Aston Martin and Brough Superior are working together to build an extremely British take on the Kawasaki H2R/Ducati Superleggera V4 hyperbike segment. While we haven’t yet seen a final production version of the bike, or even heard what it sounds like at full chat (thanks to dramatic overdubbed music), the bike is still on track to deliver later this year. By this point, surely, the riding dynamics are pretty well set and “testing” videos like this are only used to drum up interest, but dammit it’s interesting.
The AMB 001 will only be built for 100 discerning customers, and they’ll have to be quite wealthy as well, because it’s going to cost 108,000 euros. That’s nearly 122,000 American greenbacks for two wheels, an engine, and handlebars. Yowza! Why is it allegedly worth that much? Well, for one because people will pay it. But for another because it delivers a massive 180 horsepower from a turbocharged and intercooled V-twin, all wrapped up in a carbon, aluminum, and titanium chassis that weighs just 400 pounds.
Aston has never built a motorcycle before, obviously, but will decades of sports car experience translate to two wheels? It’s got a unique double wishbone front fork setup, which you can see working in the video. Is this a new way forward for motorcycle dynamics, or is there a reason no other bike uses this style of front end? I’d say that I’d love an opportunity to test it, but I’m trying to be more honest, and I’d probably poop my aerostitch.
The Aston/Superior will certainly not be street legal, however, so you’d better have a season pass with your local track to get the most out of it. Then again, most of these will probably end up as decoration in some high-end collection and will never see the light of day again. Can the recently-rebooted Brough Superior and a sports car company really build something to rival the best from Ducati, or the upcoming Kawasaki/Bimota mashup? It probably doesn’t matter. Neither of those bikes have winged badges on them.
H/T RideApart