Ramblestream Podcast

Racing Near Death: George Brough’s Wild Story

• Janus Motorcycles

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A motorcycle can be fast, rare, and expensive, but that still doesn’t explain why certain names refuse to fade. We’re chasing one of the biggest: Brough Superior, the British marque forever tied to the phrase “the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles” and to the even bigger personality of its creator, George Brough.

We walk through where Brough Superior comes from, how the company grows out of earlier Brough motorcycles, and why the details matter, especially the iconic fuel tank design and the way George assembled bikes from best-available components. That “parts-bin” accusation becomes a real discussion about what good design actually is: not doing everything yourself, but choosing wisely, integrating cleanly, and building something that feels intentional. Along the way, we lean on the definitive reference book, talk real production realities, and share why these 1930s machines can still run shockingly well today.

Then we get into the stories that made the legend: SS80 and SS100 speed guarantees, Brooklands runs, crashes, and the marketing magic behind the Rolls-Royce comparison, including the infamous white glove tale. We also cover T.E. Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia, his deep connection to the brand, and how a Brough Superior becomes part of motorcycle history in the most tragic way.

Finally, we bring it home to Janus Motorcycles and the modern small-batch mindset: what we share with those old builders, where we’re intentionally different, and why “beautiful, visible craft” can be its own frontier when outright speed is already solved. Subscribe, share this with a fellow rider who loves vintage motorcycles, and leave a rating and review so more people can find the Ramblestream.

Welcome And What We Ramble On

SPEAKER_01

Hello everyone, welcome to the Ramble Stream Podcast. I'm Richard, and I'm Janssen. Each week we sit down for rambling conversations about motorcycles, the experience of riding, design, and whatever else catches our fancy. Bring a beverage of your choice or stories, and we'll see where this takes us.

SPEAKER_04

If you're interested in thoughtful conversations, friendly and informative banter with fellow riders, and the latest dispatches from Janice Motorcycles headquarters, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Welcome back to the Ramble Stream. It's Monday again, and we're here for episode number 1214. Two full.

SPEAKER_03

But those numbers don't matter. No.

SPEAKER_04

We're hanging on Monday night.

SPEAKER_03

It's great time.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I do like seeing the number go up. My brain see number go up. Big good.

Vespa Stories And Learning To Ride

SPEAKER_04

Bigger numbers? Better know. No, welcome. Uh we got a this is gonna be a fun. I'm like I've been looking forward to this uh this topic. Uh-huh. We're gonna be talking about Bruff Superior and maybe a little bit about Jance as well. Yep. And maybe I'll comparison and contrast contrasting. No. But uh if you're new to the Ramble stream, which I know some of you are, drop us a comment, please. Uh the in the format is tell us where you're viewing from, what you ramble with, whether it's a motorcycle or not. If it's a Janus, tell us the model and serial number. And last but not least, tell us what you're sipping on this evening. Because you must be sipping on something. You must. It's required. Um my name is Richard Worsham. Uh co-founder and head of design at Janus Motorcycles. I ran I'm broadcasting from the Ramble Studio, downtown Goshen, Indiana, at our headquarters. And I ramble. Well, this weekend I've been rambling with old Vespa PK50XL, um, which is a small frame Vespa, which means that it's even it's on the smaller end of the Vespa. Which is so tiny. It's very, it's very tiny. Uh it's 50cc. And I think the exhaust is is clogged up a little bit. And I'm running really rich uh oil mix. So it's like no whole aisle and it's going even slower than me. But it's perfect for showing daughters how to ride that two-wheel vehicle. So they've been out in the alley putzing around, uh learning how the the hand shift on the Vespa works. It's like full circle. Yeah, yeah, it is full circle because that's what I learned right early. It was the first two-wheel motorized vehicle I rode.

SPEAKER_02

Um my father purchased it for my mother, I don't even remember what year it was.

SPEAKER_04

A couple a couple of years, a couple of decades. I feel like at least. Um But we got running a f and we took bets, uh gave bet running. Um and the main issue was fuel tank was completely gummed out. But we took bets on how many kicks it would take to start. And I guess three. Uh-huh. Game guess six. Uh-huh. You get to or two. Wow. Yeah, really. That's great. Two kicks since you started. Easy, pretty amazing. Yeah. And all the lights were anyway. Sorry, side draw.

