1933/34 Brough Superior 11-50 JAP

*Beautifully presented 11-50 JAP
*Same owner for the past 20 years

Launched in 1933, the 1096cc 11-50 was the largest capacity Brough Superior to enter series production. Powered by a sidevalve v-twin (of unusual, 60-degree configuration) supplied exclusively to the Haydn Road, Nottingham factory by J A Prestwich, the 11-50 fitted into the Brough range between the SS80 and SS100, at least by retail price. The model was conceived as a long-legged, effortless tourer and could exceed 90mph in solo form or pull a heavy sidecar at up to 75mph. Production lasted until 1939, by which time the 11-50 was the only JAP-powered machine left in the Brough Superior catalog.

Like its companion models - the SS80 and SS100 - the 11-50 could be ordered with the optional Bentley & Draper sprung frame, which this particular example does not have. Most 11-50s had a rigid frame and came with either Monarch or Castle forks. There is no definitive record of how many 11/50 rigids or springers were sold. However, W S Gibbard (Maintaining Your Brough) says a 'few' 11/50s were made with B&D sprung rear ends whilst R H Clark (The Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles) suggests there might have been 'only 10/12' in total. Whatever the exact figure, this particular machine, in this condition, is very rare today even by George Brough's exclusive standards even though the total 11-50 production run numbered some 308.

J A Prestwich were to become the favored engine suppliers for the Nottingham-built Brough Superior motorcycle, although George Brough had in the early 1920s fitted the Swiss Geneva-built Motosacoche engines as an alternative. George Brough selected only the highest quality components for his machines, adding style and the name Superior to the Brough marque which had been established by his father, William Edward Brough. Early Brough Superiors featured gearboxes sourced from Sturmey-Archer and initially forks were supplied by Montgomery, while George Brough bought in the essential high-quality frames and accessories from manufacturers in the British motorcycle industry's Midlands heartland. George Brough's SS80 tourer and SS100 sports model, with their distinctive broad-nosed, wedge-profiled, saddle tanks were the sensation of the motorcycle world in the mid-1920s and well into the 1930s, drawing crowds of schoolboys and cognoscenti alike wherever they parked up.

Although the perceptive Brough saw a marketing opportunity for a smaller and less expensive alternative to his sensational 1,000cc models. Naturally turned to JAP for the motive power and it was that company's 674cc side-valve engine, suitably redesigned to accommodate overhead valves, that went into Brough's new overhead valve 680, launched at the Olympia Motor Cycle and Cycle Show in 1926. Production in earnest commenced in 1927 and the model contributed substantially to the Nottingham company's financial coffers. Nonetheless for the 1934 season Brough Superior offered four models, two big v-twins, the SS100 and the 11-50, and two smaller ones the Black Alpine 680 and the Overhead 680, the latter in solo form giving its new owner 'five bob' change from £100. A fully-equipped, rigid 11-50 ran £118, while a spring frame hit £128, between 18 and 28 per cent more.

The Brough Works Record card(s) for this handsome, well restored 11-50 example carries 1933 rigid frame no. 8/1308 and 1934 engine no. 37559/SE, the two major components from two separate bikes. Both original bikes were supplied to Scholefield Goodman & Co. in Australia. Exactly when and why the switch was made is not known. Little more is known of its history prior to its importation from Australia in June 2003 for a private collector in Jacksonville, Florida. The Works Record shows that originally Monarch forks and a flat-nose Lycett Aero saddle were with the frame, and flange-type Amal carburetors and duplex oil pump, sump lubrication, equipped the engine.

There's a factory advertisement for 1935: 'The New "11-50 Special" I designed it, I built it, I ride it... And believe me it's a winner!' This 'winning' example should undergo a program of recommissioning and safety checks before it is started and ridden afresh.