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Brough superior machines included motorcycles, sidecars and motor cars. These were made by George Brough in his company Brough Superior Works. It had its premises on Haydn Road, Nottingham, England and operated from 1919 to 1940.

George Brough’s father, William E Brough, was in the motorcycle-making business. He built Brough motorcycles from 1908 to 1926. The younger Brough was certain he could better his father’s creation. He created Brough Superior Motorcycles which were superior quality as well as high-performance machines. Most of these bikes were tailored to the customer’s specific requirements. It was rare to find two Brough Superiors of the same composition.

Early models of the brand include the Mark I overhead, Mark II Sports, Mark II Standard and the Brough Superior Mark I Sidevalve. Other models such as the overhead 500, 750 Sidevalve and 688 S.V Junior were not successful. The company ceased producing them.

In 1940, production of Brough Superior motorcycles ground to a halt and the factory was taken over for the war effort. It was used to complete crankshafts for Rolls Royce Merlin engines. After the war, manufacturers of the motorcycle brand could not access suitable engines to restart production. Therefore, the company was never revived.

Interesting facts about Brough Superior

• The motorcycles acquired the moniker ‘Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles’. They were thus named by H.D Teague who worked for The Motor Cycle newspaper.
• Approximately a third of the 3,048 models that were manufactured in the twenty-one years of production are in existence today.
• Lawrence of Arabia (Thomas Edward Lawrence, a British archeologist among other titles) owned eight Brough Superiors. An accident with number seven saw him succumb to injuries sustained in the accident. The eighth motorcycle was on order.
• Every Brough Superior motorcycle was assembled twice and test-ridden to ascertain that the performance was top-notch.
• The motorcycles were and still are very rare and pricey. In the 20s and 30s, only the very wealthy could afford them since the average annual salary in Britain was meager at best.
• Eight Brough Superior motorcycles were found in a barn in Bodmin, Cornwall in 2016 where they had been laying in the dust for fifty years.