SPEAKER_03

Uh, sitting on coffee. My name is Jansen. I'm also coming to you live at Genesis World Headquarters here in Goshen, Indiana, in the ramble stream studio. More specifically, um, I ramble in all Ford Lightning and soon to be rambling uh on a Phoenix 450 number four. I'm sipping on water. Nice. And it's delicious. I love it so much. I And it's kind of the same thing. I hate just sipping on water. It's kind of the worst. But here we are, doing it anyway.

SPEAKER_04

This is from the last year that brust superior made a motorcycle. I just noticed. Well, I think. I'm alleged I'm a little bit uh sketchy on my later Breastperi. I think 1938 was right. 37 or 38, somewhere around. No, maybe they did make one in the early 40s. I can't remember. Anyway, um, this is called the gyres. The gyres, the gyres, old rocky faces look forth. Things thought too long can be no longer thought, for beauty dies of beauty, worth of worth, and ancient liniments are bloodbed. Irrational streets of blood are straining earth, in pedocles has thrown all things about. Hector is dead, and there's a light in Troy. We that look on but laugh and trash of joy. What matter though, numb nightmare ride on top, and blood and mire the sensitive body stain? What matter? Heave no sigh, let no tear drop. A greater, a more gracious time has gone, for pated forms or boxes of makeup, in ancient tombs I sighed, but not again. What matter? Out of cavern comes a voice, and all it knows is that one word rejoice. Conduct and work grow coarse, and coarse the soul, what matter? Those that rocky face holds dear, lovers of horses and of women, shall from marble of a broken sepulchre, or dark betwixt the polka and how, or any rich dark nothing to center the workman, noble and saint, and all things run on that unfashionable gyre again.

SPEAKER_03

I like that one. Seasonal. Very seasonal. Thank you for that, Richard. I feel so much more centered and caught now after listening to those wonderful words. The book is Rough Superior.

SPEAKER_04

A complete story. How convenient. And I cannot recommend you to know. If you're interested in motorcycles in general, uh if you if you're not familiar with the brand Rough Superior, Ruff Superior, as I saw in one of the comments, there was was known, or it's still known as The Roll Boys with Motorcycles. A classic. And there's a funny story behind that. Uh apocryphal, I'm afraid to say, or if you uh I'll trust this book. But uh uh this book was but is by Peter Miller and it's kind of it's basically considered one of the the uh the final word on Bro Superiors. It's a great, great book, uh, and has not only uh a little bit about every model they made, but it has little little little sections on the significant people in the history of Bruff, obviously Bro superior or George Bruff, but a lot of his uh the the guys in his shop that really made it happen. Um that's co-doers there and their story. And it's really really a sweet story because like a lot of these guys came back later on and they they would do things like find George Bruff's old motorcycle and how it restored. But yeah, this is after they went at the distance that were dedicated to to uh what they had done and what and the work they'd done with George. So um I had the the back of the book, it has um production uh numbers, it has when things were made, all the different engines, it's serial numbers, yeah. They were very, very limited production. Yeah. Um they did they have they did make more than we have made to date, but that was over a period of quite some time. Right. So uh very similar and very, very different. Yeah, yeah. So I think that that it'll be helpful to kind of draw some comparisons between between us and them and and also draw the very we're not the same at all. But uh highly recommend it. Um I bought this used on Amazon, but you can you find these uh still I think I think this is likely still in print.

Why Brough Superior Still Matters

SPEAKER_03

Your local Barnes and Noble. They're both how well can a motorcycle from the 30s run?

SPEAKER_04

You know, very well. Really? I mean there are people still still claiming they ride there, they're there are people that ride them long distances like in the Kinnonball, and they're just saying like they they lope along at 80 miles an hour. Really going. Yeah, huh. Huh. And there are people about even back in the early days that were putting tens of thousands of miles on them. Now, they probably took up a pretty good being. They weren't that it's just old engineering. Right.

SPEAKER_03

But yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I think they were ran remarkably well.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool to have something that um that's I feel like uh Russell Perior is is a thing in and of itself. Oh gosh. They're like, oh, they're just the height of it.

SPEAKER_04

I mean, they're very expensive at their town. Yeah, very expensive and also very high.

SPEAKER_03

They're expensive now.

SPEAKER_04

Or far out of proportion to what they paid, what they cost back in the day.

