I took a 2 grand bike and a lot of people outside of Europe thought that it must have cost a lot more, even had a cop who refused to believe that it didn't cost 20,000 dollars (assuming it must be the same thing as Ewan and Charleys).
For me the number one bike criteria is that it must be fixable/maintainable anywhere, so anything with carbs. True you have to carry spare throttle springs, o-rings, needles and jets etc for a long trip, but along with spare valve shims and collets this is less space than a spare computer type box thing. Annoyingly I also have to take belts (belt driven cams) - might go with something that has chain driven cams (Yam) or gear-driven (Honda dommie?) next time.
Dressing the bike down with scruffy luggage, duck tape, crash damage and splattered insects helps keep the 'flashy factor' to a minimum.
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