Honda has the rep. I own and have owned a number of Hondas, and they are good bikes, well engineered, well-made, durable and sensible to work on. But right now, most of my bikes are dirt bikes or dual sports, and I find that most of them are Suzukis. I didn't set out with the idea that Suzukis are better, it just turns out that they build bikes that suit my needs. They are also durable, well-finished and easy to work on.
As a long-time BMW rider, I used to consider their bikes the best on the planet, and I could make a convincing case. I no longer think that is true, however. BMW makes excellent bikes, but the rest of the field has caught up; BMW's current offerings are just expensive, without being any better.
A company that builds very interesting, nicely-finished bikes is KTM. They haven't yet come up with the bike of my dreams, but they have come close. If they did, I probably could not afford it.