SPEAKER_03

It's actually incredibly incredible how expensive they actually are. And and if I'm gonna be honest, and you guys can hate me if you want more than you probably already do, cake croc tomfoolery aside. I don't think they look that good. You can figure something out. See guys. I respect them for what they are. But I just like, what do you think about me, bud? Um, I I don't like how the uh it feels too big. Crusino? I haven't seen one, but just from the pictures of that doesn't seem like Janus size. They like just looking at it, the they're very long. The yeah, the wheel vs. Is it's too long.

SPEAKER_04

It looks uh I don't know, a feature of early bikes like that if it had a separate transmission.

SPEAKER_03

Okay.

SPEAKER_04

Oh. You know, like a pre-unit transmission. Right. Like you could you could buy one with different kinds of transmission, then they bolt on different transmission. That's pretty cool. Stormy Archer, three speeding. But you had to put that like a triumph into the engine. So it extensively. And the way they made the chassis, it kind of extended right the length. And I think it was just the way they did it. It was like the style. Yeah. All the bikes were long like that.

Ramblers Roundup And Detroit Plans

SPEAKER_03

Right. We've got some news and announcements for you guys. I know some of you guys love this segment so much. We've got our Ramblers Roundup. We're gonna talk about it until it happens every week. Ramblers Roundup. What is the Ramblers Roundup, Richard?

SPEAKER_04

Ramblers Roundup is our annual owners get together. Shindig, hoof holiday, ho down, ho down, hoe down. And uh it happens on the week the weekend of the 17th through the 20th of September. And we have been putting a lot of thought into this year's how we're gonna be making in the lead different. Uh and we we have a we have like an event planner. So buy. So so it promises to be better than ever, uh, because it's actually gonna be orchestrated. Right. Um, so very excited about that. Uh, we're gonna have the uh probably the one thing I'll uh just last comment on the on the Rambles Roundup is that um the community party promises to be pretty amazing. We're gonna have a lot of vendors cool um that we're working with. Um we've been talking to already. Uh and it's not expensive to get here. We have uh gets you there ticket, uh, very affordable, and then you can kind of add different events on to that if you want to. Um, I said this is a lot one thing I'd say, but I will add another thing is that um we'll one of the things we're focusing on are the workshops being a little bit more in gay involved. Do you have an example? Well, but I want to just one soon because we're still in the planning state. One of the ideas we had is um tire changing. Oh, and I still have people um be able to change a tire. That's pretty cool. So that's we're working on the details of like the logistics of how to do that. Uh-huh. Uh I will also say that the workshops are going to be um uh it's a sign up form in Mayance because they will fill up because we're because you can't we can't have like 50 wheels for you to be working on retirement, right? So all we're gonna try and have at least a collection of these that are something either you can do in person or take home with you. Cool. So you're kind of being more of a kind of an actual unlike trick like um workshop where you learn something, right? You can take with you, right? I'm excited about that. Uh if you do want to be participating in those, we recommend that you uh sign up for them ahead of time and we'll be putting more.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, we'll have information as all that comes out. Uh you guys will most likely be the first, if not uh very close, the first people to know uh about anything that goes on. So I think that's just something that we can offer to to you all for for watching the stream. It's just like first dibs.

SPEAKER_04

And if you're if you're new to this whole thing, there's a lot of riding. That's what we try and come and do is ride motorcycles. We'll have uh group rides, lead rides, not uh rides in a non-led. Um so you can go off on your own and explore. Uh it's a fun, it's a fun weekend where everybody gets to get together and meet each other. So we look forward to it.

SPEAKER_03

Do you have to have a Janus to come come finish me?

SPEAKER_04

No, not at all. You can come. Um now most of the events are tuned toward Janus riders, uh, but the community party is open to we try and do as many motorcycles as we can.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Uh, we are super excited for that that weekend. Uh last year was my first one, uh, kind of being there for a little bit and it was a blast. We'll also do another uh live ramble stream um for everyone there as well as people online to get a taste of what the the uh weekend's like. And uh speaking of live streams, live ramble streams, we're gonna be in Detroit um at the end of this month. At the end of next Mars uh to do a live ramble stream. Um that is gonna be at uh it's gonna it's an event called the Makers Market. It's at uh I always forget the name. Moto Moto, Moto, Michigan. Uh the same guys that throw uh winter moto camp at summer moto camp. Uh there's a great they have a great venue. Wasn't that cooperative? What it used to be? Zeldean.

