All-New Brough Superior Ss100

ALL-NEW BROUGH SUPERIOR SS100

THE FIRST NEW BROUGH TEST RIDE IN MORE THAN 70 YEARS

Paul d’Orléans

WANT TO GET BIKERS UP IN ARMS? Revive a hallowed brand. Established manufacturers often get a pass when producing even ugly or ill-considered motorcycles, and nobody questions their right to exist, but a new manufacturer using an old name fights steep resistance, no matter how committed it is. Brough Superior owner Mark Upham is doing

his best to honor the spirit of the late George Brough, which is probably impossible in the 21st century because Brough invented a genre—the luxury motorcycle—that was bombed out of existence in World War II.

First-generation Brough Superiors were built between 1919 and 1940 and immediately earned a reputation for quality, innovation, handling, speed, and beauty. They were the most expensive and fastest motorcycles in the world, and their lustrous finish earned them the tagline, “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles.” Rolls didn’t object. Above all, George Brough was a PR genius, crafting an image via selected competitions (ones he was likely to win), flamboyant personal style, a gift for turning a phrase, and the regular patronage of celebrities like TE Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia. It isn’t likely for a motorcycle to be all those things today, as “fastest” seems irrelevant and most expensive is a matter of adding zeros.

Since we live in a different world today, what remains to link old Brough and new is aesthetics, innovation, and quality. The 2016 Brough Superior SS100 makes a strong pitch for all these. One of George’s innovations, and a hallmark of the brand, was the industry’s first saddle tank, which was nickel-plated and shapely, with a rounded nose and pleasing proportions. The new Brough Superior lifts its tank design directly from a 1920s Pendine racing model, which used triple straps to bind tank to frame; it’s the visual DNA of a Brough Superior and a feature Upham insisted on. Underneath that old-style tank (built in polished aluminum) we leave the past behind and enter the 21st century, with a unique engine and innovative chassis.

The heart of the beast is a V-twin set at 88 degrees, which provides (nearly) perfect balance like those 90-degree units in Ducati and Moto Guzzi, but looks wide to a traditionalist. It’s a

bespoke engine from the firm Boxer Design of Toulouse, France, a liquid-cooled eight-valve DOHC unit of 997CC that produces a claimed 120 hp. The Boxer Design engine is built and developed by Akira Engineering of Bayonne, which certainly has the chops—its Kawasaki ZX-10R engines currently dominate World Superbike racing.

The chassis is both innovative and expensive, with a mix of titanium, aluminum, and magnesium for the frame and swingarm, carbon-fiber wheels, aluminum bodywork, and a double-wishbone fork. Front and rear suspension use Öhlins units, and that fork is a gift from Claude Fior, who never patented his design from the 1980s.

It’s still avant-garde but

very well developed, with lots of track time; BMW’s Duolever fork is also Fior-based. The small-diameter aircraft-industrysourced Behringer brakes are incredibly powerful, with quad rotors on the front wheel. Actual braking ability is the most radical departure from old Broughs, whose stopping power never equaled their 100-mph potential.

The new Brough Superior prototype debuted four years ago, but few road reports have made it to American shores, principally because Brough won’t be marketed here for a year or so (testing plus regulations equals $$$), and none are currently in the US. Therefore, the American market is a low priority, but that didn’t stop Boxer Design principal Thierry Henriette, the man who’s building the new Broughs, from arranging a test ride last June at the Wheels & Waves festival in Biarritz, France.

The SS100 is probably the lightest-looking literbike on the market, with lots of empty space around the engine and beneath the saddle. The claimed dry weight is just less than 400 pounds, excellent for a 120-hp machine, and throwing the bike around

corners is easy. It s not razor sharp like a racer; it feels like a fast street machine, and realworld handling is totally intuitive. I stepped off a 1974 Norton Commando and onto the SS100, and the feeling was familiar at all speeds, except flat-out. At speeds more than too mph, the Brough was still charging hard, and pushing the bike through the Corniche’s coastal-Francearea bends felt completely stable, predictable, and modern.

The power is yeehaw-level good but not insane—let’s just say passing traffic wasn’t even a thought, and clear roads offered breathtakingly fun motorcycling, with super-secure handling and great noise. Even a good squeeze on those crazy (non-ABS) Behringer brakes midcorner felt perfectly safe.

An hour’s ride back and forth on the coast road left me with a big smile and a desire to own an SS100—the “cheap” one that is. At 45,000 pounds sterling (about $60,000), the new SS100 is 10 percent the price of a 1920s model and therefore a bargain!

Well, any other bike is cheap by that metric.

The Boxer engine is a bit reminiscent in feel of a mid1920s JAP 99OCC OHV racing motor, which was the heart of the original SS100. It wasn’t meant for the street and had a nervous disposition, which the new engine shares. There’s a slight harshness to the primary and camshaft drive of the Boxer motor. For a small producer’s wholly new engine, it’s something of a miracle it works so damn well. The gear-change is firm and accurate, the clutch is progressive and strong, and the Öhlins suspension does its job unobtrusively. And the looks: Love ’em or hate ’em, they’re distinctive and telegraph the quality of the machine’s construction.

I’ve spent more saddle time on vintage Brough Superiors than new sportbikes, having ridden a 1933 B-S across the States in the 2014 Cannonball. I’ve also been a B-S owner’s club member since the 1980s, having owned four models, back when they were semi-affordable to 99-percenters. Therefore, I’m the

most likely candidate to make mouth-frothing accusations of “blasphemy!” for use of the Brough name, but I’ve known Mark Upham for years, and he’s also an arch enthusiast of the marque. That doesn’t mean he’ll make a decent new motorcycle, but when journalist Alan Cathcart introduced Upham to Boxer boss Henriette, he landed in the right hands. Henriette was excited by the project’s challenges and has made an intriguing motorcycle that is totally up to date with terrific performance, a retro, classy vibe, and a totally unique look. It actually fills the vacant niche of the Gentleman’s Motorcycle. Would George have approved? I do believe he would. E1U