This is a 1954 Triumph Speed Twin that’s been given a full rebuild by specialist Purdy Motorcycles, turning it into a Purdy Brough – after around 1,000 hours of labor.
Purdy is one of the most high-end custom motorcycle builders in the UK, all bikes are ordered in person at the workshop, and no two bikes are ever the same – they’re each tailored to the owner’s specifications.
This is a 1954 Triumph Speed Twin that’s been given a full rebuild by specialist Purdy Motorcycles, turning it into a Purdy Brough – one of the most desirable motorcycles of the 20th century.
History Speedrun: Purdy Motorcycles
Purdy Motorcycles is a small English motorcycle company based in a barn workshop in rural Buckinghamshire. They build bespoke, handmade motorcycles that pair the appearance and character of pre-unit Triumphs with modern build quality and a level of finish more usually seen on concours-restored machines.
The firm was founded by brothers Mark and Keith Purdy, who between them bring over 50 years of traditional engineering experience to the workshop. Production numbers are kept deliberately low, each motorcycle is built to a customer’s specification, and Purdy estimates that the labor content of a single bike is approximately 1,000 hours.
Every Purdy is numbered in build order, and the company sells direct from the workshop by appointment. Prices are not published, but a small number of completed bikes have surfaced at auction through Collecting Cars, H&H Classics, and Silverstone Auctions over the years.
Purdy’s builds are Triumph-based, with models based on the T100, the Speed Twin, and the Triumph Thunderbird. These models are chosen because they represent Triumph at its early post-WWII best.
The cast aluminum parallel-twin engine, Amal carburetion (typically a pre-monobloc with twin remote float bowls), 4-speed pre-unit gearbox, Brown & Barlow slide throttle, Lucas electrics, and Smiths-style or Smiths chronometric instrumentation depending on the build are all period-correct or re-manufactured to period spec. Purdy says its motorcycles can be badged as Purdy or Triumph and they’re accredited by the UK Triumph Owners Club.
At around 11 bikes built in a decade, Purdy sits in the same rarefied corner of the British motorcycle market as builders like Untitled Motorcycles and Thornton Hundred, and, at the very top end, the revived Brough Superior marque.
Purdy is one of the most high-end motorcycle builders in the UK, all bikes are ordered in person at the workshop, and no two bikes are ever the same – they’re each tailored to the owner’s specifications.
The Purdy Brough
The Purdy Brough is the best-known Purdy model, it’s named as a direct homage to Brough Superior, the Nottingham-built pre-war motorcycles that H. D. Teague of The Motor Cycle dubbed the “Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles.”
This bike, No. 11, is registered as a 1954 Triumph Speed Twin on an age-related plate and has a 1954 T100 engine, a single Amal carburetor with paired float bowls, a Lucas headlamp, inverted competition-style brake and clutch levers, and a reproduction Smiths speedometer with a digital odometer.
This Purdy Brough is registered as a 1954 Triumph Speed Twin on an age-related plate and has a 1954 T100 engine, a single Amal carburetor with paired float bowls, a Lucas headlamp, inverted competition-style brake and clutch levers, and a reproduction Smiths speedometer with a digital odometer.
The finish is Laurite Metallic Silver with hand-pinstriped Wildberry accents, and the seat, panniers, grips, and control cable wraps are all in matching Wildberry leather. Pipeburn’s coverage describes the concept as an attempt to build the machine Meriden might have produced, if cost and volume had never entered the conversation.
Purdy Brough No. 11 is now being offered for sale out of Loughton in the United Kingdom on Collecting Cars, you can visit the listing here if you’d like to read more about it or register to bid.
Images courtesy of Collecting Cars
Articles that Ben Branch has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
