Cycle News - Archive Issues - 2000's

I didn't knvw beUer, I'd swear the J?une was svme svrt vI vne-v" mvv'e maChine that a cvm'c-bvvk chamcter wvu'd rvll up vn tv save the day. ... If Rune from others - well actually there is a long list of things that separate the Rune from other bikes - but this concept is now a reality. So much for the concept of concept bikes, I guess. It seems that the Rune's life started like every other concept bike that Honda has built, a way to try out new ideas, and destined for the museum, but that was until the public saw it. The original Rune concept, the T2 one of four design projects that were displayed at the 2000 Long Beach Motorcycle Show - was met with rave reviews from the consumer. The T1T4 concept bikes were in fact design exercises that were based on another, the Zodia, which was shown five years earlier at the Tokyo Motor show. Around this same time Honda arguably created the power cruiser market (unless you count the Yamaha V-Max) with the Valkyrie, the 1520cc Gold Wing-motor derived cruiser. With power and torque figures both exceeding 100, they put the power in cruising. American Honda's Motorcycle Division vice president Ray Blank takes it from there. "We were looking to take the original Valkyrie to the next level," Blank said. "When it was first introduced, this bike, which had been derived from the 1520cc Gold Wing, had a significant impact on the motorcycle market. The Valkyrie was the first genuine power cruiser, a customstyle motorcycle that had plenty of muscle, great handling and long-distance touring abilities to go along with its good looks. It really expanded the notion of what a cruiser's functional capabilities could encompass, and in doing so, the Valkyrie built an unusually strong following. So we wanted to extend this concept once again and take another cutting-edge motorcycle into uncharted territory, establishing new direction that no other manufacturer had ever attempted. We wanted to set the bar higher than ever, erecting standards that no one else had yet imagined, while also The Rune's headlight not on/J' provides plenty of light from the twin bulbs enclosed under the lens, but it is one of the bike's most distinctive styling elements as well. The LCD screen that resides at the top of the tank has a blue backlit background with white numbers and is shaded by a recess to avoid glare. cue I e exploding old limitations on what an original equipment manufacturer could mass produce." The Rune's popularity at Long Beach demonstrated that the T2 could be the route to take, but making it into a viable production bike seemed like too much to ask of the engineers, as the mock-up wasn't intended to actually work. That, however, was what the upper brass was asking of the engineering and manufacturing staff. Project leader Masanori Aoki describes what he first thought when assigned the project to create a running production version of the T2 styling exercise. "To be honest with you, I thought it would be impossible to mass-produce the product without changing the styling design," Aoki said. "It was just too radical of a design. And yes, as an engineer I thought the process was completely backward: We've never seen anything like this before." In order to make the Rune a reality and to overcome the parameters of production, 11 new technological and production methods were created . What is truly amazing is that when parked side by side, the Rune and the T2 are shockingly akin. The design team had many challenges ahead of them, but some of them that seemed so simple gave them fits. An example of one area that was very difficult to transform from the hypothetical into reality was the short side-exit exhaust pipes. Something so basic required a lot of hard work to maintain the T2's styling while at the same time meeting the EPA's sound limits (remember this is a production motorcycle) and still finding enough volume to keep the horsepower where they wanted it. So how did the design team led by project director Martin Manchester resolve this? "Well, first the engineering staff had a go at it," Martin elaborates. "Now, understand that designers and engineers each use their brains in different ways and that we seek solutions through different avenues. First, the engineers tackled the problem, and they tried to solve the functional issues using existing technology. Then they came back to us to revise the T2 sketches based on existing production capabilities. So we revised the sketches according to the exhaust system they proposed, but we found these new pieces pretty much changed the entire look of the machine - it really wasn't the T2 anymore. It added a lot of mass, and we lost the forward-thinking look. So we had a big meeting to discuss how we would resolve these conflicting issues - there's a lot of give and take in the discussion and planning process at this stage ... Where another engineer might have given up because the problems were too large, Aoki just grew more determined to find the solution - and he did it very quickly." Other areas like the rear suspension were complicated as well n e _ s • JULY 23,2003 33

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