SPEAKER_04

Machine shop. Okay. Um a lot of government contracts, a lot of aerospace stuff. There's this huge complex. Yeah. And um they have just just amazing. The man behind it, hunter, is just great organized, really good at putting on a party. Yeah. So it's gonna be fun.

Sponsor Break And Shop Updates

SPEAKER_03

It's gonna be a big old party, it's gonna uh be a great time. We're super, super excited for that. Um, and as Jeff Kell is already just ahead of the game, uh, if you guys would do us a favor and uh check this out, we'll be right back after this break. This stream has been brought to you by Janus Motorcycles. Thank you all so much for tuning in. If you guys would like a helmet lock, you can buy one on our website, Genus Motorcycles.com. Jeff, we will not be giving away a lock as much as you would like. We already did that. We already gave away one, didn't we? Yeah, we'll give away a look. So sorry, sorry Jeff, you miss missed your opportunity. We'll give away something next one at least. Yeah, we're we're just talking while on our ice break. Uh we are gonna make more of those. We're making more. We're making more. We're gonna we're gonna have more for you. The show will be spruced. Yes. It will be zhuzed if if you will. I would like to uh talk about it a little blur, Richard. Where where do we even be bringing?

The Origin Of Brough Superior

SPEAKER_04

Well, if you if you're talking about a brand called Bruff Superior, you have to start with what came first. And what came first was something called Brough motorcycles. Okay, okay, not the superior kind. No, not the superior kind. Uh I have uh I've I sent Jadson a collection of photographs, uh, which we'll kind of intersperse in here. And they're not in any particular order, uh, but uh there's some that I I've collected over some time. And I think we'll also, if you don't mind, if I have a P thing to pull up, yeah.

SPEAKER_03

I'm I'm not sure I do, but my uh again shows the pictures. My camera battery is real low on that one, so it will work out. If if it dies, it dies. Well, we got options.

SPEAKER_04

Anyway, uh Bruff Superior is a famous English motorcycle brand dating back to 1990. Um, George Bruff is just such an interesting character, and the Bruff motorcycles are so fascinating. I've had a chance to look at a couple uh actually quite a few Bruff Superiors over the years. And the most I ever saw at one place was at Jalen's garage. When did his hell I I want to say he had over 20. What in one room? Wow, many of them, like like he's famous for, they're not just a bruft superior, they're like a special room. Like we brute superior.

SPEAKER_03

This one was raised at Pending, right? It was at Arpajon. This is the ones that have like a lineage, yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah. Um anyway, uh they're just remarkable, they're beautiful machines, despite what Jansen says. Uh and they started off with uh George Bruff, was a son of a motorcycle manufacturer, cool. Um and second son, his older brother did work for the company briefly, but went off and wanted to do his own thing. Um but they but his father was uh in vet I think kind of the impression they give it was an inveterate tinkerer. Yeah. He just couldn't help himself.

SPEAKER_03

I feel like you have to be like, you just can't help especially back in the 30s, right? Or see or waking nine way earlier than that. Yeah. You just like if in order to create something like uh you know, Breath Superior, you have to just want to dig in and and dig.

SPEAKER_04

And you gotta imagine these are these are they really were garage built. Yeah. Uh they have very, very small teams, no red tape at all. Do whatever the heck you want ever they wanted to do, and they could make their own parts. They were casting their own engine parts, they were making all kinds of wild stuff. And they also were based in an area of England that was really renowned for manufacturing, yeah, and metal work.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Um, but anyways, his father got started with like steam engines and worked in at a mine uh with like the pulling system, yeah, something like that as an engine kind of isn't non-trained engineer. Oh and then of course he had hey, two boys and um the they obviously both raced motorcycles and worked for him. How could you how could you not like he uses the early days too where anybody could just get on a motorcycle and go race it and then probably do pretty well, right? Yes, he's your motorcycle scale like fought about smothered bikes. Oh yeah, well, yeah. But George Bra uh had his own ideas. And he was a big fan of V twins after he had gotten the chance to ride some. He worked he was in the Second World War and or sorry, first world war he fought and I think he was in France um in from for much of it and got a chance to run dispatches and he didn't have to abide by the fuel uh rationing, yeah, isn't that? We also got to just kind of try it all these motorcycles. That's cool. He claims to have during this period owned like 30 or 40 motorcycles. Good night, and tried them all out. Whole credit. But he fell in love with uh one of the bikes you'd have to ride as a Harley Davidson. You really liked it.

