Brough Superior

[chiefj48]

hi all,

do we have any Brough owners on this forum?? i saw five Broughs at Rhinebeck this year, and tried talking to a few of the owners, but they were too busy to answer my questions. i've always had an intress in these machines, and would like to chat with some owners.

[AFJ]

Yes, there are several besides myself.
What questions do you have?

AFJ

[chiefj48]

were you at rhinebeck?? i saw a few there, and one was for sale. i started inquiring about it, and the fellow who owned it asked me if i knew how much they cost. i replied, "yea about $100k", he told me that was the old price, and stopped talking to me. i thought he was a little rude, and left. so i guess my questions are, what is the going price for a Brough, and how hard are they to find, are they reliable, are there any local clubs, and what other bike might you compare it to? are there any Brough owner on long island? i've had an intress in these bikes for some time but never have been able to really talk to an owner before.

[AFJ]

were you at rhinebeck?? i saw a few there, and one was for sale. i started inquiring about it, and the fellow who owned it asked me if i knew how much they cost. i replied, "yea about $100k", he told me that was the old price, and stopped talking to me. i thought he was a little rude, and left. so i guess my questions are, what is the going price for a Brough, and how hard are they to find, are they reliable, are there any local clubs, and what other bike might you compare it to? are there any Brough owner on long island? i've had an intress in these bikes for some time but never have been able to really talk to an owner before.

Was not at Rhinebeck.

A good source of information is the Brough Superior Club website at www.broughsuperiorclub.com the club is headquartered in England, but has members all over the world. It has contracted for supplies of various parts for different models, some parts being made from the original patterns given to the Club by the Brough factory.

There were 7 Broughs for sale at the Bonham's auction in April at Stafford, England prices for the 6 that sold were from around $38,000 to $333,000. Price varies very much due to the model and the condition - as with anything.
The last ones were made on April 11, 1940 so most have had a long, often hard usage and so may or may not be "reliable". Maintaining a Brough does require the owner to be mechanically adept, but they are not a complex bike like the Vincent. That said, on a New York AMCA run last year on my '38 SS80 it was only 20 miles when I caught up to a broken down Indian Chief - with 6 men trying to fix it. The Brough went pretty well for the 300 miles in 2 days for just being off a top end overhaul.
About 3,000 Broughs in total were made from 1919 to 1940 - around 1,200 are known to have survived, either as parts or complete bikes. I think that there are probably around 50 Broughs in the USA mostly in private collections - Jay Leno has a number of Broughs of different models for example.
There are several books on Broughs available through the Brough Superior Club and a membership in the Club is - in my opinion - essential if one wants to own and use a Brough or is even considering it.

AFJ

[chiefj48]

could you tell me what are good years, and models to look for, and why? what would be the price range for them? thanks for taking out time to talk with me. maybe we could, or should take this off list?

[AFJ]

Sure, it's probably boring to most people. Send me a private message and we can then discuss it off list.

AFJ