Black History: "The Dream Bike"

A Bronx-born military veteran who was killed responding to the attacks at the World Trade Center on 9/11, Gerard Baptiste had developed a new passion for motorcycles just that summer. He expressed his interest to fellow Ladder 9/Engine 33 (housed together on Great Jones Street) firefighter Michael Wernick, who owned a garage. Wernick volunteered to help Baptiste buy his first motorcycle and teach him how to ride, repair, and maintain it.

Baptiste ended up purchasing a 1979 Honda CB750 LTD for $100, with expectations of restoring it. After Baptiste's death, Wernick planned to dispose of the bike but was convinced by a journalist to restore it in his friend's memory.

Joined in this endeavor by fellow firefighters, Honda employees, motorcycle aficionados, and mechanics from a shop in New Jersey, Wernick spent 15 months overseeing the restoration of the bike. It was repainted fire engine red and emblazoned with the images of a bald eagle, the FDNY uniform patch, an Engine 33 logo, and a cross surrounded by 10 roses and two fire helmets in honor of the 10 firefighters from Ladder Company 9 and Engine Company 33 killed on 9/11. The project became a source of pride, with Wernick’s wife calling it a “healing bike.”

In 2004, the bike was raffled off to raise funds for Ladder 9 and Engine 33’s Children’s Scholarship Fund. It changed hands a few times before eventually returning to Wernick, who continued to search for a suitable place for it.

The “Dream Bike”— as it was referred to in the 2004 documentary, “F.D.N.Y. Dream Bike”— was displayed at an exhibition at the FASNY Museum of Firefighting, Lest We Forget: Honoring the Memory of the Firefighters of September 11, 2001, organized to display artifacts “created out of the extreme feeling of loss and disbelief in the aftermath of the tragedy.” It was later exhibited at Motorcyclopedia and eventually made its way into the 9/11 Memorial & Museum’s permanent collection, where it remains today.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff