So. Does the "one bike does all" holy grail exist? What would your pick be?

[Red Mist_imp]

Getting a bit off topic but reliability of most bikes has become excellent in the past 25 years. My 66 Bonneville and 71 Norton Commando required almost continuous repairs. By comparison, my Ducatis and Harleys were trouble free. My Buell had about 4 recalls, but never broke on me. Avoid any Ducati with a plastic tank, especially those older than 2008. Law suit settlement actually makes it more difficult to get a replacement tank. Harley XR1200 has identical problem but Harley support is much better.

In the past year or so, I was shopping for a Griso and a K1200S but stopped looking because of problems reported on forums. I would say the Griso could be a big headache with valve gear problems. K1200s have problems with gas gauges, clutch baskets and vibration.

From reading European and Aussie sites, the CB1100 appears to be reliable. So are the other bikes I am shopping for - the FZ-1 and Ninja 1000.

If you want good customer service, nobody can match Harley Davidson. I called Milwaukee about buying a used XR1200 and they were completely honest about the gas tank issues. They also fixed a paint problem on my 1990 Convertible that was the dealer's fault. No arguments - just help.

Correcto, I completely forgot I'd owned a couple of Harleys. That's because I never had any problems with them. 1200 Sportster Sport and Dyna SuperGlide. Completely trouble free.

I rented a 2011 R1200GS while in the Texas Hill Country that year and it was a very fine performer although I can't speak to it's reliability. At the time I owned a Triumph Tiger 1050 and my wife had an '06 DL650 V-strom. I felt that my Tiger was superior in almost every respect when compared with the GS, especially engine performance and on-road handling. Brakes I'd call a tie. When the price of the BMW is taken into consideration the GS is not even in the same league, for that kind of money it should far out perform the Tiger. I would even prefer the V-strom to the GS if the difference in price was applied to upgrading the Suzuki's non adjustable suspension and somewhat mushy feeling brakes. At least V-stroms have nearly legendary reliability which is something that BMW needs to work on.

V-Strom is not even in the same solar system as the BMW! It would probably take 5-10K miles to really sort out the differences between the BMW and Triumph or Super Tenere. All are undoubtedly fine motorcycles, and riding style dictates which one will work best for any given rider.

That said it occurred to me as I was just riding my CB1100 this afternoon that the BMW 1200GS, Triumph Tiger, Super Tenere, and any of the open-class "Adventure Bikes" are not going to make my list of the "One" bike anyway. They are all just too unwieldy in a tight spot, and particularly the Triumph and Yamaha are very top-heavy. The BMW waterpumper, with the lowering kit, is actually just my size and well-balanced as one might imagine, but for a true middle-weight "Swiss Army Knife" they are just too heavy and certainly cannot handle the tight rough stuff like the F800GS or a similar machine.

In fact I'd pick the CB1100 over any of those because of it's excellent balance and low-speed manners, but the limited cornering clearance and very archaic suspension put it out of the running.

The air/oil-cooled engine is a plus, though, as it's very simple. The Suzuki Katanas used a similar design, albeit much more powerful, and the 750 version (which I owned) was a great all-rounder. Easy to work on, smooth, fast enough, handled very well.