The Brough Superior

Reference - The Association "Grey Magazine" 1972b (page 22)

Copied form the original article written by Barry Robinson

One of George Brough's greatest ambitions was to market a lavishly equipped connoisseur's mount delivering its power as smoothly as possible. G. B. experimented with several different arrangements of four cylinder layout, which was considered to be ideal for motorcycle use, but only a small number of one type was actually sold to the public and it is with this mod the 'Straight Four', as it was designated, that I am going to deal.

 The most unorthodox feature of the 'bike was the use of twin rear wheels. A four cylinder water-cooled Austin Seven engine and gearbox unit of 57.9 mm. x 76 mm (800 cc) was used. This was basically the Austin Baby Car engine, over-bored from 747.5 cc, and fitted with an aluminium cylinder head. The gearbox had three forward speeds and a reverse, although like Webb recalls that at least one was supplied without the reverse. 

Since the shaft drive came from the centre of the gearbox some considerable ingenuity was required to fit a motorcycle frame around it. The engine was mounted at four points to the rectangular base of the completely tubular frame. From the bevel box which was fitted between the rear wheels there were upper and lower frame tubes. The lower one joined the rectangle on which the engine was mounted and the upper one went all the way to the steering head. Both single and twin front down tube layouts were tried. The single down tube was attached to an arch which cleared the water-pump the front of the engine. The twin down tube frames had two variations, each of which put the tubes well clear of the waterpump. There was also a larger arch from the top just in front of the twin rear wheels down to either side of the rectangle, through which the shaft passed. A steady plate from gearbox to the back rail of the rectangle completed the engine unit mounting.

 Front forks were normally 'Castle', either standard or with shorter blades set further forward, but one was supplied with 'Webb' Girders and one with 'Monarch' bottom link forks.

 An electric starter was mounted in the conventional Austin manner to the rear of the engine, the starter button being fitted under the tank.

 Seven pints of oil were carried in the sump, which was evidently of the 'Sports' pattern. The valves and inlet and exhaust manifolds were on the near side and both Amal and Zenith carburettors were available. The engine was complete with a standard dynamo and distributor, but in place of the normal attachment to take a starting handle there was a square recess which engaged a water pump drive. The water-pumps were made in Nottingham, especially for the Brough Superiors, the castings being in aluminium. The footboards were also cast in aluminium by the same firm. 

Power was transmitted through an ordinary A7 clutch, and the gear change was car type from the top of the gearbox. Putting the gear lever in a really accessible position was one problem not overcome due to the difficulty of fitting a linkage to this type of gear change. The engine was extremely flexible, however, and gear changing was at a minimum. At the coupling from the gearbox to the shaft there was a flexible fabric joint. The shaft passed between the upper and lower frame tubes so that in plan view all three were in line, one above the other, making the frame and drive extremely narrow.

 The rear wheel bevel box had a long lug on top and one underneath, through which the frame tubes passed, locating on tapers and being locked in position by nuts on the end of the frame tubes. Four nuts held each wheel on in car fashion.

The brakes, of Brough Superior manufacture, were 8 ins. in diameter and operated simultaneously by cables from a foot pedal; the front brake could be used independently from a handlebar lever.

 Rear mudguard stays were attached to bosses on the bevel housing.

 The Show Model had panels on each side of the rear mudguard but these were not fitted to production machines, as wheel removal proved difficult. A carrier and pillion footrests were fitted and a rolling centre stand made parking the machine a simple matter.

 The petrol tank, longer than that fitted to other B.S. models of the time, retained the traditional bulbous shape, and on the show model had the water header tank neatly merged into it, giving a pleasant continuity of line.