SPEAKER_03

So it was an informed decision.

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yes, yes. Uh also very opinionated everybody needs a good opinion. Uh, but he loved bro he loved uh among many other bikes, he really liked the Harley Davidson he road. So this is something that we need to work on.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

And I think for many, many years they used uh for Harley Davidson front front forks. Really? Castle forks. Huh. And they actually, if you look at like a a serial, the the sheet for each bike, which is very brief, just said like the engine number, the train number, and then it says forks. Harley Davidson.

SPEAKER_03

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04

So I don't know how he got him, but I'm sure it's documented. Right, it doesn't just bought on the right. Um anyway, very unique guy, uh, and was he did do pretty well in some racing early on in his career. And as is the way of the world, and had some different ideas than his father, and he wanted to try them out. And his main thing was his father was basically was kind of a tinkerer, but also just wanted to do things the way it worked. Yeah. And George wanted to do things in a way that would make a splash. Lightning bolt. And so he wanted the speech when his father was a little liked um boxer engine. Okay, but so anyway, at a certain point uh he set off on his own and decided to make his own motorcycles in 1919. And um their legend is that they then they were at a pub drinking with his friends, and they were trying to think about what the name and one of his friends was like, Well, if it's better than the brof, it should be bruph superior. And so that's what they named it. Much to the probably the joking this man of his father, yeah, who didn't have comments. He'd make some comments about, well, then mine must be the bruph inferior.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, well, look, Arlesberg Clippers said bruph inferior. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's the that's the legend reach. I would imagine it's kind of hard to start a motorcycle company then. We've got a question in the chat from Brian. Uh he asks, Is it hard to start a motorcycle company now in this economy?

SPEAKER_04

I would visualize it's harder now because everything is calcified. It's all just the way it is. Right. And in order to get in. You gotta think when Brof started his, there were tens, dozens of motorcycle companies starting off. And they they got started out of the bicycle of the 1880s and 90s. And the first bikes that George's Fonda made, William Brof made were did they used the Diane engine, which is like everybody, it was like the the engine that everybody could get. Yeah, it was early. The Joe Bolt uh Diane was French. I mean his name is, but anyway, it's a single cylinder engine mounted in a weird look place, and they kind of just kept moving him around to make the Rikes a cycloelectric motorcycle crazy. Tons of companies, not many of them needed. Right. Uh but anyway, I think one of the first things that George had to figure out was what the motorcycle would look like. And a legend is that he was um during the during the first World War, he made friends with a guy named um m uh Percy Maya. And and the two of them came up with what the fuel tank should look like. And that really is what makes a brush superior. Yeah. I mean, apart from many of the other little details in the marketing run, the tank is just absolutely unique and stunning.

SPEAKER_03

Because is that the most iconic part of the tank? I would I would venture to say so. From what I understand, they're like extremely unique portions uh uh just about everywhere uh on a brush superior. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

I mean only so uh you relied oh habitatly on other people for making the designs, and so uh it says this isn't uh the uh the other people did a lot of the work and this is very plausible as George had an artist spy for line but lacked the technical drawing skills of the engineer. Uh so he was more of an artist than he was uh in actual design. But anyway, uh eventually it wasn't like a combative relationship with his father. His father ended up basically saying, Okay, you want to do this? Well then prove it. But I'll lend you this garage right to start up. I'll help you do this blood. He kept coming back to help him out. Like 15 years down the road, he would they'd need to get something figured out, and then his father would help him figure it out.

SPEAKER_03

That that's that's cool. That's cool. It's like yeah, you're passing on family lineage of of like uh manufacturing. It it's cool. So what what what year was this?

Speed Claims And Racing Crashes

SPEAKER_04

You said 1919. 1919. Then I think the first bike they made was 1920. Okay. Uh and then they and the the I mean a a a bru from 1920 looks very much like a bru from 1937. Except that it's got a different engine and it's bigger. Yeah. And a lot of people joke that George Bruff, you know, starting off a slender little off start, and he slowly slowly expanded, and his motorcycles became wider and more comfortable as he did. He also was in some accidents. I mean, he was the this guy that didn't just top the talk, he raced. Yeah. And he had some pretty significant spills at close to 100 miles an hour.

