I'm moving to Oz and will have to get a new mode of transport when I get there and as fortune would have it my girlfriend (who was hardly on a bike before) went over before me stopping off in Vietnam where she took some time to rent a bike and travel around. Long story short, she loved it and is now well up for doing a serious two-up trip. I've done travel in Africa on an old XT600 (which was recently stolen) and have learned a lot from it so would be very comfortable working on it but haven't worked with anything other than 30-year old technology.
She's a well able girl and has no problem roughing it but if I give her the best possible introduction to motorbike travel then hopefully it could be the first of many happy adventures!
So, I'm looking for a bike that:

• Two-up capability
  Going to need something that's big enough and comfortable enough for the both of us and all our gear. If she's on the back of a cramped bike that takes forever to get anywhere it's all over. Bike's gotta have a bit of oomph and size.
• Cost to buy/run/repair
  Funds are always going to be a factor, I'm going to be buying this as my main commute bike well before any travelling is done but as this will eventually be our trip bike then we can invest in a little more. I'm thinking Japanese brands only, due to accessibility (which ties in with price) of parts if something does go wrong on the road. Also, there's a lot more reasonably priced 2nd hand Japanese bikes out there than there is of anything else.
• Fun Factor
  I loved tearing around on my old XT600 and I know it's a different story two-up with gear but I'm not retiring either! - I want something that's going to be enjoyable to drive!

The only bike that sensibly seems to fit the bill at the moment is a 650 V-Strom, I don't know why though but I don't like it, it just seems.. well, boring..
KTM 690, always thopught KTMs were out of my price range but there's some reasonably priced ones out there but don't they have very short service intervals?
Triumph Tiger 800XC, looks great, meant to be fun to ride but expensive to buy, probably impossible to get parts for remotely but I love the look of it! It's the bike I really want to try out!