This Masterpiece Motorcycle Was One Of Honda’s Most Expensive Creations

This Masterpiece Motorcycle Was One Of Honda’s Most Expensive Creations
According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a “rune” is a symbol or character used in the writings of many Germanic peoples of the ancient past. It can also be a Finnish or Old Norse poem. Spelled differently, but pronounced similarly, is “ruin” — which means to damage irreparably, devastate, impoverish, go bankrupt … well, you get the drift. In the case of Honda, the “Rune” may have leaned the other way.
Believe it or not, Honda’s Rune was an even larger version of its already behemoth-sized Valkyrie. This drop-dead gorgeous masterpiece of motorcycle engineering dripped with decadence, and was so absurdly over the top that it almost ruined the company. Okay, maybe not the company, but with an MSRP of $27,000 (via National Motorcycle Museum), it likely ruined many consumers’ bank accounts when released in 2004.
No performance goals with no distinct function, and the purchase price was not a consideration. According to FortNine, these were actual directives from Honda project leader Masanori Aoki, of Gold Wing GL1800 fame. The only real goal was to make it look nice while being road legal. Thus, it began with a styling model, not Honda’s usual engineering design (via Honda).
It was borne from the Zodia concept, first shown at the 1995 Tokyo Motor Show (via TopSpeed). Over the next few years, it underwent several revisions (T1 through T4), which were displayed at shows from 1998 through 2000 (via TopSpeed).