Brough Motorcycles

This is the story of the 'Best Motorcycle You
Never Heard Of'. Englishman George Brough
followed in the footsteps of his father as
one who tinkered with bicycles and motorbikes.
In 1908 George produced his first motorcycle at
his Nottingham, England plant. From the very
beginning, Brough emphasized quality in every
one of his bikes. Employees stated that Brough
wanted three people to check every fitting and
bolt on his motorcycles. Every bike went through
a 100 mile test ride before being offered for sale.
Brough secured his engines from a couple of
suppliers. Most of the Brough bikes came with a
engine from the JAP Company, named after James
A. Prestwich. During a lull in the late 1920's some
bikes came with a Matchless engine when labor
unions were giving the JAP Company problems.
Brough marketed his bikes in America as 'Yank
Busters', an obvious reference to Harley Davidson
and Indian motorcycles. World War I hero T.E.
Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) had seven
different Brough motorcycles and met his death
on May 13, 1935 while riding one. That particular
Brough bike is in the museum at Hampshire, England.
Despite being built from 1908 through 1936, only
about one thousand Broughs are still known to
be in existence. Each of them valued from fifty thousand
dollars up to one hundred thousand dollars. The
photos accompanying this post are of a 1935
Brough Superior SS100. When the automobile speed
limit in 1935 was rated at 45 miles per hour, this
motorcycle was guaranteed to run over 100 MPH.