The Brough Superior motorcycle was a bike ahead of its time and a shining example of British workmanship. That's why Jay Leno owns six.
As much as
I like motorcycles, I'm not about the black-leather, tough-guy,
motorcycle-gang image that seems to have strong appeal here in America—you
know, that "Yo, bro" kind of thing, riding into town and making
noise. There's nothing wrong with that, but I've always admired the British and
European version of motorcycling, which celebrates bikes as a superior
and—certainly in the '20s and '30s—a faster form of transportation.
That's why I like the Brough (pronounced bruff) Superior, a legendary
British motorcycle built from 1919 to 1940. During that time Broughs were the
best bikes you could buy and were associated with wealthy, well-educated
people. When George Brough split off from his father's motorcycle company, he
called his bikes Brough Superior, so people would know they'd been improved. He
was something of a P.T. Barnum, but he was also a successful motorcycle racer.
He once won 51 consecutive races before a blown tire ended his streak and
racing career. But you know what? The bike still crossed the finish line.
George just wasn't on it.
George Brough had no inhibitions about seeing a good design and
copying it. His machines had a level of fit and finish that was far better than
anything else—certainly in Great Britain. Much like the early Rolls-Royce, the
Brough was a triumph of workmanship over engineering. Many models had two of
everything—magnetos, carburetors, oil pumps, exhausts, and mufflers. And at a
time when the average British motorcycle was built for two people and could go
only 60 to 70 mph, Broughs were built for a single rider, and the most powerful
models could top 100 mph.
Visually, Broughs are stunning. When you look at one, it's like
opening the back of a watch. They are a classic case of old-fashioned, with
their exposed valve gear and oil lines. You see the rocker arms going up and
down, and the Pilgrim oil pump even has a glass window where you can watch the
oil pumping through. The Brough still has the best-looking gas tank in
motorcycle history—stretched lozenge shape, chromed side panels, gold-leaf
striping, and black lacquer top.
George Brough didn't like exposed cables; he liked a very clean
look. So the throttle cable ran through the twist grip and the handlebars. The
brake cables were routed under the tank. If you enjoy using a hand shift, you
can feel the lever snick-snick into a gated slot the way you would on a
Ferrari. When it clicks you know you're in that gear, and suddenly you're going
60 or 70 mph. It's not like bikes today, where speed is effortless. There's a
bit of work and concentration involved in a Brough, and it's all quite linear.
With their large-displacement engines, Broughs were the fastest
bikes of the 1920s and 1930s. George Brough designed his motorcycles around the
tank, then he'd have the top engine manufacturers such as J.A. Prestwich (J.A.P.),
Matchless, Motosacoche, and Barr & Stroud build engines to his
specification. He tried inline fours, V-4s, and even an Austin Seven car
engine. In this regard, G.B. was ahead of his time. Most small automotive
manufacturers today are boutique operators. They search for the best brakes,
like Brembo, and the best engines, like AMG. George Brough was doing that in
the 1920s.
Brough built only about 3000 motorcycles. Back then a new Brough
cost the equivalent of a small house in England, and owning a Brough was
something to shoot for. They were rare bikes, and most people only ever got to
see a black-and-white photo of a Brough Superior. If a Brough went through a
village, motorcycle enthusiasts would talk about it for weeks.
Brough prices today have gone crazy. In 1982 or 1983, this one
guy wanted $10,000 for a 1929 SS 100. I thought that was just ridiculous. Then
they started to go up in value. In 1987, I said, "Okay, I'll buy it for 10
grand." The guy told me, "It's 30 grand now." I said, "I'm
not paying 30 grand for that bike." Then the '90s came, and I called him
again. "I'll give you 30 grand." Let's just say I finally ended up
buying that bike for a lot more money than when we started.
The SS 100 is the greatest bike Brough built. It has a Bonniksen
Isochronous speedometer with a very accurate watch-type movement and a
trip-distance display. The speedometer has two needles that take turns
indicating the speed. So while one needle rests at 50, which also serves as 0,
the other sweeps around the dial, briefly pausing on the current speed. If
you're going above 50 mph, the indicating needle does a full pass around the
dial, and there's a bit of math involved. Then it's the second needle's turn.
I own six Broughs: a 1929 SS 100, a 1939 SS 100 (the most modern,
and my favorite), a 1932 SS 80, two 1934 11-50s (they were police bikes), and a
1930 680. They are all great fun to ride. You can hear the valves ticking—CHIH!
CHIH! CHIH!—and the Pilgrim oil pump pulsing. It's all very
mechanical. People are astonished when I roll up on a Brough. Enthusiasts know
about them and remember the 1962 movie Lawrence
of Arabia, but most
people have never actually seen one. So it's fun telling them about the bike.
I think it's fair to say that T.E. Lawrence, whose life was the inspiration
for the movie, embodied the Brough mystique. A British army officer and a huge
figure during World War I, Lawrence liked fast motorcycles and owned seven
Broughs. He died on May 19, 1935, after crashing his SS 100 when he swerved to
avoid two bicyclists. The movie opens with his fatal accident.
Fine motorcycles in Britain are cherished; you take care of
them. That's why so many Broughs have survived. They were advertised as
"The Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles." Rolls didn't like this one bit. The
story goes that when G.B. got wind that Rolls was sending a representative over
to his factory to tell him to stop, he had his men wear white coats and gloves.
The Rolls inspector was so impressed with the attention to detail, he decided
Brough had the same standards, and Rolls-Royce let him continue to use the
slogan. That was the kind of showman George Brough was. Even if his bikes were
the fastest, he would add 10 or 15 mph just to have that extra edge. And Brough
Superior motorcycles still have it.
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