SPEAKER_03

So was the sole purpose then of him building these motorcycles to just go out and race them, or like did he have take attention wanted? To make a bru the bruff, he wanted to make the best motorcycle that he the the world had ever seen.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, it really was his goal. Um, and I think he was, I don't know if he's ever been proven wrong. They're pretty irreparkable. And these are bikes that back in, you know, then the the the twins were going 100 miles an hour. Yeah. Which is nuts. Yeah, so the the modelings of some of those bikes, like the SS80, was guaranteed from the factory to have gone to be capable of 80 miles an hour. You know, I think these are this is an early road. These guys are going from horses to 80 miles an hour. They're going from most of the traffic is horses. Oh yeah, only 80. And then the SS 100, you go to 100 miles. Where do you do that? Where do we do as a henine or you go to different racetracks? Well, uh, Brooklyn's. That's where he had one. He came. I think he both instances the front tire blew out. Which about like 98 miles an hour and crash. The Brooklyn's incident, he just got bruised up. Yeah. The uh the second crash was at a um uh rally, basically, a speed of trials. And he really he in the uh we guess the story is that he was tuning the engine and he'd taken his gear off, and then they called the start of the race, and he's like, Oh, it's okay, fine, I'll just go. And and then he this tire blew out and he didn't have the safety gear on. Really mess up his hand, ashram. Uh and then another crash, he oh no, he that was he was ri racing down to France and he um uh a motorist in a car was on the long side of the road, and it was a collision, and he broke his leg and hellos. Uh, I don't know the exact story, but he didn't die. Uh but he was in a wheelchair for a month or so, and they the people from his factory kitted out his his wheelchair with a little tiny brush superior tank and a horn and his registration number plane.

SPEAKER_03

These guys just from hearing some of this, these guys seem all character. It's busy on his people were all characters, yeah. Uh yeah. Textures attracts characters. Uh are there any pictures that you want to kind of go through because album right now?

SPEAKER_04

This is a obviously this is a Brooklyn bike that's got the big Brooklyn's can on.

SPEAKER_03

I I liked what that one was, despite what I said earlier. That one's that was pretty sharp.

Marketing The Rolls-Royce Myth

SPEAKER_04

George, the thing about George Brough is that he was an amazing marketer. He could take something that someone of his customers said and just turn it into this whole streal symbol. The other thing is that he was also kind of a uh raconteur. He could tell you a story. Okay, and a lot of times what we take is the story of Bruff Superior has benefited from some story of bruffing and expansion of the facts. Uh-huh. So one of the most famous ones that we talked about is the Rolls Royce of motorcycles. And the the they they were marketed as the Rolls-Royce of motorcycles by George Bruff. And other companies that tried to do that, you know, the whatever Rolls-Royce of subs and such, uh, Rolls-Royce would come after them because they were protective of their name. And Rolls-Royce was renowned for not only their uh expense but their precision engineering. Uh design. You know, we're saying Rolls-Royce was making aircraft engines. Right. Oh, right. And so um somehow he never there was never any issue. Uh I don't know if I know the exact but the legend that George Bruff told me everybody is that the people from Bruff Superior came to visit because they were not happy. And he kitted out his crew with white gloves, and you like selling engines. And then they said, Oh, okay, well, maybe this is okay. You're a tight ship round. You're a tight ship round here, Mr. Bruff. Lots of white gloves. Rolls-Royce approves. But uh, after the fact, one of his one of his uh Titchy Allen, one of his employees and engineers, said, I don't know about that. There certainly weren't ever any white gloves around the shop. So um, yeah, just but he was able through the force of his personality, yeah, and the the largeness of the way he lived his life to really inspire people. That's one of the things that I find the most fascinating about him is the employees he had really looked up to him and respected him. And I think it's something that everybody who's running a business should really strive for. Yeah, and that's kind of like one of those things where you're just like, wow, yeah, to like earn earn the respect of the people that were yeah, yeah. Um and and he was a he was a he really was a man. He did that kind of a little bit of everything. Yeah, uh racing, driving, love cars. Um, and then what could I guess one thing that would tell you the kind of how important he was to the company was both times that he was injured. The company almost went bankrupt. Wow. Um they were like that they I mentioned that uh work scrapper on the bikes. They actually had the trap they actually sold it while he was away because they were to pay the bills. Wow. And so when he came back, it was gone, and they refitted it, and then eventually they found it like many years later and bought it. And they bought it back and he bought it back and put it back to the area for Dwarf K.