 The two slim radiators lay beneath the nose and were covered on the outside by a shield which faired into the water header tank. Leg shields swept neatly from the shield to the footboards, whilst the space between the radiators was occupied by a louvred shield. Unfortunately there were cooling problems with the 'Show Model' layout in spite of the radiators having a combined area greater than the contemporary car radiator. Various layouts were tried and another one, with larger radiators faired into the water header, can be seen in 'Motor Cycle' 30/6/32. Visible on the front view is an extra radiator between the bike and sidecar. It was radiators like this extra one, placed well out on each side of the petrol tank (which did not have a water header on it) that were used on the production models as this presumably removed them from air disturbances caused by the front wheel and guard. On production models a hose from the cylinder head branched out to the two radiators. From the bottom of the radiators, hoses led to the water pump and finally from this a hose led to the cylinder block. One radiator was topped off with a Boyce thermometer.

An interconnected hand and foot clutch was fitted, the foot pedal being on the near side of the machine. Some of the bikes had the control levers welded onto the handle bars; the throttle was operated by a twist grip on the left handlebar, the right handlebar twist grip operating the ignition advance and retard. This layout was in order to leave the right hand free for gear changing. The ignition, lighting switch and ammeter were mounted beneath the saddle on the off-side, just above the 42 amp/hour battery which rested on a platform integral with the frame at the side of the gearbox.

 The motor units were supplied not in batches, but direct from Austins when required and this explains the vast difference in engine numbers of the B. S. Fours. The machine was intended primarily as a sidecar lugger and a Cruiser side‑car was standard ware. The sidecar chassis was originally a two point attachment. The front chassis tube passed right through the front tube of the motorcycle frame, and pinch bolts held it at each side. The rear chassis tube passed under the motorcycle frame just in front of the stand pivot and two tabs from this tube were clamped to the frame. A third connection was included later from the chassis to the saddle mounting area of the frame. Different variations of sidecar chassis were tried. A spare rear wheel was available as an extra and was then fitted to the rear of the sidecar body.

 The 'Motor Cycle' 12/11/31 carried an article on the B. S. F   hour with a ghosted drawing and also reproductions of the B. S. catalogue photographs. The catalogue pictures were retouched by a photographer. This is standard practice even today to get a more suitable line for reproduction on catalogues. Unfortunately the result is loss of detail.

I have actually seen five Straight Four models and have corresponded with the owners of two more.

1. Dealing with these seven in the order in which they were despatched from the works, the earliest is the one I own, the second to leave the works at Haydn Road, despatched 24/2/32 to Seven Oakes Motors. I first heard about it from a B. S. Club member Erie Pethers who had seen it laying in bits at a motor engineers cum breakers in Crowborough, Sussex. Mentioning it to Mike Staines he kindly offered to check that it was still there since he had to make a trip to that part of the country. On receiving a card from him to the effect that it was, I set sail from Nottingham on my outfit heading for Crowborough in the early hours of a Saturday morning last November. I arrived at 10.30 a.m. and left five hours and a lot of hard work later everything but the frame and chassis piled onto the outfit. I even tried those on the roof but it was the last straw and the springs were completely compressed so I reluctantly left those for British Road Services. The reason for the long stay in Crowborough was that the machine was completely in parts and they were scattered all over the premises, usually under a pile of other motorcycle and car parts. How on earth the owner of the establishment remembered where everything was I will never know. An example of the conversation.

 Him: The exhaust pipe is under that M.G.

Me: What M.G.?

Him: That one under that pile of tyres

(and it was!)

 The frame of this one is of the single down‑tube pattern and it is the only Straight Four that was fitted with Webb Girder forks. Crowborough is not very far from Seven Oakes, but a previous owner had moved north to West Mersea, Essex. When he died the machine was bought in bits by Mr. Percy Crittall and taken to Crowborough to be rebuilt. All that happened however, was a reduction into even smaller parts. When it was at West Mersea it belonged to the late R. M. Mussett who is the only previous owner mentioned in the log book. Essex County Council Licencing office returned all the documents to Kent (Reg. No. KJ5112) because it had not been licensed since 1950 and the Kent authorities destroyed them for the same reason. Instead of me getting information from them, I had to supply it. There is a reference in 'Motor Cycle' 28/3/34 to a Mr. A. H. C. Branson of Seven Oakes following the R.A.C. Rally on a B. S. Four. I have since been in touch with Mr. Branson who was delighted to hear that his old bike was still in existence, and supplied me with photographs of him on the machine ­which he always rode solo. He also gave instances of several interesting rides he had on the vehicle.

