[krat]

The bikes you are bemoaning are available for less than $6K from all the major Jap makers, and as you relate, they are lifetime products. Used ones 30-40-50 years old are still running and in use, not in museums.

Honda CRF300 is only $6k/ KLX300 is $6k. Many others hover around that mark that meet all your criteria.

You can buy a disposable China bike for half that, get half the performance, and replace it every 5 years, after chasing repair parts and accessories all over the internet and trying to find your dealer so you can sue him, if initial cost is your only concern.

Or you can spend twice as much and still be riding your Jap bike, and still walking into the dealership and buying parts that fit, for the next 50 years. And often those parts are bought from the son of the guy that sold you the Jap bike 50 years ago.

I will not pay $2k+ for any China bike that has zero dealer support or service, and NO, a telephone number is not a service department!

There comes a time when you have to decide if you are going to keep engaging in an activity and investing in better gear. It is the same in almost every sport.

But stop with the criticism of the "exotic and expensive Jap bikes" when they are neither. They are the very essence of getting what you pay for, but so are the China bikes.