George Brough created Brough Superior after leaving his father’s motorcycle business. The machines combined powerful proprietary engines, careful assembly and a reputation for performance and finish. The SS80 and especially SS100 became symbols of inter-war prestige; surviving examples connect motorcycling with luxury engineering and record-breaking culture.
Motorcycles / Manufacturers / Brough Superior
Motor Museum · Motorcycles · Since 1919
Brough Superior
Brough Superior deliberately positioned the motorcycle as a luxury, high-speed bespoke product long before the modern premium motorcycle market existed.
1919motorcycle era begins
United Kingdomorigin
3featured bikes
6catalogue bikes
Origins
George Brough
Read the manufacturer through the machines that changed its engineering, racing, design, market or cultural meaning.
Featured bikes
Three turning points.
The featured layer picks the motorcycles that most clearly changed this manufacturer’s technology, market or identity.
SS80
1922 · luxury
SS80
The model that established Brough Superior’s premium high-performance reputation.
SS100
1924 · luxury
SS100
One of the great prestige motorcycles of the inter-war period and inseparable from the legend of T. E. Lawrence.
11.50
1933 · touring
11.50
A reminder that Brough Superior luxury also included practical high-torque touring motorcycles.
Museum catalogue
Bikes through time.
Each bike is treated like a museum object: what it was, why it mattered and where it sits in the manufacturer’s wider story.
1920s
1922–1940 · luxury · FEATURED
SS80
The SS80 was named around George Brough’s guarantee of 80 mph performance for suitable examples, combining speed with meticulous finish.
Why it matters: The model that established Brough Superior’s premium high-performance reputation.
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SS80
1924–1940 · luxury · FEATURED
SS100
The SS100 was individually assembled and tested as Brough Superior’s premier high-performance road motorcycle.
Why it matters: One of the great prestige motorcycles of the inter-war period and inseparable from the legend of T. E. Lawrence.
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SS100
1930s
1933–1940 · touring · FEATURED
11.50
The 11.50 emphasised torque and sidecar/touring usability rather than the SS100’s outright sporting image.
Why it matters: A reminder that Brough Superior luxury also included practical high-torque touring motorcycles.
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11.50
1938–1939 · prototype
Golden Dream
The Golden Dream prototype used an exceptionally ambitious flat-four engine and shaft-drive concept immediately before the Second World War.
Why it matters: A glimpse of an alternative technical future that Brough Superior never had the chance to put into full production.
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Golden Dream