SPEAKER_03

That's great. Uh so there's a uh a pretty prominent guy who uh wrote uh Bruff Superior.

Lawrence Of Arabia And The Legend

SPEAKER_04

Oh, yeah, and then the most famous thing a lot of people recognize of the Bruff Superior is that Lawrence of Arabia, the famous uh military um writer. Um of course the Kimis movie was made about him. Um but but he was a kind of a national um hero. National treasure, national hero, a controversial figure, yeah. Um but he had seven rough superiors, and he would he purchased them under a a different name. Um what, dude? Well, his name, but that just he didn't want to draw attention to himself. I think there was he he suffered a lot of mental and uh physical damage from the war and his experiences in it, and so he just kind of wanted to do his own thing, but he would write just a lot. He was famous for just telegraphing or phoning Russell Pierre in the morning that he would be there in the afternoon. Uh uh. And then they like scramble ready, and then he brings his bike and he's like, I think he's a new chain, and uh you you know yeah, he knew everybody there. He really was a personal he ended up writing a recommendation for George Rough that he was able to publish. That's cool. Uh Bishop did a lot for their sales.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah. I would I would imagine getting a recommendation from T Lawrence would be Yeah.

SPEAKER_04

Uh he wore the he wore those bikes out, yeah. Um with Metamalus he had put on. Yeah. And then sadly, he um he was killed in an accident on his seventh Rough Superior. Um, of course, documented in them in the film really well, although it's non-abrousperity's riding, he's running triumph. No, uh The Blasphemy. Uh if you're familiar with that. Oh, yeah, that's a fantastic movie. Um, but yeah, he was killed. Uh likely trying to avoid some um boys in the road, but probably also likely going too fast. Yeah. Uh and not working out. Right. Well, you think about like roads. Yeah, it was like hedgerows, right?

SPEAKER_03

You didn't see where he was yeah. Right. And people didn't people aren't expecting someone to come 100 miles an hour down that road. Right, right. You're expecting like no a hour going 25, 30 miles an hour, or a horse. Like you're not expecting some guy from flying through. Right. So but really famous.

Parts-Bin Critiques And Janus Parallels

SPEAKER_04

Uh but I think that the the things that really just kind of fa fascinated me this contrast, maybe, is you know, what is similar and what's different. Uh yeah. And one thing that I've always kind of drawn a connection with is the fact that we edge source our engines. Um, of course, that and and George Bruff was kind of accused of this too, is a kind of a part spin bike. And I think some people can accuse Janice of being a spin bike in the sense that we use um wheels that are designed for this, you know, motorcycle, an engine that's designed for this motorcycle. Then we don't make uh uh I mean I could the list could go on, right? You know, yeah, we don't we we don't have the budget, nor nor did George Brough to manufacture all parts, right? Like Tramp or Norton or these other bigger brands that are that are almost in his shadow in some way. Um, it probably made many, many more bikes, but nowhere near as famous as Ross Pierre. Yeah, I think that goes. He was able to kind of he was like it said, that that passage, he was able to take these different disparate parts and put them together in a package that was compelling, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, he was he was taking like he had a vision. It it's something that I'm really drawn to in in this story, is like he had a vision for something and then he made it work. Like he did it. Yeah, uh not just like by the seat of his pants, but it seems like he like really planned out like the best suspension. Oh, I I I've ridden over one what did you say, a hundred motorcycles, different motorcycles in in the war. And uh I've got I've got all these things like to that I can take and I can put them together and make it the best whether you actually had them in here or whether you just write it out. Well, even given the uh the few stories that I've heard tonight probably just made it up. But no, I think it I think it's something to look toward and looking looking at a breath superior versus a house young in particular, you can see a lot of fruit lines.

