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I need a Rune Priest on a bike for a side project I'm considering.

Since the model doesn't exist, I would have to convert one I assume. I'm a total noob at conversion work, so any tips and suggestions how I might do it are greatly appreciated

Without researching it (looking for parts, images etc). My first thoughts would be. Get a space marine bike. Get the rune priest whose top half is most suitable to be riding a bike. Use a razor saw to remove legs from body. Pin rune priest torso to space marine biker legs Maybe use one of the space marine bikers arms to be holding handlebars while other shooting etc depending on preference. If you have any sculpting skills(?) and/or the leg/torso join doesn't look great. Green-stuff some fur (loincloth or whatnot) to make the transition smoother. It would handy if the fur draped down the legs in some way, failing that, use something from your space wolf bits box to adorn the legs and stop them looking so vanilla ( I'm really not sure if they would fit the bike but a possible alternative could be thunderwolf cavalry rider Legs). But I guess it depends how far you want to take it, how much cash you have to spend or how large your bits box is. You could just get a space marine biker add a flag or some distinguishing feature and name him your rune priest. I'm not so sure that would be wysisyg though.

Build one yourself with SW bitz and etched brass runes on the power armor?

My bitz box for SM doesn't exist sadly. Thus project would be my first SM purchase.

What I would have:
One box of Grey Hunters.
Two boxes of TWC, out of which I need 5 models.

I looked at both Rune Priest and Wolf Lord on Thunderwolf and I feel the models aren't usable on a bike without some serious Green Stuff skills due to capes. What I'm thinking right now:

Get a SM bike, and alter the upper body of the rider with some SW bits from the other box: a power axe, shpulder pads, a SW head etc.

I'm currently building exactly this.

I took a generic SM bike, cut off the back seat rest to make room for a fancier backpack from the SW box, and used a SW torso and head.

I also used the SW terminator power axe attached to the TWC thunderhammer handle as it actually has runes on the blade. The other power axes don't.

I also added a lot of bits to the bike to make it more wolfy. The chain of charms/teeth from the TWC box are a perfect size to mount to the front fender of the bike.

It looks pretty badass at the moment. I'll post some pics when I get it painted up (I paint first, then assemble so it's in pieces right now).

Two of the simplest ways would be:

1) Use a SM bike and add whatever torso piece and other SW bits you think make the model look most like a Rune Priest. Look at the current Finecast Rune Priest and choose pieces that best reflect him.

2) Use said Finecast Rune Priest and cut him in half at the waist. Clean up the cut, cut the SM bike legs at the waist so he will mesh with the plastic, and probably drill a hole in each piece to pin the pieces together. It really isn't as hard as it may seem, even if you don't have mad converting skills. Just get a hobby/jewlers saw with a very fine blade and use a hobby knife to carefully score a guide for the blade where you want the cut. Cut further down than where you really want it to be and just clean up the cut with a hobby knife, file, and emery file to buf the finecast resin smooth.

Something like that.

If you haven't got a lot of Space Wolf bitz and you don't want to leave your other boxes of models short by pinching bits to convert then you could always get the Space Wolf Accessories Sprue, it comes with quite a few handy bitz for kitbashing/conversions.
http://www.games-workshop.com/en-GB/Space-Wolves-Accessories-Frame