handed out printed promotional cards for the KRM50 specifying alloy wheels with 2.25 by 16-inch tyres. Subsequent to the show, a moped feature on Kestrel appeared in the December 1980 edition of Bike magazine, including press impressions of a black Kestrel sports model.
The trade interest, the show appearance, the press coverage and the dealer network of sixty-three all pointed toward a machine that was genuinely going to happen. It did not. No production followed the prototypes, and the Kestrel name disappeared from the market without explanation. The machines that do survive, and very few are known to exist, carry frame plates reading: manufactured by LEM Motor Italy for Kestrel Motorcycles Ltd. They are among the rarest objects in late British motorcycle history, representing a venture that assembled all the visible components of commercial success and then produced almost nothing.
