No argument with that - what you need primarily in a long distance bike is something that starts, stops, doesn't break or fall to bits and continues like that for longer than your trip is likely to last. Not wearing you out or bankrupting you with fuel costs while it's doing that would also be a bonus. As you say, well designed and understressed. In other words something where the adventure element is mainly in the trip rather than the transport.

Unfortunately bikes like that tend to be a hard sell for the manufacturers. How many of the bikes we gravitate towards have some element of 'the adventure is in the ride' built into them? It's marketing nonsense but it's persuasive marketing nonsense based on probably a better understanding of human psychology than most of us have. We'd rather trust something that tells us it's a bike built for 'adventure' than the evidence of our own eyes and/or experience. I've no doubt any of the big manufacturers could build what would be close to an ideal overlanding bike but what would the headline on the brochure read - 'The bike you hardly notice'? 'Goes on and on for ever'? Sounds about as exciting as a pension plan. That's going to be the one gathering dust down at the back of the dealer's showroom.

I like your 'trillion rpm' phrase. It reminds me of a spoof advert in one of the Ogri cartoons from way back - "Honda - a million fly power". That's even better than Sylvia Plath's 'ten thousand maniacs' in her bee box. And how many times have I headed off somewhere with that lot buzzing away below me.