The Brough Superior Dagger S isn’t really a cruiser, and calling it a cruiser is almost a disservice. Cruisers are expected to let riders relax with their legs spread, their engines throbbing, and their owners pretend they definitely weren’t looking at the online touring windscreen at 1am.
This thing is different. It’s like an English bruiser bike, a low, carbon-wrapped streetfighter wearing a hand-crafted suit and having very expensive anger issues.
This matters because Brough Superior sits in a strange little corner of the motorcycle world. It’s not chasing the same customer as Harley-Davidson, Triumph, Ducati, or even most boutique builders. The modern trough exists in that extremely unserious but technically fascinating place where motorcycles become mechanical sculptures, carbon fiber becomes a personality trait, and pricing is treated like classified information. The Dagger S dives straight into that world without any shyness and with a very serious face.
Photo by: Brou Superior
The “regular” Dagger (if you can even call it that) already looked like someone tried to build a naked sportbike after spending too much time hanging around old British motorcycles, superyachts, and carbon fiber espresso machines. The Dagger S takes that formula and leans more strongly toward the angry bit. The biggest change is the riding position, with the lower bars set further forward to put more of the rider’s weight on the front. In layman’s terms, Brough took its already awkward luxury roadster and made it more committed, more aggressive, and probably less interested in the long-term well-being of your lower back.
Mechanically, this isn’t a major new powertrain moment. The Dagger S still uses Brough’s 997 cc water-cooled V-twin, good for 102 horsepower at 9,600 rpm and 64 pound-feet of torque at 7,300 rpm. That’s not superbike power, but that’s not really the point either. This bike isn’t trying to win a spec-sheet argument against a litterbike. It’s trying to make every exposed bracket, machined surface and carbon panel look like it was designed by someone who has both a torque wrench and an art gallery membership.
Photo by: Brou Superior
The chassis is where the Dagger S gets properly weird. The Bruff Stick with its signature Fiore-type front suspension, a CNC-machined aluminum setup with titanium links that feels like it was over-engineered on purpose. The frame and subframe are titanium, because of course they are. It has 17-inch machined aluminum wheels, big brakes, and a 200-section rear tire, giving the whole thing a compact, muscular stance without pushing it into legs-further power cruiser territory.
Visually, the S model doesn’t rewrite the Dagger formula so much as sharpen it. The smaller front nose cone gets a more aggressive shape, the tank gets a honeycomb-style carbon finish, and there are additional fairing pieces around the radiator. The “S Sport” motifs ensure that everyone knows it’s more focused, if the riding position and carbon-clad death gaze weren’t already talking enough. It’s subtle by boutique motorcycle standards, which means it still looks like it was built to intimidate a private members’ club.
Photo by: Brou Superior
And then there’s the price, or rather the lack of it. Brough Superior doesn’t list it openly, because apparently the numbers are for people who ask too many questions. The brand says the Dagger and Dagger S will be priced the same no matter how you order them, which is helpful in the same way that a waiter saying “don’t worry about it” is helpful at a restaurant where there are no prices on the menu. Translation: expensive. Probably very expensive. Probably “calling your accountant before your dealer” is expensive.
This is what makes the Dagger S interesting. This is no cruiser, no traditional naked bike, and no typical streetfighter either. This is an English bruiser bike with old-money posture and new-money materials, built for someone who wants performance, theatre, craftsmanship, and just enough discomfort to prove they’re serious. It’s funny, but it knows what kind of funny it wants to be.
