Greatest Ever Motorcycles - Brough Superior

" At number 7 is a machine which shall perform everything. One of the most desirable and exclusive motorcycles of all time, it's the Brough Superior. "

" The Brough Superior stood for speed and luxury in an age when it was pretty difficult to get either out of a motorcycle. "

" In its time, it could achieve levels of performance that were denied to any other machine."

" It's 1924, and it's a bike that's guaranteed to do 100 miles an hour. I mean that's just madness, isn't it?"

" It's my 1924 SS100 Brough Superior as the fastest road bike the company ever produced."

" In an age when the average car could only do 42 miles an hour, the SS100's JAP engine could get up to 110. It was the ultimate in performance and luxury."

" Well, they call it the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles. Rolls Royce got a bit of myth with this, so they said, we were coming out to the factory to see. So George had everybody put on white coats and gloves and boutonnieres scattered around, and so when Rolls Royce came over, they were so impressed that, you know, these guys are dressed as gentlemen and oh such a care. You know, I mean he was a great showman that was."

" Rolls Royce was so bold over by what they saw that from then on, the Brough Superior "

" leading link design, which means that the wheel spindle is carried ahead of the 9th fork member. This means that it's a very stable design. If you hit a bump, then you are less likely get into a speed wobble."

" The Brough, because of its Castle fork and its scout chassis construction was stiffened up to reach high speeds without developing speedman's [time-0:03:00] wobble."

" In 1925, George Brough demonstrates the stability of his new SS100 model by having his road test, ride the machine at about 90 miles an hour and then removed his hands from the handlebars."

" This feat hasn't been repeated in 80 years, so the greatest ever is gonna attempt to do it again and ride a Brough Superior hands-free at 90 miles an hour."

" This is the great one. Here we are accelerating now, up to 75, [time-0:03:30] up to 80, nearing the top, now reaching 90 miles an hour. We are 90 miles an hour now and the hands are off. There's a bit of crosswind, but it's pretty stable. 95 we're going now, hands off, absolutely no problem whatsoever. George Brough may have a bit of a bullshit, but it certainly wasn't bullshit [unk] the stability of the SS100. [time-0:04:00]"

" What a machine!"

" It was not hype. It was true. The motorcycle did stand up to all the advertising. It was an exceptional motorcycle that did exceptional things all well."

" The Brough Superior was this astonishing quality product. It was really expensive, but it was beautifully made and it was incredibly fast. You kind of got what you paid for with the Brough Superior. "

" In its day, the SS100 cost 170 pounds when most people earned [time-0:04:30] just 3 pounds a week and so was only ridden by an exclusive few. For that reason alone, it gets the 7th place."