As part of the simple old machine vs. the complicated new one discusion it might be useful to note that most vehicles in the developing world are modern ones and somehow they and their electronics seem to get maintained and repaired. In Vietnam recently I watched streetcorner mechanics hammering scooters and bikes back into functionality but a block away, in an antiseptically clean shop, I watched white coated technicians in glass rooms plug all manner of two wheeled vehicles into digital diagnostic black boxes while surrounded by multiple computer monitors. Maybe you won't find those facilities in the middle of the Congo but you won't find them on the Dempster Highway either.

Consider what car you would choose to head off on a very long trip to foreign lands. Consider that you'd be concerned about reliability. I've owned a couple of Toyotas and a Honda and the long term reliability factor has been astounding. And it's reliability that's been established not just on the basis of anecdotes and gossip but on the basis of real research by independent organizations such as Consumer Reports. And these vehicles are far more complex overall than any motorcycle.

So, perhaps, the objectively wise thing to do is to choose the motorcycle equivalent of a Toyota Corolla or a Honda Accord. There's no way to predict the individual reliability of a given bike because there is always variation within a model. All that is possible to do is to look at the overall record of a particular manufacturer's product. Complexity does not automatically translate into a lack of reliability or longevity. Exhibit 1 - the Honda VFR. Exhibit 2 - my recently sold 1983 Honda CX650 Turbo which would spring instantly to life and never let me down notwithstanding an incomprehensible array of quarter century old computer chips and sensors controlling Honda's first attempt at fuel injection in a stock motorcycle and a turbocharger spinning at sky high rpms.

Norm