 2. GW7791 was despatched to Godfreys the dealers, on 12/3/32. After the war it was in the possession of Ken Whitemoor at Bristol. It passed into the hands of John Ellis the well‑known collector who had it for about two years and rebuilt it during that time. He used it solo for a while but considered it required too much concentration in traffic without the sidecar. It was sold to Mr. H. A. C. Smith, an army officer in Leeds. Mr. Herbert Emery bought it from him and when he died his son Martin took over ownership of the machine.

3. GY989 was despatched on 20/3/32 to G. B's friend Hubert Chantry. An account of Chantry's solo ride on the actual show model in the London-Exeter trial appears in 'Motor Cycling' 13/1/32, pages 318/19/20. At the end article it states that he had placed an order for a Straight Four. He did not register GY 989 until July 1932 although he may well have used it with another number on before that. The Show model he rode in the Exeter had the number JO 1170; this was 'borrowed' from a 1929 SS.100 and a picture of this bike, which is still in existence, appears in 'Motor Cycling' 11/12/63, page 4. The Show Model was once registered with the number WD3275. To get back to GY989, it was used after the war by Commerfords to haul their float. They sold it to Mr. E. J. Sheriden who had it for 8 years. Somewhere along the line it had acquired Ariel telescopic forks and an Ariel front wheel, also nonstandard radiators. It was while Mr. Sheriden owned it that John Griffith wrote an article about it in 'Motor Cycling' 2/1/58. Later it became the property of B. S. Club member J. Cronwall who refitted it with Castle Forks and corresponding frontwheel, and also replaced the original radiators. It now belongs to B. S. Club member F. Vague.

 4. GW8916 was despatched 25/3/32 to Godfreys. It was fitted with a special Kwikfit Chassis, which I am glad to say is still with the bike, and working perfectly. In 1963 the bike belonged to Mr. A. J. Bird of Hornsey. In a letter to me he said "I'm afraid I cannot tell you whether the forks are standard or special. I know they are pretty strong as my daughter drove the bike through the garage doors before she opened them. The forks were not damaged but it took me until midnight to repair the doors.”

 5. EY4321 was despatched 4/4/32 to Mr. Brindle in Anglesey. In 1959 following direction given to me by someone who had been to Anglesey on holiday and seen a B. S. Four I went to Amlwch. Doing some snooping in the area described I was looking through cracks in garage doors when I caught the glint of light on a headlamp peak. The owner was soon located. (At the side of his garage doing his gardening and watching my curious behaviour). The machine spent some time in the open near the sea, and required a complete rebuild. The owner, however, thought it was worth a fortune 'If I got down to that Brighton Race I'd show em.' (He meant the Pioneer Run!) In between each sentence he spat deftly to all four corners of the garage. I made him an offer which he didn't think much to, and left after taking what may prove to be the last ever pictures of the machine. A couple of years later Mike Staines and Albert Wallis, while on holiday in the island went to look for the model. The gent told them he had sent it to the breaker's yard. He certainly didn't get from them what I had offered him for it. Titch Allen gave me a tip which I think is worth passing on. Always leave a stamped addressed postcard and make sure they put it behind the clock. The breaker, Mr. Evans of Llangefni, was overwhelmingly helpful when I wrote to him and sent a picture of the machine. He wrote one line 'We clear all of our scrap within one week'. I have since learned that scrap from the island goes to a depot at Llandudno.

 6. TV6622 was despatched 15/6/32 to a Mr. Forbes who was well known at the B. S. works. He had an SS. 100 before the Straight Four and he and his sons went back to the works several times with TV6622 to have it tuned up. They were not satisfied with the speed after the SS.100. Not surprising since it was never intended to rival the SS.100 in performance.  

