• Iconic privateer racing motorcycle
• Restored in Italy
• Genuine Honda saddle cover

"Not only did they epitomise the virtues of a racing motorcycle, being small, light, fast and simple, but they handled wonderfully well, and if properly (and rather expensively) maintained they were remarkably reliable." – Brian Woolley on the Honda CRs, Directory of Classic Racing Motorcycles.

Little more than one year after its breakthrough first success at World Championship level in 1961, Honda made its state-of-the-art Grand Prix technology available to privateers in the form of the 50cc CR110 and 125cc CR93 over-the-counter racers. Like their works equivalents, the 50cc single and 125cc twin employed gear-driven double overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder, this combination of tiny cylinders and minuscule valves enabling them to rev safely well into five figures, the CR110's maximum power of 8.5bhp arriving at a then stratospheric 13,500rpm. Both models employed a tubular steel frame, devoid of lower rails, to which was attached a conventional set of cycle parts, and while the '50' boasted no fewer than eight gears in the gearbox, the more tractable '125' made do with six.

First made available in 1962, the duo immediately achieved a dominance of their respective classes that would last for many years. Only a relative handful of CRs was imported into the UK yet they had a considerable impact on the domestic scene, with many stars of the future, including Bill Ivy, Jim Curry, Rod Scivyer and sidecar champion Chris Vincent, gaining their early experience aboard the diminutive Hondas.

We are advised that Giancarlo Morbidelli was able to buy a genuine saddle cover from Honda for this highly original CR110. Restored in Italy, it represents a wonderful opportunity to acquire one of these jewel-like masterpieces, which are highly sought after today by classic racers and collectors alike. The machine is offered with a photocopied parts list (in English).