Honda Rune 1800
Honda Rune 1800
newrides.04
A little incident that tells all you need to know about the Honda Rune: About to performance-test the bike, Don Canet is informed that the 1800cc Six—despite weighing 848 pounds and looking like it should be on the show circuit—does bitchin’ burn-outs.
“Really,” says the Road Test Editor, who then wicks up the throttle, drops the clutch and proceeds to paint a 45-foot black stripe across the parking lot, cranking in more than a few degrees of handlebar lock for good effect.
Turns out Honda’s concept bike that against all odds made it to the street knows what to do when it gets there. You’ve heard of all-show, no-go? The Rune ain’t havin’ a bit of it.
On a proper dragstrip, the Rune reels off easy 12.68-second quarter-miles at 106.13 mph. That’s down by 1.1 sec-
onds to the more powerful, much lighter Harley V-Rod, but right in the hunt with the rest of the 2003 crop of power-cruisers-we’ll have to see how it stacks up against the big-inch
mega-motors powering the new Triumph Rocket III and Kawasaki Vulcan 2000.
Certainly the riding experience will be different. The Rune’s pancake-Six revs to 6000 rpm, sounding not unlike a Porsche in the process. As measured at the rear wheel, max horsepower is 92.3, while torque peaks at 103.7 foot-pounds at 3500 rpm-hence the parking-lot darkies, aided by a shaftdriver’s tendency to unload the back end.
Reactions to the Rune from the public at large were decidedly bipolar. “Proof, in case we needed it, that Mr. Honda is dead,” lamented the old
Sportster rider. “What a wonderful locomotive,” said the Jaguar mechanic. “I love it-no, really, I looowve it,” from a bike-savvy PR executive. In all, the yeas far outweighed the nays, and universally there was disbelief that this was really a production machine. At inter-
sections, it actually stopped traffic as gawkers roiled down their windows to ask questions, green light be damned.
Of course, given the Rune’s low volume and $26,000 price tag, your chance of owning one is slim. The more interesting question is what shape will Honda’s standard-issue megacruisers take. Last month we showed you spy-shots of a hidden-radiator VTX1800 bobber. Can a Valkyrie 1800 for the masses be far behind? -David Edwards
