They used to be horrible quality wise - 80s Hyundai of the bike world. They invested huge in quality and seems to be paying off. They are built in India and some folks have a tough time with that is maybe a part if it.
Yeah, as far as I know they are developed in England, not too far from Triumph with a bunch of their old employees and built in India. I mean its not Japan, but it can't be any worse than China. Fortnine just did a test of engine cleanliness on new bikes, and RE came on top of all of them. No surprise, the Chinese, Italians and Brits were all handily at the bottom with the Chinese being pretty well off the shafts. I don't know, for $7-8k its almost worth the risk, this isn't some $25-30k BMW/KTM where thats a huge roll of the dice, this, is a relatively small one.