First real bike, (after many teenage garage projects); R60 Beemer bought at a German Police auction while stationed in Germany... many long, hard rides for the next 4 years with minimum maintenance (hell, I paid $800 for it... who cares?)... in the winter, I'd pull the battery and throw a tarp over in in the back yard.
Second bike, R80GS in Tuscon when they were first released... no surprises... sold it in '91 with 130,000+ miles when I bought my new R100GS P-D... added white power shocks, had to replace junk ignition coil (the grey one) installed Thunderchild rectifier and added zerck fittings for driveshaft...
My Beemers have never left me in a bind... from the deserts of the Southwest US to Alaska to Argentina to the Black Sea... and still ride it (108,000mi)... never busted a shaft or toasted a rear-end... smashed a few pipes, rims and hard cases... broke the rear brake lever a couple of times...
Bought an '83 R80RT with 126,000 km really cheap here in Poland about 4 years ago for easy (lazy) asphalt touring in Europe with the wife...
I dunno... they work for me... as for the new stuff... well, when a group of 'em are sittin' at the gas station 'cause someones' paralyzed with a bad sensor or a slung chain... I'll roll out the tool kit and try to help... I've met people all over the world, driving all sorts of stuff... and they seemed pretty happy... I'm happy with my Gummi Kuh...