The ‘Rolls-Royce Of Motorcycles’ Is Coming To America And Good God, You're Going To Want One - The Autopian (2024)

A century ago, the motorcycle industry was in a wild phase of rapid innovation where pioneers the world over figured out new and exciting ways to make motorcycles faster and more reliable. One builder revved his imagination particularly deeply into the redline, creating machines so grand a journalist dubbed them the “Rolls-Royce of motorcycles.”

That builder was George Brough, namesake of Brough Superior. The original company is long gone, but it has been revived in France with motorcycles that look like the ones of old, but with modern power. Brough Superior has now set up an office in North America, and soon you might see modern interpretations of a British icon right here on our roads.

Retro motorcycles have been on a roll in recent years. Royal Enfield has made a name for itself selling motorcycles that harken back to the 1950s and 1960s but filling them with modern tech like fuel injection and ABS. Japanese marques have been reviving retro designs of their own from the Kawasaki W800 to the Honda Monkey. Vintage style is in and it’s awesome because you can feel like you’re riding a time machine without having to deal with the reliability of a motorcycle that’s older than you are.

Americans are already pretty spoiled for choice for vintage-style rides and now we’re going to get yet another old-school style machine, but this one carries a truly iconic name. Brough Superior, a name so famous people will pay over $100,000 for a good vintage example, is bringing its motorcycles to America.

A British Icon

Many of our American readers may have no idea what Brough Superior is, and I can forgive them. The original Brough Superior stopped producing civilian motorcycles in 1939 and then disappeared entirely after World War II. It’s estimated that Brough built 3,048 motorcycles over 21 years. So, the old-school Brough Superiors are a rare sight, if you’ve even get to see one at all.

The Brough story starts with William E. Brough. According to most sources, Brough was a coal miner who, like many inventors of the era, began experimenting with slapping motors on bicycles and tricycles. William Brough’s first motorcycle was built in 1902 and by 1908, he turned his passion for motorcycles into a business.

William’s son George Brough grew up helping out in his father’s business, where he learned the ins and outs of building motorcycles. The young Brough also became a motorcycle racer, winning the London to Edinburgh and back trial in 1910, 1911, and 1912. Also in 1912 was a first-place finish in the Scottish Six Days Trial. After World War I, George Brough partnered up with his father in the motorcycle business. However, it was reportedly an argument in 1919 that changed the course of motorcycle history.

The alleged disagreement revolved around how best to move forward in the motorcycle business. William was fond of flat tanks and parallel-twin engines while George was smitten by the sorts of V-twins served up by Harley-Davidson. But the young Brough wasn’t going to copy the Americans. Instead, he wanted to build a motorcycle that was better – superior, even – to anything that had come before. His motorcycles would have great power, handling, and quality, not unlike the grand luxury cars of what would become the Roaring Twenties.

To make his luxury motorcycle a reality, George cashed out on the family business in 1919 and in the same year constructed a shop on Haydn Road in Nottingham. Brough Superior Motorcycles was born.

Brough produced just a handful of models over the years, and like other builders, he equipped his motorcycles with the engines and parts of other manufacturers. The first Brough Superiors had 986cc JAP (J.A. Prestwich) V-twins, Amac carburetors, ML magnetos, Sturmey-Archer transmissions, and Montgomery forks. Other engine options included a 999cc sleeve-valve V-twin from Barr & Stroud, or an F-head engine from Motosacoche in Switzerland.

How did he stand out? Even though Brough was using components from other manufacturers, he treated his motorcycles like they were bespoke cars. Those components were custom-ordered and most Brough Superior motorcycles were custom builds. Brough was so obsessed with quality that he built his motorcycles twice.

He built a motorcycle first for parts compatibility and for testing. Then, once he verified everything was good, he tore the motorcycle down, painted and plated the parts, then assembled the motorcycle again. Each motorcycle would then go through testing to ensure it performed exactly as Brough advertised and the motorcycles would go out to their customers with a speed guarantee. If a motorcycle build didn’t meet Brough’s standards, he tore it apart and rebuilt it.

The most famous Brough Superior model was introduced in 1924, and I’ll let the Audrain Auto Museum describe just how awesome the SS100 was and still is:

The Brough Superior SS100 (Super Sports) was designed and built by George Brough in Nottingham, England in 1924. The first custom motorcycle with components chosen from many different suppliers, the SS100 was designed to meet specific customer requirements. All bikes had a guarantee that they were capable of 100 mph (160 km/h). In 1928, George Brough broke his own world record with 130.6 mph (210.2 km/h).

At £200 (equivalent to about $15,000 today), they were advertised by Brough as the “Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles.” The term was coined by a magazine road tester in his review of the bike, and Brough eventually obtained explicit permission to use it after a Rolls-Royce executive toured the Brough Superior factory.