SPEAKER_04

You yeah, you can, and then but there's also some differences. I think and I think that that George was a racer, um, and really had this kind of goal of really high speeds and performance, which is a little different than Janice. I think that Janice really is not following that kind of vein where a way that we're we we've kind of gotten to a point where we're like, okay, every bike can go this fast. And can we go t maybe twice as fast? Uh or or or there are many production motorcycles that you can buy to go very, very, very, very fast. What is next frontier, right? What is what what do we uh if we're if he was trying to dial in a motorcycle to do something that no other bike could do, we're trying to do the same thing, but uh almost the like the inversion rail of what that is. But I think that the thread that that holds true in both cases is uh if I can be so bold as to even make the comparison, is that uh we believe that a thing should be beautiful and stunning and it should uh the the way that it's made should be apparent. Yeah, and and I think that's something that I mean Jordan Bruff would would recognize even if he was on a very different quest um as far as what his machines were capable of. Um but it but it would be we're also looking at very small production numbers, we're very, very similar to JS, right? Uh and in a dedicated owner group, they had rallies early on. That's with uh breath superior um people like what would he crash? People there were some some of his customers that didn't even know him donated skin graphs for his R what like this guy, can you imagine?

SPEAKER_03

That's kind of creepy, wow, that'll be male some skin to you, buddy. Yeah, but that's the time.

The Two-Rear-Wheel Oddity And Wrap

SPEAKER_04

But uh yeah, he he I think he died in the 60s, 1970s, like you know, kind of crazy to think. Always fan of motorcycles. He liked vintage bikes, but even back then, like bikes like older than 10 years old, steam, yeah, steam engine motorcycles. Um one of the last little tidbit that I think is funny is that I always I think I've mentioned this on the Ramlo stream before, is that he there was one motorcycle they made that never understood, which is a bruff's career, two rear wheels. And I never understood that. So if one of the things I was looking around over the weekend, I was like, what's the story behind that? So um that was a motorcycle that he developed that used an Austin cark, liquid-cooled cock, four-cylinder car engine. Because he wanted it to have something to be smooth, and it was just it was kind of for like the later years of Brussels. And the way that the shaft drive made it, they couldn't get it to work with a regular motorcycle. So they run in his dad. He helped him engineer it, but required two real life. So they basically said, No, this was that's what happened. George Brough, he usually had beer with lunch, uh, but he had whiskey instead. And and now he's looking at really now. No, we just need to put two wheels on the dude. And they did, and then they just marketed. They just he just marketed it. He's like, it's okay, it runs fine with if you go on a corner and you just had to get used to it. Well, they flip it. I don't I don't think they made a whole lot, and I could imagine they say they did market more to the side part. Yeah, Mike, which yeah, which was really popular. I have a bad story that whiskey instead of beer or robots.

SPEAKER_03

Let me add you. No, no, I'm gonna ask them one last question to finish finish it out here. Um this is gonna be a pretentious question, I think, or a potentially pretentious question. Uh would George Bruff like Jan's motorcycles?

SPEAKER_04

You know, they say you don't you don't want to meet your you don't want your eyes, yeah, your heroes.

SPEAKER_03

Maybe it's the same thing. Maybe we'll just let it be a mystery. I have you, I hope you would appreciate that. Yeah. Well, this has been fun. Um, I learned a lot. I hope you guys did as well. Um, thank you all so much for tuning in. This was our first uh motorcycle deep dive episode. Um so if you guys like it, let us know. Merchant of the Helmet Lock doesn't fit on the ring of the leather Jen's keychain. How to drill out key. Yeah, uh we're we're gonna be looking into that. If you want to send us an email at Ramblink Januslow Cycles uh to just remind us to follow through with that. Putting what size real bit to buy. Yeah, either that or we'll start getting little additional key rings for for for the key, you know, just some small things. Um but yeah, thank you guys so much for tuning in. Uh, we will see you next week for episode 125. 100 and a quarter, 100 and a quarter. What a what a great number. We'll see you then.

SPEAKER_04

That wraps up this episode of the Ramblestream Podcast. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the show, subscribe wherever you listen, share it with a fellow rambler, and please consider leaving a rating. And join us live every Monday at 7 p.m. on YouTube for our weekly ramble stream.

SPEAKER_01

You can also find us at ramblestreampod.com and on social at ramblestream. We'll be back next week with more conversations, more stories, and of course, more rambling. And remember, many of those who ramble may very well be lost, but that's probably the point.