Want to get bikers up in arms? Revive a hallowed brand. Established manufacturers get a pass when producing 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 to the old name. 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.
2017 Brough Superior SS100.
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 nickname “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 T.E. Lawrence, otherwise known as Lawrence of Arabia. It isn’t likely for a motorcycle to be all those things today, as “fastest” seems irrelevant, most expensive is a matter of adding zeros, and today’s heroes are tomorrow’s targets for scandal. Just imagine a T.E. Lawrence cell phone hack, with his leather bed sheets and masochistic inclinations…
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https://www.cycleworld.com/2017-brough-superior-ss100-road-test-motorcycle-review
