THERE’S ALWAYS A GREAT STORY when it comes to building a bike like this. In this case, it’s partly a personal one of years of training, not just in the skill of the craft but also in the study of another man and his company’s achievement: designing and building one of the most seminal motorcycles of all time, the Brough Superior SS100 Alpine Grand Sports.
My relationship with this brand started about 15 years ago. I began building replica Castle forks for a couple of clients (Castle forks, the best forks of the time, were copied from a Harley-Davidson design but improved on by Brough and used exclusively by the Nottingham manufacturer); one building up an original Brough Superior SS80 missing its forks, and another building a replica SS100.
Once the Brough fraternity saw I could produce a faithful (yet slightly modified for strength) set of Castle forks, the orders began to accumulate, along with a very steep learning curve of how Brough Superiors were produced. I tried to build the orders in a production style but soon discovered that very few of the Broughs built during the 1920s were the same; it seems the models built then were in perpetual development or being built to order. Perhaps George Brough was the pioneer of custom building – a conclusion I am sure I am not the first to arrive at.
With the acquisition of the necessary skills, contacts, workshop equipment, and even my eldest son, we began repairing early cast-lug frames, which in turn has led to building completely new complete frames.
We began to take on special builds and prewar restorations, such as fitting JAP DTZ 1300cc stationary engines into Norton 16H frames and BSA Gold Star engines into War Department M20 chassis. All require engineering, fabrication, connections with like-minded trades, and an eye for the prewar era aesthetic.
Why am I waffling on? Because this is all leading up to what was to become a once-in-a-lifetime restoration opportunity. I
