Yamaha has spent a lot of time and even more money to develop the new  . They had to pay a lot of engineers for their time and ideas. They built a lot of concept bikes that just didn't work. Many attempts at different engine designs. This new  took almost 10 years to design. All of that is not cheap.
I keep watching the videos on the  microsite and in one of them, they say something like "no expense was spared".

Yamaha is in business to make money. They will get a return on their investment. I'm not sure how, but rest assured, they will make a profit from the new  .

Maybe sell more bikes in the future. Maybe raise the price in the future. I'm not sure, but I really think $18k for such an advanced bike is a real bargain.

Bad_Max wrote:
That's so obvious it's ridiculous. the Rune was a radical departure for Honda & they thought they knew what they were doing. They thought it would catch on. The  is a phenomenon that DID capture the heart of what we all want, Need 6 Yamahas' stronghold on that is guaranteed

This is true, remember Yamaha did the same thing with the GTS in 1993. I know, as you can see; I bought one @ full retail in 93 (13K!) thinking it would be an instant rare classic. I got part of that right, there were only 300 - 400 sent over in 93 and Yamaha struggled to sell them! In 94 they "flooded" the market with about 1K, and wound up deep discounting! Yamaha lost a ton of money on this exercise! Not the same as the Max with a long tradition. (I hope!)

It has been really interesting following this thread and how members think so I figured I would chime in with my 2 cents...

1. The 09 is an epic bike and it will be a fun bike to ride regardless if doesn't live up to the hype.

2. Unknowns - Off the showroom performance #s. It's fun to speculate! Tuner #s are also fun to speculate.

3. Why Yamaha does this or that in regards to marketing?
You would think that the sales of other models(Rune,GTS) discussed had to be taken into consideration with their schemes.

4. Pricing- We live in a capitalistic society so the market will
determine what Yamaha can sell them for eventually once everything plays out. I don't think dealers and Honda enjoy having unsold inventory floating around out there so I expect deeper discounts on Runes coming eventually. The same would happen with the 09 and later if they over produce.

5. You would think some people will have no choice but to back out and lose their deposit for whatever financial reason when it comes time to fork over the balance. If 09 gets negative reviews
during wring out time with the rags, I would think some people will back out also.

fxstein wrote:


The real question is: How many bikes will the produce for the limited run for 2010. I would expect less than the initial 2500, maybe 1500 bike for the US?


This is how I look at it....If Yammi sells out the initial limited production run or 2500 bikes easily, there won't be another limited run in 2010. They will make, and continue to make as many bikes as they feel they can comfortably sell. Only if the 2500 number isn't reached in '09, will they continue to sell on a special order basis only.

My claim# is #262170 & i think the # started @ #260000. I got it just in time Sold out @ #262500. If you look @ the last 1 added, it stoped just b4 the 2500 mark..

Spider wrote:
[quote]It has been really interesting following this thread and how members think so I figured I would chime in with my 2 cents...


4. Pricing- We live in a capitalistic society so the market will
determine what Yamaha can sell them for eventually once everything plays out. I don't think dealers and Honda enjoy having unsold inventory floating around out there so I expect deeper discounts on Runes coming eventually. The same would happen with the 09 and later if they over produce.

They are already DEEP discounting the Rune, saw some the other day at a local dealer for 17K! From 26K!

Not that I would want one, but there are even cheaper deals on eBay:

Qtip wrote:
My claim# is #262170 & i think the # started @ #260000. I got it just in time Sold out @ #262500. If you look @ the last 1 added, it stoped just b4 the 2500 mark..

I believe they started at 261000 I have 261288 and I believe it to be # 288 sold.

anyone know if they are sold out i think there is still alot of them left when i went to the dealer last week they said they were only at the half way point

We believe the claim numbers started around 261000 - no one knows for sure. That would make about 2/3s sold by now. Maybe another 800 left.