Ian Kennedy

Ian Kennedy is easily one of the least known figures in 1960's British aftermarket cafe racer lore. Names like Paul Dunstall and John Tickle, tend to come to mind when thinking of such things, but make no mistake about the impact that Ian made on the world, with his assortment of cast aluminum bolt on goodies.

Shown above is one of his top yokes. A real thing of beauty in my humble opinion, and I'll tip my hat and show praise to Ian and others that really went out of their way to design, cast and machine such amazing pieces. He helped to create a cottage industry and these things carry a real romantic memory for guys like myself that are either building, restoring or customizing old British motorbikes.

Other than to show respect to Ian, this post is also to inform any loyal follower of my blog, that the story hasn't ended. In some senses, this is only just the beginning. Without getting too long winded, the story starts with my incessant quest to find one of these top yokes for a Norton Dominator that I'm building. Of course, a search like that, takes a long time, and yielded no result. About a year ago, I met Chad of Shop 102 after a trip to Barber Motorsports Park, and we instantly hit it off. He paid a visit to my garage and we talked about all sorts of vintage motorbike topics. Upon my mention of Ian Kennedy, he randomly confessed that he knew a gentleman with the same name, and had been hired by Ian to do some weld repairs to a featherbed frame. Low and behold, it was indeed "The" Ian Kennedy. So I instantly asked if Chad could enquire to see if Ian had a top yoke that he could / would sell to me. After a couple of phone calls, Ian produced the top yoke pictured above, but broke the news that it was his last and only yoke, and was slated to be mounted on a Norton he was building, hence it was not for sale.

But neither Chad or I were content with that, so we spoke with Ian further, and he agreed to loan that last yoke to us, in order to create a new set of castings and granted his permission for us to reproduce a small run of them. If you could imagine our excitement at such an opportunity!

Fast forward a short time more, and we've gotten everything set up to have these cast and finished machined, exactly as they were originally. All of the work will be top notch and done by a firm that's well versed in exactly this same sort of endeavor. There won't be any backyard castings or other such foolish work. We know that these need to be true to the original, but also manufactured to be used. So to cut to the chase, Chad at Shop 102 is now taking pre-orders for these yokes. We need to get 20 of them preordered for the production to commence. It's a break even affair after the tooling, set up and parts are paid for. And it'll likely be a 1 time production run. So if you've been searching for one of these, or just want to get in on a once in a lifetime opportunity, don't waste another minute. Go to Chad's website and place your order today:

Buy Now - Ian Kennedy top yoke

As you'll see, the price is set at $265 which includes shipping if you're in the lower 48 states. All buyers are welcome, but there will be a nominal additional shipping charge in order to get it to you.

Also, please note that this yoke will fit standard Norton forks that take the later 7 3/8" (center to center) yoke. Standard Norton fork legs, with the standard taper. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to email me, or Chad.

Let's all put our money where our mouth is and make this project a reality.

And lastly, a very special thanks to Ian Kennedy, for being a top notch bloke, a pioneer in aftermarket parts and an all around solid human for granting permission for this project to happen.