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Heck,I thinkI ,m gonna go visit my Honda dealership and see just how much he,d be willing for me to take it off his hands! As a joke of course.If I brought that home,me and the dog would be living in his house side by side!

Here's is what I will say - it is very high techy looking. It runs great - I heard one at a bike show. Not my cup of tea at all, since I'm not a cruiser guy. If I was, I'd be against the fact it is a one seater and there is almost no way to but any accesories on the bike. I tried to be nice.

I think its just Honda's way of showing off some of their technology. I doubt if they expect to sell many.

But, there will always be the person with toooo much money!

On the Rune, it did not replace the Valkyrie, although they borrowed the Valkyrie name and called it the Valkyrie Rune. It was aimed at an entirely different market (read upscale).

It was not a poor seller. It was produced in a limited production run and most units were presold. The one on our local dealership floor was sold shortly after it had arrived. Later, at the far end of the production run, units were sitting on the floor. Goes to show how narrow that market segment is.

The Rune wasn't built to mass appeal. It was an exercise in custom style and high level engineering. It moved virtually from the concept bike to the production model. They knew the price would seem high to the average guy. Consider how many people go goo-gaa when they see one of those 65k plus "custom" pieces of Orange Cty krapp and go on about how they want to own one.

The fact that the Rune doesn't have a dual seat and saddle bag mount points is a moot point. It wasn't put out there as another choice you could have for an all-rounder motorcycle. It was a limited production specialized custom. If I owned one I wouldn't want to see one on every corner.

I would love to own and ride one, it is still one hell of a motorcycle when you come right down to it. I'm sure, over time, it will gain even more appreciation.

On the Valkyrie, the Valkyrie Interstate, the Valkyrie Tourer and the Standard Valkyrie all have the same engine. The Interstate has a different ECM. The early Standards were the fastest Valks.

Highway pegs, that don't splay your legs so far apart are available. So are footboards (yuck). I don't need highway pegs anyway, but prefer the standard peg position.

The Valkyrie wasn't a poor seller, they sold from late 1996 til 2003. I know of over 25,000 units sold, but the actual numbers were higher. But, their time had come, as the market dictates, to come to an end. They had sold about all the Valkyries, in numbers worth producing, that they could. Time to move on with the 1800cc F6 available. Lots of rumours abound about a rebirth of a new Valkyrie. I'm more than happy with the one I have.

So sayeth the Paul.

One of the big reasons they cut the valk was so it wouldn't cut into the VTX Sales.

Which worked for me, because I never wanted a valk...if I was gonna get a cruiser I wanted a V-twin with the real classic cruiser sound.

Valks don't sound bad, but I like the lump of a V-twin, especially if I'm riding a cruiser.

As to the rune...I've sat on them and I think their far far far too big for my taste...which is odd because I drive one of the longest/biggest bikes out there...

As someone said, I think they just made it to show Honda's capabilities.

paul246 wrote:The Valkyrie wasn't a poor seller, they sold from late 1996 til 2003. I know of over 25,000 units sold, but the actual numbers were higher. But, their time had come, as the market dictates, to come to an end. They had sold about all the Valkyries, in numbers worth producing, that they could.

Thats what I meant when I said "poor seller". They weren't selling justifyable numbers any more. And I agree with everything else you said.

The more I look at it the more I (Gulp) like it.....

CentralOzzy wrote: The more I look at it the more I (Gulp) like it.....

Don't look at it when you Gulp (whiskey, that is...) distorts your vision, ya know.....

Yesh, *Hic* ....Been doin a bit of that lately....