An interesting read from the fool. It goes without saying a well maintained bike should last almost indefinitely. Preventative Maintenance being equal and proper, there are apparently some bikes that have significantly more problems than others of varying sorts.

Is Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) the worst motorcycle money can buy? Let's get this out of the way right now. No. It's actually the second worst. At least, according to Consumer Reports.

The Consumer Reports Article.

The most important information they didn't put in was miles before repair and how much you ride. From my experience BMW owners ride  more then your typical rider. To me its maintenance that determines wear and tear unless its a factory defect. 

I believe the article notes maintenance was given at proper and recommended intervals and appears that the mileage was identical across manufacturers when testing. This would be inline with standard product testing (aside from reports). Treat them as recommended and equally and the ones with more frequent broken bits are scored as not doing so well. Another item to note is that more mileage equates to more drive train, engine and mechanical wear and tear, whereas the majority of repairs noted were due to accessories and do not necessarily translate to mileage. That being said Consumer reports is pretty reliable and if their product testing for multiple brands is identical, we can safely conclude that more accessories means more potential for problems and translates to more repairs. Thus many BMW owners who have a greater number of accessories can see an increase in repair costs merely because their bikes contain more gizmos that can break (particularly among the sport touring). Something to keep in mind though is the total cost of the bike/product - generally if a person can afford a $22-30k bike, then the person can usually afford the bigger repair bills that go with it. The same could be said of BMW cars, Porsche, Audi and other higher-end vehicles.

Not seeing anything on mileage. Most Asia made bikes are not touring bikes like Harley and  BMW more for casual riders which is why mileage imo plays a big part  in repairs. Even with the repairs $200 or less on 75% of repairs is cheaper then most other means of motorized transport especially BOATS lol. Besides that I don't know many Riders who would choose CR as a reference for buying a motorcycle .

"Besides that I don't know many Riders who would choose CR as a reference for buying a motorcycle ."

Hmm, that could explain the high rate of repairs then, LOL!

If you look at the majority of repair costs 75% under $200 I can see why it CR wouldn't be something most would reference. Tires  and fluid changes for those who don't do their own work will run you around $500 a year on average. 

Tires and fluid costs would be covered under routine costs, not repairs. Pretty sure CR didn't wouldn't list those as "repair" costs unless not maintained.

All products from motorcycles to cars to kitchen mixers to toasters have a finite life span. The more complicated they are in any area, the more they break. Manufacturing defects, quality, construction, materials and more variables also contribute to varying failure rates. It is worthwhile to do research to have CR as a starting point to anticipate costs, lifespan and get a decent idea of the quality and longevity of products.

Anyone worth their salt in a review process will not exclusively rely on CR. Likewise it would be accurate to say that anyone who relies exclusively on anecdotal evidence, reviews from friends or even motorcycling forums and even websites would be putting themselves at increased risk for the unknown. The smart shopper does their homework from multiple sources. That being said, CR has a better reputation for testing products and vehicles than even most professional motorcycling magazines.

While no method is perfect and represents 100% real world, they're more accurate than anything else out there for a baseline to start from. IMO, it would be folly to scoff their methods and reporting merely because they poopoo a favorite brand of motorcycle or kitchen mixer.

I understand that my point is at $500 min a year costs just for basics this $200 repair cost on 75% is not going to trend people towards going to places like CR for bike preferences do to reliability IMO. I've never talked to anyone about motorcycles or boats concerning CR  cars, computers,TV's,lawnmowers, washers and dryers those are the products I've discussed concerning CR and I do use it to buy product.