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Occasional caretaker of a 70,000 mile 696 here...
As with any bike, the finish does start to look a bit rough if it's ridden all year round and not kept clean. Obviously that's just cosmetic, and it's up to you whether or not it really bothers you.
On higher mileage bikes (think 30,000+ miles), electrical items do start to fail. The reg/rec and alternator can be expected to go at 30-40k miles, and I've just replaced a starter motor at ~65k. The rear shock might want replacing around 30k too, and the front forks will be ready for a service.
Rough running can be caused by a perished vacuum hose on the MAP sensor, which is related to age rather than necessarily mileage. It's a ridiculously cheap and easy fix once you know where to look, but the symptoms (huge thirst, unburned fuel and smoke from exhaust) might make it seem more serious. It might do no harm to budget about £3 and 25 minutes as a preventative measure.
If you ride all year round, think of wheel bearings as consumable items.
With all that in mind, though, there are plenty of very low mileage bikes out there, which are highly unlikely to give any trouble for some time to come.
Personally I find the 696 a bit small; the 796 is set up to be a little taller, which suits me better.
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