Quality - Honda vs. Kawa (and others ?)

[Ollie]

Most who I know in the business feel Honda and Yamaha are a bit above Suzuki and Kawasaki when it comes to quality. I'm trying to think back to what problems related to quality of design or manufacturing I've had with the 4 Japanese motorcycle manufacturers? About the only one was Kawasaki KLR 650 (I had 2, 1997 and 2008) with a poorly designed counter-balancer system that is well known, and just poor assembly on the 2008 which I believe was when they first started making them in Thailand. Numerous wiring connectors were not fully seated and the the head bearing seal was buggered up allowing water ingress to rust the bearing.
I've had no problems with newer BMW's or Moto Guzzi's but my 1993 BMW Airhead is a different matter...