So I'm planning a UK going East ride, hopefully all the way to NZ. I think the majority of my time will be in India and SE Asia where I'd like the option of gravel and less than well kept roads.

My experience:

• Only had my own bike for 9 months but done 16,000 miles commuting in London and 2 straight forward euro tours.
• I have zero off road experience.
• Confident in my abilities, in that I stay well within my limits and know where they end

The case for what I own:
I own a 2006 CBF1000 which is fantastic for the tours I've done.

• Burned 400 miles a day for a week with only small derriere-based complaints.
• Brilliant fun on the twisties and a doddle to ride (masses of torque).
• I know it's mechanical history and the glitches, although most of the parts are too complicated for botch jobs, it's a Honda so I don't expect many.
• It's done almost half of it's miles with me and it was my first bike, it'd be like putting down a pet getting rid of it.

The case for something more:
I'm looking specifically at a V-Strom 1000. They have raving reviews and a raving community. By all accounts it's a solid RTW bike. It looks like it was designed to handle any rough stuff much better than the CBF1000 is, not sure if that's true.

I know I'll be terrible and slow on rough stuff and I'll get to my limits well before either of the bikes is out of their depth. But I'll be wild camping a lot and don't want to shy away and turn around if the road gets more than 1 pothole per meter

My question:
Will the V-Strom fair better mechanically with rougher stuff at such a low rider level? I hope I'll learn pretty quick and start to get a bit more confident off road and I don't want to be held back by not wanting to break any of the bike (suspension/panniers ratting around). I also looked at something smaller/lighter to make it easier in general, F800-GS is too expensive, V-Strom 650 looks too small for me (6'5), though I'm trying to get a test ride.

Some things that look like benefits to me:
The Strom has the belly pan, higher ride height, better rider position, and hopefully the option for stand up riding (I'm 6'5, I cannot stand on the CBF without staring at the tank). Looks like it can fit knobbly tyres if I find it's rougher going in india onwards (or knobbly'er at least) I can't find anything but pure road touring tyres for the CBF.

Is any of those things actually going to make a difference, or can I bundle through on the CBF slowly without worrying about it rattling itself to pieces?

Wow this ended up long. I'm also going to start a separate thread to ask about possible modifications I could make to the CBF to shore it up against rougher stuff, maybe over on ADV-Rider though, it seems more mechanical over there (?)

Thanks for getting this far