Iconic Brough Superior brand
to make comeback?
ONE of the genuine legends of 20th Century motorcycle design and performance, the Brough Superior, is set to make a comeback in the hands of Switzerland based British entrepreneur Mark Upham.
Upham bought the rights to the brand name when they were put up for auction in 2007, three years before Brough Superior motorcycles and JAP engine brand name owner Alec Card died.
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| The new SS100 was designed in partnership with Boxer Design of Toulouse, France |
Brough Superior was considered the premium motorcycle brand of the 1920s and 1930s, and although only some 3,000 were made between 1919 and closure of the business in 1940, the formidable reputation of the brand has remained undiminished despite its short-lived glory days.
The cache of Brough Superior ownership was enhanced not only by their cost, build quality, and performance but also by many of the people who owned and enjoyed them – from playwright George Bernard Shaw through to T E Lawrence (AKA Lawrence of Arabia) who owned seven or eight of them and met his untimely death on a Brough Superior in a Dorset, England, country lane in 1935.
The model that first made the brand’s reputation was the SS100 (Super Sports, 100 mph), and even though less than 400 were manufactured between 1924 and 1940, it is still regarded as setting the Gold Standard in terms of pre WWII motorcycles.
At the EICMA (‘Milan’) show in Italy in early November, Mark Upham’s incarnation of the brand received a debut that saw a new interpretation of the SS100 unveiled to considerable acclaim.
Said to be easily capable of and individually tuned for handling at 100 mph when it was first unveiled as a cradle framed OHV v-twin in 1924, the SS100 shown at EICMA is a liquid cooled 4-stroke 4 valve per cylinder DOHC 88 degree v-twin 1000 (actually, 997 cc!) in a steel and titanium tubular trellis frame.
Featuring Swedish-made Öhlins suspension and French-made 4-disc Ceramic Beringer Aerotec brakes with 18 inch 18 spoke wheels front and rear, the bike weighs in at 180 Kg (395 lb) dry, has a steering angle of 24.6 degrees, 96.7 mm trail and a wheel base of 1,550 mm.
With power said to be between 100 and 140 hp at 10,000 rpm (125 Nm torque @ 8,000 rpm) and an 11:1 compression ratio, this 21st century take on the SS100 is no mere retro.
The engine’s cylinders are integrated into a horizontal seal plan semi-dry crank case with ECU setups based on the same attention to individual customer requests that characterised the bespoke build approach that George Brough brought to all Brough Superior models in their original heyday.
Design and engineering has been in collaboration with noted motorcycle specialist Boxer Design, based near Toulouse, France, and after so many motorcycle design successes in the past 25 years, internationally respected head of design Thierry Henriette described the opportunity to work on the new SS100 as "a dream come true project."
With Jay Leno's support Upham took his incarnation of Brough to Bonneville in 2011 to race (successfully as it transpired) in the AGV Class, and returned with an additional second (750cc) bike this year for equally rewarding cracks at further landmarks.
The first hand-finished bespoke 'production' examples are expected to make their way into owners’ hands in 2014, but expect numbers to be low and prices reassuringly high with saltflat- wide grin-factor!
www.broughsuperiormotorcycles.com
