The future: Looking very promising and there's a lot of interest from the Custom Bike Scene.

Currently we are working very close with Lamb Engineering headed by Larry Houghton
who's work and quality lends itself to our cause - there's some exciting stuff going on there so,
Watch This Space!

We also work very closely with a company called Cameron Engineering headed by
Ewan Cameron, they look after after all the Vintage side of things and are the only
people allowed to use our protected name JAP

However as you look through our website you will see some new stuff and some old stuff
and we'd like to point out that in a couple of articles the name Brough-Superior comes
out - this is purely our past. We sold the name and rights to a very capable company
called Netherton Industries headed by a guy called Mark Upham who we ,after many meetings, realised was the best person in Brough's interest. This we had to do to fund
our engine progression.

Write up from MCN May 7th 2009:

"The first new JAP in 101 years

Exclusive first ride of brand new hand-built £30k JAP street bobber

At its peak, British engine builder JAP supplied the oomph for 137
different types of bike from the first Vincents to the most
desirable Brough Superiors. The name is still legend in the classic,
Morgan car and speedway scenes, where its lightweight, powerful
singles enjoyed decades of success. But JAP also built its own
complete bikes from 1904-1908, the range then topping out with a 6bhp
V-twin. With dehumidifiers help, these classic models still ride!!!
101 years later the brand is back with a handbuilt street
bobber still a V-twin, still all-British but packing more than a
dozen times the power.
The as-yet-unnamed 1298cc bike is the brainchild of 80-year-old Alec
Card, until recently the owner of Brough Superior. Card sold the brand
to finance the development of the fully-updated JAP engine that debuts
in this bike and which is planned to form the base of a range of
built-to-order bikes, including a car racer next year. The JAP
engine was always the heart of the best Broughs anyway, and the bit we
were most passionate about he says.
Based around the layout of the long-stroke 1920s JAP JTO engine, the
50 degree v-twin has been modernised with thicker crankcases,
ceramic-coated bores, enclosed rockers and electronic ignition.
Conrods, rockers, rocker arms and cam followers have all been
expensively investment-cast, and tolerances have been brought up to
date. Currently carbed, an injection unit is in development in
anticipation of US sales. The result is what a seat-of-the-pants dyno
run suggests is around 80bhp approaching the 6000rpm redline.
The massive motor is hard-mounted in the frame (copper-plated in a nod
to the celebrated 1929 JAP-powered race-winner dubbed Copperknob)
which is itself hard-tailed. That suits the bareknuckle minimalism of
the bike, but it's a sure recipe for a bone-shaking ride. Yet that's
not the feeling you get as you twist the fat throttle and power away.
The motor's smooth, the vibrations strictly of the variety that tell
you you're riding a living motorcycle. On good roads and at moderate
speeds you don't miss the rear shock (besides, the seat has its own
suspension comprising two of the same valve springs used in the
engine). Instead it's the tiny dimensions and feather-light handling
of the bike you notice, so at odds with its hot-rod, hard-blatting
exhaust note that sounds like it could flatten trees.
I don't have mirrors to confirm that's what's happening of course,
because this is the development mule. It also lacks niceties like
clocks and electric start and decent brakes all of which customer
bikes will enjoy when they begin delivery in four- to six-months
time, as well as slightly bigger-bore frame tubes. And who will these
customers be? Individual motorcycle connoisseurs says Dave Card
son of Alec, and co-designer and builder of the bike. But the bike's
for riding, we don't want to see it go into collections'.
As I return the bike to its beaming creators I take a last look and
consider its chances. For a bike that's the result of the smelting of
precious family assets like Brough, it's an impressively restrained
effort. It's perfectly proportioned where it could have strained for
attention; it's engine-led but they haven't forgotten modern riders
like bikes to handle too. Against it is the inevitably steep price and
the fact that while JAP's roots are long, they're slender. It's a
great-looking, soulful bike we hope stays just as raucous and raw
while its rough edges are smoothed for final production. It will be a
special bike but does the JAP name cast a strong enough spell?
Time will tell


Our new engine, also available with old time dog eared heads

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