Wow, 10 pages?? I had a death in the family and had to leave the state for a while. I figured this thread would die quickly, as nobody seemed to be interested in vintage bikes.
Somebody mentioned a 1970s Honda. Fact is I would absolutely love to own a mid '70s Honda, mostly a CB500, CB550, or CB750 SOHC inline four. Those bikes are dead reliable, and do not need to be worked on, at least they didn't when new. But you could still tinker with them if you wanted to. They were 100% mechanical with a rudimentary electrical system. People rode them all over the country back then, and they did not break down. Problem with them today is finding parts.
I owned a 1966 Triumph Bonneville back in the mid '80s, and it was not unreliable, but not something I would try to ride cross country on. The control cables that were available back then had a habit of breaking. I got my first bike at age 8. A Bultaco Lobito 100. The local farm mechanic rebuilt the top end on it, and showed me how engines worked. It wasn't long before I was working on it. My first street bike at age 16 was an early '70s Suzuki GT380 2 stroke triple. I don't remember it being unreliable. By that time I had already rebuilt my first small block Chevy engine. It not only ran, but was still running several years later when it's owner sold it. My first brand new bike was a 1980 Suzuki GS450L. That was 41 years ago. Talk about reliable. I put almost 50K miles on that thing and it NEVER broke down.
Besides the converted to a carburetor 2013 RE B5 Bullet, I have a 2002 Kawasaki Vulcan 750, which came out in 1985, and was made through 2006 with NO changes other than paint colors, the 2016 Rebel 250, also first released in 1985 and unchanged mechanically until 2017, and it was outdated in 1985. I have a 2006 carbureted Harley Sportster 1200, which also has had no new technology since the mid '80s, a 1994 Yamaha XT225, which uses 1970s technology, and a real 1970s 2 stroke manual shift P series Vespa. The Vulcan 750 and Vespa have both had stator failures, but nothing mechanical. Mid '70s to mid '80s Japanese bikes were probably the most reliable bikes ever made, right up until today. The Vulcan 750 has 118K miles on it and runs like new.
All 6 of my bikes use old technology, all are carbureted, none have any kind of computerized electronics or emissions garbage on them, and they are all 100% reliable with the exception of the 2 stator failures, and both those were electrical parts.
I have a 1982 Chevy S-10 drag racer powered by a carbureted small block Chevy that I built myself, no computers, it has made hundreds of passes down the track and the bottom end has never been apart. I'm converting it into a street drivable hot rod.
As far as people not wanting to get grease on their hands, I have spent 38 years working as a car, truck, and equipment mechanic, and was constantly covered in grease, oil, coolant, brake fluid, and all sorts of automotive chemicals. I absolutely loved it, and still do. I'm blue collar. I'm not the type to wear a white shirt and sit behind a desk. I was born with a wrench in my hand and gasoline in my blood, and I will die that way.
Oh, I also hate drones. For a good part of my life I flew mostly gas powered R/C airplanes, and nitro powered off road buggys. I tried electric. Too boring. Some electric R/C cars are really fast, but there is more to it than just speed. Back in 2012, my neighbor bought a new C6 Corvette. He knew I was a car and motorcycle guy, and couldn't wait to take me for a ride in it. It did look good, but that was it. It was smooth, quiet, had traction control and paddle shifters. About as boring as it gets. I had to lie to him about how great it was. Give me a home built '55 Chevy any day.
I am so looking forward to this afternoon. I get to drive a 1923 Model T. I don't own one, but I am an honorary member of a local Model T club. They "adopted" me after seeing how enthusiastic I was about them. I met a couple of the members at a car show several years ago. I even get to work on them.