Sideroist Iron Society
Words and Photos by |Brandon LaJoie |
I took a somewhat random trip to New York in February to visit a friend and see the city for the first time. I made absolutely no plans other than to do some exploring and have some fun. About three hours from the time my plane landed and I got situated, bam, motorcycles. I decided to take a walk while I was waiting on my friend Hilary to get off of work. About half a mile from her apartment, I walked by a building with Ducati, Triumph, and HD logos painted on the exterior.
I couldn’t help myself. I walked in and was warmly greeted by Larry. Larry is the owner of New York City Motorcycles, or NYCMC for short (they also happen to be New York’s DEUS distributor). Larry is a business owner, racer, collector, and genuinely nice guy. He’s the real deal. He really knows his stuff, and I had a hard time keeping up as he reamed through the history of all the bikes in his showroom, including a Laverda race bike, Kawasaki Mach III 500, a custom BMW built by Woolie Workshop, and an immaculate Honda Dream 50, which he let me take outside for a few snaps. Larry was also kind enough to let me take a look in the basement, which you can see below. Catch Larry and I at the 2016 Handbuilt Motorcycle Show in Austin this weekend.
Details on the featured Honda Dream 50 according to Larry’s own words:
“I’ve done nothing to it. purchased from Alan Cathcart (among the most read moto journalists of past 25 years, as well as accomplished ex-racer) via Bonhams at auction in the UK nearly two years ago.
Alan purchased the bike from the Japanese moto mag Riders Club, after they brought the bike to the Isle of Man for a parade lap and feature in the magazine.
The bike is a Japan-edition Dream50, built in 1997 as a special limited run, to commemorate Honda’s racing success in the sixties and seventies with the CR(cub racer)110, the tiny displacement racers of that period. the 1997 production were red framed and street legal to register in Japan. In 2003, another small run was produced for the US. These were black framed, competition-only permitted imports. Some still race in USCRA sanctioned vintage racing.
The number plate R50 HON is the UK registration of Alan Cathcart.
49cc DOHC, 4-valve 6-speed, 15,000rpms producing 7hp
