Road Racing Brough Superior Could Sell for £350,000
The bike was campaigned by Bob Matthews who recorded a second place with it in the 1927 Ulster Grand Prix
An incredibly rare Brough Superior SS100 with racing pedigree is set to be sold next month, as an ex-Bob Matthews Ulster Grand Prix bike heads to Stafford Spring Sale.
The machine is just one of several historically important racing machines we’ll be highlighting in the coming weeks, but with an estimate of between £300,000 and £350,000, it’s clearly going to be the star of the sale.
The bike is thought to be one of only 12 original SS100s from 1925 that are known to survive, and boasts the all-important matching frame, engine and gearbox numbers. It’s the racing pedigree that many will latch on to though, with this bike being a genuine piece of road racing history, thanks to a second-place finish in the 1927 Ulster Grand Prix.
The Brough Superior SS100 is widely regarded as the first ‘true’ superbike, some forty-five years before the Honda CB750 went on to receive the same credit. It featured a host of design features and details, some of which would take decades to be picked up on again. One of those features was the rear suspension system, which utilised a rear swingarm linked to a horizontally mounted shock absorber, and this was at a time when conventional twin shocks were something of a rarity.
This particular example was painstakingly prepared for racing at the Brough factory, with a special separate fuel and oil tank design, which was eventually rolled out across other SS100 models.
Given the bike's originality, factory-fitted racing parts and provenance at the Ulster GP, we wouldn’t be surprised to see it exceed its auction estimate. We’ll update this page once the results are in.
You can find more information on this bike on the official website.
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Simon (AKA Toad) has been working within the motorcycle industry for more than twelve years, and a member of the motorcyclist family since birth. Growing up around British-built single and twins, it was inevitable that a life on two wheels was on the cards, from a very early age!
