My experience
 

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... :mchappy: 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...