7. SO4542 was despatched on 18/10/32 to MacDonald & Co. The Reg. No. ­is from Morayshire. It was brought back from Scotland by the wellknown collector John Griffith who could be seen riding it solo at the B. S. Club Rally at Stanford Hall in 1962. The machine was put on show in the motorcycle museum at Stanford. The bike was eventually sold to a New Zealander, who took it home with him.

There are ten recorded examples of this machine and to cross-check this figure I asked Ron Storey, the B.S. Motor cycle tester, (without telling him about the recorded ones) how many were made and from memory he said 'About a dozen'. Ike Webb (Manager) said the same and Bill Oliver (frame builder) said 'Not twelve'. All but one of the frame numbers are in consecutive order from 4001 to 4009 ... (The exception is 5001 which was the experimental model).

 Since 1964 one more B.S. Straight Four has been traced. This was the last one to leave the works, despatched to H. A. Wright, 30/7/34. Subsequently this machine was taken to India and was bought during the 1960's in Calcutta by an Indian with an interest in bikes, who has since taken up a job in Florida, U.S.A. taking this machine and an SS.100 Brough Superior with him. He has since sold the SS.100 but has still got the B.S. Four.

Eight B.S. Fours have been accounted for; Seven are still in existence, and their whereabouts known, and one scrapped (the Anglesey bike). The two remaining B.S. Fours were the Show model and the Works Experimental model. These were both sold, although originally the Show model was loaned to the Midlands Editor of 'Motor Cycle', Mr. H. D. Teage on 15/1/32. While on loan to him it was registered WD3275. It was subsequently sold to Mr. J. Bokstein on 19/1/33 who presumably re‑registered it. A B.S. Four fitting the description of the Show model was seen in Coventry during war years.

G W 7791 as rebuilt with non‑standard exhaust pipe and mudguards.

 The Works Experimental model TV8561 was sold to a Mr. Richards a Nottingham man and despatched 1/6/33. This is the machine used for the 1932 catalogue pictures but the photographic artist altered the pictures out of all recognition, putting the panels on the rear mudguard and making a considerable alteration to the radiator shape so that the picture finally showed little resemblance to any actual bike. George Brough used this machine in the London-Edinburgh trial, coming a perler when the sidecar connection broke. This is also the machine pictured in Motor Cycle 30/6/32. It was fitted at first with Castle Forks which were later replaced by Monarchs. When it was sold it still had the Monarchs on and a Watsonian Cruiser sidecar body with a spare wheel at the back. The rear wheels had a special 60 hole facing. The other B.S. Fours having the normal 40 hole lacing. While G.B. used it, his personal registration plates were affixed, carried on from the very first Coventry built Brough Superior, HP2122. When I first took a fancy to acquire a B.S. Straight Four I tried to trace this model. I managed to squeeze the name and address of the last registered owner from the Nottingham registration authority. They had no record of it being regis­tered since before the war and the last name they had was G. E. Oakley of Portway, Warwickshire. I immediately went to Portway, but was disappointed. Mr. Oakley was dead but I spoke to his widow, daughter and son-in-law. His son-in-law could remember the machine well and said that Mr. Oakley had changed it for a car just before the outbreak of war. at a garage in King's Heath. I went straight from Portway to Kings Heath but the garage was closed. After returning home I contacted Mike Staines who went and checked at the garage but the man who had owned the garage during the war had retired and Mike had to ferret him out. He could only vaguely remember an unusual motorcycle but he did say that he had never broken a machine up and that he must have sold it.

Roll Storey, the B.S. Works Tester, told me that this machine was by far the fastest of the bunch and was used to give demonstration rides on. It was tuned up to give a top speed of' 75 mph. As a matter of interest the SS.100 models, which were OHV Vee-twin J.A.Ps. introduced late In 1924, were always guaranteed to do 100 mph. You may recall that later on William Lyons used the name SS.100 for the forerunner of the Jaguar car but before this time he made Swallow sidecars, a number of which were fitted to Brough Superiors.

 By Barry Robinson,

The Austin Seven Motoring Pages