There are three BD bikes at my house, a Moto 29er, a Bottecchia with a Record carbon group, and a Windsor Fens that I share with my sons. They are great fun to ride and have been totally reliable, not to mention excellent bargains. I've been biking for 40 years and with my wife have a number of classics as well. The whole notion of brand loyalty is foreign to me because I've learned how engineered products come into being and find their way to market. I'm an ME that worked as a research engineer for a very large materials and engineered products company that supplies light metals and composite components to most of the automotive and aerospace OEMS. To my eye there appears to be nothing of consequence that separates my family's BD bikes from what I see for sale in the shops except the price and the amateurism of the self-taught, ahem, "mechanics" that work there.

BTW, the "real" Motos were never thought to be anything special in any way. It may be why they went under.