Random Rides – The first in a series of bikes found and photographed randomly. This week, the Harlequin Rune!

click on picture for a larger view

Random Rides 1 – The Harlequin Rune

Honda isn’t known for producing radically styled machinery, which makes the Rune all that more special.

Based around the flat six motor usually found in the Gold Wing or Valkyrie, the 1832cc Rune was an extremely unusual and expensive limited edition power cruiser.  With the trailing link front suspension,  a single-sided swingarm and an overall length of over 8 feet, the Rune will stand you out in a crowd. Several thousand of these bikes were sold in the USA, but as far as we know only a handful made it to Australia.

This example we photographed at a Sunday morning car show in California, and was noticable that little bit more by the addition of a “harlequin” coat of paint. This is the paint that changes colour depending on your angle of view and lighting. In this case it changes from an ugly green, to an unattractive purple.

But despite this, this is one special motorcycle that won’t let you fade into the crowd.