Every owner was encouraged by Brough to suggest their own ideas for developing the SS100, which meant that almost all his motorcycles were uniquely hand-built and the design continually evolving.

Famous SS100 owners included Orson Welles, “Lawrence of Arabia” T.E. Lawrence, and playwright George Bernard Shaw.Sadly, the company wasn’t meant to be. Civilian motorcycle production ceased so Brough Superior could aid in the World War II effort. After the war, Brough claimed to have found no suitable engines for his enterprise, and he decided to close up shop while Brough Superior was still known as one of the best motorcycle manufacturers in the world.

The Rebirth

Reportedly, the Brough Superior name has been passed through a bunch of different caretakers, none of them successful in reviving the storied brand. That was until British motorcycle enthusiast and businessman Mark Upham bought the name in 2008. Like Brough, he wanted to build a lavish, outrageously well-built motorcycle.

In 2009, Upham started building his new motorcycles based on the 1927 design of the Brough Superior SS100, calling his new bikes the Brough Superior SS101. These looked like the real deal and were just as exclusive. Back then, a new Brough Superior would set you back $250,000 or so depending on how you configured it.

Upham passed the reborn Brough Superior name and production to French industrialist and custom motorcycle builder Thierry Henriette. Under Henriette’s ownership, the brand has shifted from replicating the past to building brand-new, advanced motorcycles with the same principles as the Brough of old. And Henriette wasn’t a nobody. He had a reputation for building stellar custom motorcycles since 1979 through his own Boxer Design, so bringing Brough Superior into the future wasn’t an impossible endeavor.

If you want an example of what Henriette worked on before Brough Superior, check out the Aprilia Blue Marlin and the Mondial Nuda. The Mondial is below:

The revived again French Brough Superior first displayed its new SS100 in 2013 and the motorcycle went into production in 2016. Since then, the brand has developed an entire lineup of striking bikes. This summer, Brough Superior is opening stores in select cities, where you’ll be able to plunk down a ton of cash on your choice of three motorcycles.

The SS100

The first motorcycle in the American Brough Superior lineup is the SS100, which is supposed to call back to the SS100 of the 1920s. The company says that each SS100, like all new Brough Superiors, is built by hand in France.

Brough Superior goes on to note that the new SS100 features a titanium frame, a titanium subframe, four disc brakes, LED lighting, and parts machined out of solid blocks of aluminum and you also get a CNC machined block of a rear swingarm. A neat hat trick of a modern Brough Superior is its Fior double-fork suspension. I’ll let Brough Superior explain:

The double wishbone Fior fork machined form billet aluminum dissociates steering and braking functions, resulting in a precise steering and stability that gives a securing feeling. The motorcycle is not diving when braking and remains really stable while cornering with brakes.

Do motorcycles really need a titanium frame and billet aluminum everything? Of course not, but boutique brands love building bikes like this because they’re supposed to be as much art as they are machines. I suppose that’s not too much unlike a modern Rolls-Royce, too.

Power comes from a 997cc 88-degree V-twin of Boxer Design of Toulouse, France. It is built and designed by Akira Engineering of Bayonne and it’s making 102 HP and 64 lb-ft of torque. Earlier, I mentioned how the SS100 has four disc brakes. To elaborate further, that’s four 230mm Beringer rotors just for the front wheel that are clamped on by two four-piston Beringer calipers. The rear wheel gets one 230mm rotor with a two-piston caliper. The motorcycle also rides on 18-inch wheels and has a weight of 410 pounds said to be distributed perfectly 50/50.

Looking at Brough Superior’s website, in addition to having your motorcycle customized to your liking, you can also order your SS100 in different colorways and with different fairings, each paying homage to some famous SS100 of the past.

Missing from Brough Superior’s advertising is a guaranteed top speed, which seems like a miss since guaranteed speeds were such a big deal to the original company. Also unclear is how many units Brough Superior plans on selling in the United States. Brough Superior’s website suggests that the brand sells a limited number of motorcycles each year. For example, Brough Superior marked a maximum of 617 units of the SS100 to be produced in 2022.

The Lawrence

Next up is the modern interpretation of the Brough Superior ridden by T.E. Lawrence, and this one looks pretty far out. Here’s Brough Superior’s description:

The latest addition to Brough Superior’s French workshop, Lawrence is the ultimate 21st century pillion motorcycle. Its luxurious aesthetics were inspired by the sleek, flowing curve of the traditional Bedouin dagger used by Lawrence of Arabia – the man who helped bring this brand its legendary status and who also inspired this eponymous motorcycle.

