Riding the 2004 Honda Rune

Honda doesn't build $27,000 "custom" motorcycles. Honda doesn't create a design study, stay strictly loyal to that design, and work "backwards" towards a production machine. Of course, all of this was true before the Rune. Now, it's not necessarily true. The Rune proves Honda can work this way.

Manufacturing motorcycles (or cars -- another thing Honda does) isn't entirely about making money on products that sell in large numbers (although, Honda is pretty good at that part, too). Part of it is about building a brand image.