Another Historic Name Returns!!
They are born again brands. Triumph, Norton, Indian, MV Augusta among others. And now Brough Superior. The renaissance can be the effort of a few men or of a big corporation. It doesn’t matter. As motorcycle lovers we can only wish them success. After 3 years of designing, of prototyping, of road testing, of jumping all the hurdles of homologation, of sourcing vendors, of organising the assembling workshop and of training technicians, the new Brough Superior SS100 is ready for serial production to continue George Brough’s legacy.
Brough Superior’s history starts in 1923 with the first Brough SS100 launched in 1924. SS stands for Super Sports and 100 for the warranted top miles per hour speed the model could reach. Just imagine what it meant to ride a motorcycle at 100 MPH almost one century ago. Brough Superior motorcycles were bought by many celebrities like the Colonel T E Lawrence aka Lawrence of Arabia who owned seven Broughs (one never delivered) and who died in 1935 riding one, and George Bernard Shaw, the famous Irish critic and playwright, critic, polemicist and Nobel prize winner. Dubbed The Rolls Royce of motorcycles the SS100 formed the backbone of the Brough Superior lineup (19 models). Victim of World War II austerity and of lack of materials to manufacture, George Brough’s Nottingham, UK factory closed in 1940.
classic motorcycles bought all the rights of the famous brand. Objective is to keep the SS100 impressive prestige, DNA and main design attributes in a package of modern high-performance, high-quality and inevitably high-priced components. Without success Upham toured England looking for partners and options to produce the new Brough Superior SS100 motorcycle in the UK. Then he had a chance encounter with French designer Thierry Henriette owner of Boxer Design in the south city of Toulouse. An agreement was reached for Thierry Henriette to design the 1st prototype eventually shown in Milan in 2014.
Most striking and distinctive visual element, the original SS100 cigar shaped gas tank has been kept. Another French company, Akira Technologies in the city of Bayonne was given the task to design and build the 997 cc, liquid-cooled eight-valve 88-degree V-twin engine (because George Brough’s last bikes were a 90-degree V-twin.) FYI, Akira is also the builder of the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R motor which powered Tom Sykes to the 2013 World Superbike Championship crown, as well as his teammate Jonathan Rea’s domination in 2015 of the WSBK series.) Bore/Stroke 94 x 71.8mm. Compression ratio 11:1. 127 hp at 7000 rpm. EFI w/ Synerect ECU and two 50mm Synerject throttle bodies, each with a single injector. Engine can be tuned to 140 hp, depending on customer preference. A neat design touch is the integration of the clutch slave cylinder into the primary drive cover, giving the engine casing a sleek look. Transmission 6-speed CIMA. Brake calipers are machined from
Frame is machined titanium frame with fabricated titanium subframe. In the front a Front: Hossack/Fior-type cast aluminum wishbone fork with twin articulated titanium triangular links. Fewer parts on the steering reduces the sprung to unsprung weight ratio, offering great suspension and a comfortable ride. In the rear, a cast aluminum swingarm moving on Öhlins shocks.
Wheels (18” front & rear) are CNC-machined forged aluminium dressed in Dunlop 120/70-18 front and 160/60-18 rear. Brake calipers are cut by Beringer from blocs of aircraft-grade 6082-T6 aluminium alloy pinching four small diameter aluminum-ceramic discs in front, and a single disc and in the rear. Dry weight is 410 lbs (186 kg)
No doubt, the new SS100 keeps the character of the original Brough Superior. Even with a starting price of £55,000 and with many options that can easily push the price to twice, the new SS 100 should attract many fans of the brand, either riders or collectors or both. 700 serious pre-orders from each corner of the globe would have been received.