Like everything else, if you do the maintenance at the right interval as the manufacturer suggested, it will last a long time. And then kicking in the factor of how you ride it (babying or gunning-it), it is another story. My bike was bought brand new and have giving me 4,000 trouble-free miles. I change oil every 1,000 miles. Yes, it's over kill on the oil change but I figure $6 of oil is cheaper than $600 of engine parts + labors. Reliability is relative to how it is being treated IMHO.

How do you reply to this......

First.... types of people...  there are several types of people in the world.  Those who think they have the best and everything else is junk (usually younger people and the ones that make the most noise) and those that understand that bikes have designs and you need to understand what the bike is designed for before hopping on.  Those that need a RUSH  and those that need the stress relief instead .  Those that actually do real work on their bikes,  those that pay for the work and those that ignore maintainence and complain when it breaks.    

Handling....  I went riding with a friend and his buddies.  Buddy on his recently purchased Honda Shadow 750 (vtwin) (hours earlier), his friends on two sport bikes (1 honda racer turned into a street legal, and one BMW 1200 sport bike).  We couldn't not keep up with the two friends....... so yea, the Savage & the Shadow don't "handle",.... but when we stoppped to stretch they talked about which turns they've gone off into the wood on (I don't want handling like that .....).    And many of these people talk about cafe racers,  but have you ever driven a '70 era Honda 750 four cyl,  the CAFE racer std.... that's scary.....

Slow....  yea,.. compared to a Suzuki sport bike (one of Suzuki's specialties) they are slow.  But it will easily do the speed limit,  and get there fast enough to have you holding on.  Yes, I've had the front tire in the air.... maybe 4 to 6 inches without trying.... so smooth I didn't know it was up until it came down when I shifted.   The Harley's in front of me were too heavy to get it up... Yes I was keeping up with the big "Fat-Boy" Harley's doing the "who can get to 55 mph the fastest".

Reliability??   Yea, the LS650 is an old design, which means you need to do the periodic maintainence.  Some SPORT bikes can go a bit longer in between, but not much.  And, on the LS650, fliuds are oil and front brake.  SPORT bike is brakes F & R, oil and raditor and some  rear shocks.   Next, look at one of the SPORT bikes.....then think about adjusting or rejetting the carbs..... can you even find them??      

And,  22 years,  how many SPORT bikes model stay in production more than 10.

I can go on & on......

Then, on the other hand, it is a good all around bike that is fun to ride.
Did ya'll say that already?  Well, doesn't hurt to repeat some things.

And you don't see any LS650's on the recall list.  

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/motorcycle_recalls/01/suzuki/index.html

I think they are just full of crap.

I think it handles fine.  I hadn't ridden for 12 years or so when I test-rode mine, and nothing struck me as funny about the handling.  My old bikes were standard-position Suzuki 1100s, and I found the cruiser seating to be quite comfortable.  Bah; in Europe everybody expects everything to sound and feel like a sewing machine running.