I lost 12 weeks in the riding season over 3 years with an R11GS, and had a total runaround from BMW NA and 3 dealers involved.

The aftertaste that left has had me off of BMWs ever since.

Ewan and Charlie really have done a great job on selling the GS as the essential RTW tool.

I'd rather RTW my 200 cc Chinese dual sport or 125cc Yamaha dual sport (which is based off a delivery / commercial bike platform) than any current BMW.

Simple, easy to fix bikes, especially the Yamaha. I can have the carb off in 30 seconds and access the sparkplug and valves without having to remove any bodywork.

Either can go about anywhere a GS can, and I've taken both through trails and 'roads' without incident where I would have dropped a GS or needed assistance to get through.
Some places have involved water transport and stuff that just isn't feasible on a big bike.

The Chinabike only has 4000 miles on it, so far faults have been restricted to missing / loose bolts and a sparkplug.
The YBR is coming up on 12k miles and has been faultless apart from standard service items.

And both bikes are ridden hard and put away wet, often fully loaded with 1 or 2 passengers and luggage in 3rd world environments.
Both have been dropped multiple times.

Service / repairs / mods are done by 'techs' with minimal tools and no shop manual. No torque wrench, often they use an adjustable wrench dur due to the lack of the proper tool, working on the sidewalk.

I reckon a modern BMW would wilt under that kind of treatment in short order...

Instead of waiting for weeks for parts or suitable tires, usually the local 'engineering' shop can cobble together what can't be sourced from the dealer or generic parts store.

And for the cost of one of the major services on my GS (including the parts replaced at my or BMW's cost) I can buy either of these 2 bikes new, including tax, title and 1 year free service.

Sent from my Android chinaphone, excuse the spelling