Brough Superior SS 100 MK2 2024 — Specifications

Certain names carry the weight of an entire era. Brough Superior is one of them. During the interwar period, when Vincent, BSA, and AJS were vying for supremacy on the roads of the British Empire, a single manufacturer stood above the fray, building machines by hand, one by one, as a Swiss watchmaker would craft its complications. T.E. Lawrence, colonel of Arabia and a romantic figure of the 20th century, owned seven. That detail often suffices to close the debate.

The name remained silent for decades, before a certain Mark Upham bought the brand in 2008. The resurrection takes place far from Nottingham, carried by Boxer Design, the French house of Thierry Henriette, who is notably responsible for the VB1 and the SSR 1000. This is no coincidence. Boxer knows how to build motorcycles that look like sculptures, and the SS100 MK2 confirms this talent with a stylistic coherence that few confidential manufacturers achieve. The aluminum tank, long and taut, strapped with inclined metal fasteners, the redesigned fenders, the conical exhaust pipes; each modification of this 2024 version seems to have been weighed to the gram, as if touching the original balance risked breaking something essential.

The engine comes from another French house, Akira, developed in collaboration with Boxer. This 88-degree V-twin, 997 cm3, delivers 102 horsepower at 9,600 rpm and 87.3 Nm at 7,300 rpm. This is not Ducati with its superbikes that pummel 200 horsepower, and no one is mistaken. The SS100 does not seek to shatter a chronograph on the track. Its top speed of 200 km/h is quite sufficient for its register. What strikes here is the finish of the block: liquid cooling, double overhead camshafts, injection, four valves per cylinder, but above all a visual presentation that is as much a work of artistic foundry as of engineering. We do regret a few hoses that are insufficiently concealed, a detail that clashes in this universe of parts machined from solid.

The chassis tells the same story. The tubular trellis frame in titanium is deliberately reduced to its simplest expression, the engine providing a load-bearing function and occupying all the visual space. The Fior-type front suspension, in magnesium-aluminum alloy with titanium support triangles and a central Öhlins damper, betrays a thorough technical reflection. The suspension works independently of the steering, which limits the diving effect during braking. At the rear, the same philosophy with an aluminum-magnesium swingarm, reinforced at the top and bottom, piloted by an Öhlins. For braking, Brough chose Beringer and its 4D system with small 230 mm discs, double at the front with four pistons and three pads per caliper, single at the rear concealed in the swingarm. The whole weighs little, brakes hard, and generates discussion in the pits. With 186 kg dry, the machine remains in an accessible physical register, even if its price of 71,500 euros reserves it for a clientele that does not consult their bank account before signing.

This is not a motorcycle for everyone, and that is precisely its project. Like Avinton in France or Ecosse in Scotland, Brough Superior addresses rolling collectors, enthusiasts capable of appreciating each threaded screw and each TIG weld as much as the sensation of riding. You do not buy it to replace a supersport or a versatile road bike. You buy it because you have tried everything else and you are looking for something that mass production cannot offer. The SS100 MK2 has that something. With its minor imperfections and its overall coherence, it fully deserves the heritage it carries.