FIRST LOOK
P46
BROUGH SUPERIOR MOTO2
also very light and agile. But the
thing that stands out most is the
way it absorbs bumps even when
you're trail-braking very late and
very hard into a turn, because
the front end has such little stiction when the bike is leaned over.
With a conventional telescopic
fork, when you get a full lean
and the forks get twisted and
bound with lateral forces, they
don't work as good as they normally should – but on this bike
the front keeps right on working
well. It gives you an awful lot of
confidence to attack the corners
at full lean even with the brakes
hard on. It has so much potential
once you get your head around
the different things it'll do that a
conventional bike will not."
Brough Superior, founded in
1919, was the manufacturer of the
world's fastest, most desirable
and most exclusive motorcycles
in the pre-WW2 era, of which
only 3000 were made before the
company ceased production in
1939 with the advent of war.
It did not resume production of
motorcycles after the war ended,
but that will change in the near future, according to company owner Mark Upham, who acquired
the company in 2008. Since purchasing the brand, Upham has
been building brand new examples of the iconic Brough Superior SS100 that in many ways was
the first true Superbike.
Prices start at $250,000, and
Upham reveals that almost all of
his customers already own a period Brough, but have ordered a
modern-day replica with added
convenience that he or she can
ride regularly.
Now Upham has decided to
relaunch Brough Superior with
a modern range of high-performance, high quality and inevitably high-priced models, using
what he claims will be advanced
technology and radical design.
"We shall be commencing
with a V-twin model range, but
it won't stop there," he says.
"We're working flat out to get the
first example ready for the EICMA
Milan Show in November of what
will be a series of different model
families – some with more than
two cylinders. But I won't be revealing anything more until then,
other than to say that each motorcycle we construct will be fully
bespoke, built to the specific instructions of each customer."
It's understood that such customers will be faced with a price
starting at $50,000 upwards for
the privilege of Brough owner-
