The micro-displacement CB50R is a rare little racer. According to the seller of this example that has never been uncrated from its original box, only 440 units of these early 2000’s CB’s were produced, (other sources confirm this) making these surprisingly rare for how relatively new they are. These stripped down racers are extremely lightweight are at the bottom end of the displacement spectrum of the famous CB lineup that assisted Honda in building its moto-empire. The CB50R – which was also known as “The Dream” – was a replica of the RC110 which was the machine Honda raced in the 50cc Grand Prix of 1962.
What it’s supposed to look like (from another featured listing)
Honda CB’s were first sold (and ridden as) sport bikes and have seen decades of competition in their history, from the time of their debut up until now when they compete in vintage events. The CB50R embodies what people love about these Japanese motorcycles, they’re brilliantly engineered, easy to work on, dependable, and they happen to look pretty cool too. The little Dream is powered by a four-stroke, single-cylinder engine with double overhead camshaft attached to five-speed transmission, though Honda experimented with up to a nine-speed tranny. The early 1960’s Japanese racer was capable of 87mph and its swingarm with hydraulic dampers and its telescopic fork gave it remarkably sharp handling, though its lightweight helped with that too as its dry weight was only 99lbs, (130lbs wet).
A different ’04 CB50R example was recently sold at a 2017 Mecum Auction for $9,000 though the example currently for sale is new in box, not just never ridden or serviced. These bikes are quite the little revvers, with their factory race machines revving up to 17k RPM. Despite Honda putting a massive effort into developing this lightweight racer, the RC110 failed to succeed on the race track. For whatever reason, its lack of success during competition didn’t stop it from becoming widely adored by the global motorcycle community, so much so that Honda opted to produce a few hundred of them forty something years after its initial debut at the November, 1961 Tokyo Motor show.
Honda produced two versions of these bike prior to its re-release in the early ’00s, one was a street version with head and tail lights, signals and exhaust silencers, it had a five speed transmission and made 7hp at 12,700 rpm, while the race version which was aimed at privateers in club racing made 8.5hp at 13,500 rpm and was stripped of the street legal necessities its road going counterpart sported. With only 440 total units built in ’04, these bikes are rare, but finding one brand spanking new in the box is akin to something of a two-wheeled unicorn, and a damn cool one at that.
You can find this new in crate/box 2004 Honda CB50R Dream for sale here on Craigslist in Los Angeles, CA with a reasonable asking price of $12,000.