As noted above, this one stands out because it has a seat for a passenger. Otherwise, the Lawrence borrows a lot of the tech from the SS100. That includes the titanium frame pieces, the Fior-type forks, and the same 102 HP engine. Both motorcycles even have the same wheelbase of 60.2 inches. Like the SS100, the Lawrence’s adjustable front suspension has 4.7 inches of travel while an adjustable monoshock in the rear travels 5.1 inches. Even the weight is exactly the same at 410 pounds.

What’s different here is the carbon fiber tank, which is shaped to look like a Brough Superior of old. The seat also sits 31.8 inches from the ground compared to the SS100’s ever so slightly different seat height of 32.2 inches. Weirdly, another change here is that the Lawrence has two 320mm front rotors as compared to the four 230mm front rotors of the SS100.

Once again, you can get your Lawrence with its carbon fiber body in different colors. There’s also the sweet Brough Superior Nefud, which is a Lawrence with knobby tires, a scrambler-style exhaust, and a skid plate. I’m not sure anyone will be taking one of these on an adventure, but I love the look. Once again, we don’t have any data on top speed or production numbers.

The Aston Martin Collab

Finally, we get to Brough Superior’s wild special edition motorcycle, the AMB 001 Pro. In 2022, Aston Martin and Brough Superior collaborated to create a track-only superbike inspired by the looks of the Valkyrie AMR Pro track car. Brough Superior is also bringing that one to America and has this to say about it:

Offered in 2 PRO specifications, the successor to the sold-out AMB 001 was inspired by Aston Martin’s no rules track hyper car Valkyrie AMR Pro. Like its inspiration, AMB 001 PRO takes track performance to the extreme, offering a 25% power increase on its predecessor, with its 225 HP producing a power to weight ratio of 1.28 hp/kg, similar to that of a Formula One® car.

AMB 001 Pro is offered in two spectacular racing liveries; Aston Martin Verdant Jade, with Photon Lime accents creates a bold modern look whilst Aston Martin Racing Green paired with Lime Essence pays a nod to Aston Martin’s winning bloodline on the track. Both specifications feature satin finished carbon fiber bodywork and wheels, with high performance black Cerakote for the engine and suspension.

The marketing copy goes on to talk about how the bike has an Aston Martin badge that’s thinner than human hair. Neat. Brough Superior says that the frame of this one is CNC-machined aluminum frame and uses the engine as part of its structure. This connects to an aluminum swingarm, also CNC-machined, that pivots inside the engine case. Notably, the Brough Superior track bike has a smaller 57.5-inch wheelbase than the road bikes.

At 396 pounds, it’s also 14 pounds lighter than Brough Superior’s road machines. Some of that low weight is due to the carbon fiber wheels, which would normally be aluminum in other Brough Superior models.

Also new is the 997cc 88-degree V-twin that Brough Superior says was milled from a solid block of 5000 series aluminum. In the original AMB 001, the turbocharged engine made 180 HP. Now, it’s making 225 HP in the Pro version. The rest of the parts of the AMB 001 Pro read like the parts list for the Brough Superior Lawrence, including the Fior-type forks, the pair of 320mm front disc brakes, and machined aluminum parts. Now, you just get them with a carbon fiber body featuring Aston Martin wings.

Coming Soon, If You Have The Cash

Brough Superior says it’s on a path to opening up global sales. The brand opened up shop in Japan earlier this year and will be spending the summer expanding across America. Prior to this announcement, Brough Superior said it was quietly building a dealership network in America.

The flagship Brough Superior store is due to open in Malibu, California in May 2024. After that, Brough Superior says to expect stores to open in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, and Texas. The brand says that when these stores open, you’ll be able to place an order for a Brough Superior that’s been hom*ologated for U.S. and Canadian roads, so you shouldn’t have any issues getting plates for it.

Here’s the rough part. Are you sitting down? The SS100 and the Lawrence carry a starting price of $81,075. That’s before you add any options or customization. The track-only AMB 001 Pro will set you back at least $183,895. If you thought Harley-Davidson was expensive, the “Rolls-Royce of motorcycles” laughs at that.

That said, you’ll very likely be getting a motorcycle befitting of comparison to a Rolls-Royce. Motorcycle journalist Paul D’Orleans, who has owned four Brough Superiors and rode one across America, is one of the few lucky people to have tested a new Brough Superior. He feels the new bikes deliver the kind of quality, performance, and unique experience ol’ George Brough would have approved of.

It’s unlikely I’ll ever find a way to squeeze a six-figure motorcycle in my fleet, but I’d love to swing a leg over one of these time machines. At the very least, it’s awesome to see a project like this even reach reality.

(Images: Brough Superior, unless otherwise noted.)