Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/205581
P26 IN THE WIND parts supplier for the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine powering the historic Spitfire fighter aircraft. Brough Superior never resumed postwar motorcycle production, but that will now change, according to company owner Mark Upham who acquired the company in 2008 and started building new examples of the iconic 1930s Brough Superior SS100. But now Upham has decided to re-launch Brough Superior with a modern range of highperformance, high-quality and inevitably high-priced models, employing advanced technology, high-class materials and radical design. To do so, he's collaborating with French designer Thierry Henriette, owner of Boxer Design in Toulouse, France, to create the first model in this range - an all-new SS100 that has made its public debut at the Milan Show. Powered by a specially-developed fuel-injected 88-degree V-twin semi dry-sump engine created by Akira Engineering in Bayonne, France (builders of the Kawasaki ZX-10R motors that powered Tom Sykes to the 2013 World Superbike Championship), production of the new Brough Superior SS100 is planned to start in a year - after development of this all-new motorcycle is complete. The SS100 uses many advanced engineering solutions and high-tech components, including using the liquid-cooled 997cc V-twin engine (measur- ing 94 x 71.8mm) as a fully loadbearing chassis component, with a small tubular titanium upper space-frame bolted to the cylinder heads to locate the front suspension. Running 11:1 compression, this eight-valve power unit with chain-driven DOHC will produce up to 140hp at 10,000 rpm, according to Boxer, with a meaty peak torque figure of 125Nm at 8000 rpm. Customers who prefer rideability over speed will also have a lower-performance option available to them. In fact, all new Brough Superior motorcycles will be built on a bespoke basis for each owner, says Upham – a spinoff of the steep projected Euro 50,000 selling price. "Brough Superior is a prestige marque, and just as George Brough did when he founded the company, every motorcycle we construct today will be built to the specific instructions of each customer, and tailored to suit his needs, just like a bespoke suit," Upham said. "Our customers are entitled to expect only the very best, and that's what we'll be delivering to them." Most immediately eye-catching of the many avant-garde features on the slim, rangy-looking (wheelbase is 1550mm) new Brough Superior is the front suspension, which combines a retro appearance with ultra-modern design. Based on the Fior Design wishbone fork system created by French engineer Claude Fior, this was copied by BMW in creating the Duolever fork equipping its current four- and sixcylinder K-series models. BMW has given credit for the design to Zimbabwean engineer Norman Hossack. Without ever patenting it, Fior had already developed an identical such wishbone front suspension design some years earlier, and indeed before Hossack ever built his first bike with such a