Merv, you used a lot of words to say Honda is good, Yamaha is probably ok and Suzuki and Kawasaki suck. Many would disagree and I'm one of them. You say you've been a "Honda man" for 30 years. That takes us back to 1973, the year Honda's 750 was pretty much blown away by Kawaskai's Z1. Of course the Honda gave away some displacement in that one. Then in 1976, along comes the Suzuki GS750. Same displacement and guess what? The old proven Honda is pretty much blown away again. Did you know that 1976 was the year Suzuki started building 4 strokes? I started riding Suzuki's in 1979 when the GS850G was introduced. Remember that little gem? Check out the GS Resources website sometime to see if anyone likes their old GS series Suzukis. We've got a 1978 GS1000E in the garage. It still looks like new and is a joy to ride. But is it easy to work on? Yes. Valve adjustments, oil changes, draining the carbs......simple as simple could be. Have you ever tried to pull the carbs off a CBX ( a REAL CBX, the 6 cylinder model) How about setting the valves on that VFR750. Pretty quick and simple. How about some of those quality parts on Honda's. The 1979 CB750F came with lovely nylon bushings in the swing arm pivots. What were Suzuki's using? Needle bearings. Hmmmm. Jump forward a few years to the 1980's and we've got the GS1100 and Honda has another of their 1 year specials, the CB1100F. Wasn't the 550 CBX made that same year? Maybe you never got that one in New Zealand if you were lucky. How about moving ahead another couple years. I bought a GSXR1100 in 1986. Still have it with over 110,000kms on it. Friends have mistaken it for my 2001 GSXR1000. The GSXR1100 has been rugged and reliable. My favourite story is the fork seals. One seal started to weep a little at 100,000kms so we finally installed the seals I had hanging on the wall for the previous 3 years. How many "Honda guys" ride the same bike for 15 years and kick butt all along the way. In 2000, that old '86 GSXR could outrun a Honda 929RR on top speed and outpull a Hayabusa in a top gear roll-on. Not too shabby. But is it easy to service? You bet. Body work and gas tank come off in a few minutes. Valve adjustments are a snap. I can drain the carbs and pull the battery in about 5 minutes. In 1984 my wife purchased a Kawasaki GPz750. 17 years later we reluctantly sold it. Guess what? It was rugged and reliable and still looked like new when we sold it. Was it easy to service? Not too bad but you had to pull the cams to adjust the valves and changing the oil filter was always a bit messy. Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha have all been making good bikes for a long time now. Everyone has had their not so great bikes and a few problems here and there but I'll take great performance and reliablility anytime and not sweat too hard over a couple of misplaced grease nipples. Sheesh.
By the way, my first bike was a Honda. The year was 1972.