It has been said that I am quite set in my ways and I guess that there is some truth in that rumour. In other words when I stay in a hotel and the place is good then I often return when I am next in that area and the same for restaurants and so on, if I receive good service I tend to visit again. I do travel quite often so I like to have good places where I can stop and eat.
The same could be said for motorcycles, and I have always had at least one bike since I was 14 so that is er quite a few years now. In the early days I owned one British bike (a BSA Bantam 175 2 stroke scrambler) which in the fields was great fun and (at the time) really fast too. But that was my only non Japanese bike ever.
Then followed a Suzuki GT185, a brand new yellow and black Yamaha RD400E and then a Honda CB750K6 and later a Honda CBR1000F and I have never purchased anything non Japanese simply because I enjoy them and NO Jap bike has ever let me down. I have owned perhaps 25 bikes and I have ridden from the UK to France many times, Spain several times and Italy too and every bike I have ever owned has always been totally reliable.
Boring, I hear you say. In the old days folks used to accuse the Japanese of making UJMs (Universal Japanese Motorcycles) which were labelled as boring. But personally if I am putting my hard earned dosh into a bike then bring on boring it that means that I can cover serious miles without worrying about anything mechanical!!! One day a few years ago I rode my trusty Yamaha FJR1300 from Barcelona down to Estepona in a single day (simply cos the stupid ferry was about 10 hours late thus shattering my rest plans) about 1050 kilometers without any problems at all, stopping just for fuel and coffee and food.
One of the major European bike manufacturers is KTM out of Austria who make some fantastic competition machines for both on and off road, but I hear and read that their excellent road bikes are totally NOT quality and indeed some customers comment about how long their engines (dont) last and then the dealers are not willing or able to fix them under warranty. One problem could well be that they started selling off road bikes and so their dealer network was based on small capacity, off road bikes and totally NOT the large powerful bikes (RC8) that they then launched. Indeed my very good mate (a Yamaha Premier dealer, previously Honda) accepts almost any bikes for a trade in but then will not retail a KTM but instead chops them to a trader as he must give a warranty on all used bikes and his experience with KTM is terrible, never again!!! EVERY KTM he has ever sold has needed then to be collected and fixed.
I understand that they are great bikes to look at and to ride, but I would not wish to own a bike that I cannot rely on to get me home. Your thoughts please!!!
AND ps also BMW bikes are not very reliable. More comments please.
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