Big? - heads & barrels off
Reliability - Should be no difference in reliability or servicing
Why? - Nelly's 854 was out dragging a 996 on the motorway towards Assen last year.......
Models - ????
Benefits - see above and a big plus if your bike is clean & set up how you like it
Cost??? - dunno but if combined with having a service duemay slightly reduce costs overall
It's fully reversible
As for the other bits, Nelly can fill in the gaps