T. E. Lawrence

So I actually had a slow night last week and was able to watch a movie. How many of us get to do that these days? I haven't seen this film in years; the 1962 film "Lawrence Of Arabia". As most of you know, T. E. Lawrence helped the allied cause in WWI by leading the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire (Turks). After the war, two months after leaving the army, he died in a motorcycle accident on a country lane close to his cottage home. As he was traveling, he came upon a dip in the road which obscured his vision. Thereafter, he saw he was on track to collide with two boys on bicycles. As he tried avoid them, he lost control and went over his handle bars. Six days later he succumbed to his injuries. We was riding a bike which I have never heard of before, a Brough Superior SS100:



One interesting fact from Wikipedia:

"One of the doctors attending him was the neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns. He was profoundly affected by the incident, and consequently began a long study of what he saw as the unnecessary loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists."

Cool bike, was that the one he was riding ?

JD

bluej58 wrote: Cool bike, was that the one he was riding ?

JD

I believe it was. From the caption with the photo on Wikipedia it states, "Lawrence's last Brough Superior, Imperial War Museum, London. I clicked on the photo and another page states, "The original (restored) Brough Superior of T. E. Lawrence / Imperial War Museum / London". So I assume it is the one he crashed with.

he used to race the airplanes on take off with that thing when he was stationed at the air field.

a 100+mph machine way back then.
top notch bike then or now.

leon

T.E.Lawrence had 5 or 6 Brough Superiors, 3 SS80 and at least 2 SS100, Great for going, not so good for stopping. Jay Lenno has an ss100 and tells a great story about chrome valve springs. When he was young he found a photo of an SS100 and he just had to have one. When he got a bit older (and richer) added one to his collection. One of the "cool" things he did to his Brough Superiors was he had the exposed velve springs chromed. When ever he took it for a ride he would carry an extra spring because they were always breaking. This went on for some time untill he found another copy of that photo that made him lust after a SS100 years before. One of the things the caption for that photo said was "Do not chrome the valve spring on your Brough Superior it makes them brittle and they will break". I guess he was blinded by lust.

KZJOE900 wrote: So I actually had a slow night last week and was able to watch a movie. How many of us get to do that these days? I haven't seen this film in years; the 1962 film "Lawrence Of Arabia". As most of you know, T. E. Lawrence helped the allied cause in WWI by leading the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire (Turks). After the war, two months after leaving the army, he died in a motorcycle accident on a country lane close to his cottage home. As he was traveling, he came upon a dip in the road which obscured his vision. Thereafter, he saw he was on track to collide with two boys on bicycles. As he tried avoid them, he lost control and went over his handle bars. Six days later he succumbed to his injuries. We was riding a bike which I have never heard of before, a Brough Superior SS100:

One interesting fact from Wikipedia:

"One of the doctors attending him was the neurosurgeon Hugh Cairns. He was profoundly affected by the incident, and consequently began a long study of what he saw as the unnecessary loss of life by motorcycle dispatch riders through head injuries. His research led to the use of crash helmets by both military and civilian motorcyclists."

Brough Superior, is that where bro comes from?

never heard ofa ss100 brough (bruff)superior?
the only bike that would compare would be a crocker
if i had a choice id get a flying merkel :laugh:

jeffasaki wrote: never heard ofa ss100 brough (bruff)superior?
the only bike that would compare would be a crocker
if i had a choice id get a flying merkel :laugh:

I'd go for a Vincent Black Lightning.

the black shadow would be cool

Brough surperior looks like a forerunner of the Vincent. Flying Merkel is really weird. Saw one 2 years back and Paris (Ontario) CVMG meet. Both grips twist. The right was/is throttle and he left was advance/retard ignition. Talk about complex !

That's the same way on the old Harleys, and probably many others of that time.