[macadamia9]

In 2013, I bought a 2012 BMW R1200GS Adventure with less than 3k miles and it had the aluminum side boxes. I lived in Southern California at the time and the bike was near Raleigh, NC. I flew there, bought the bike, and rode to Jacksonville Beach, FL. I spent the night there, then proceeded to ride an iron butt ride called the CC50. This stands for cross country in less than 50 hours. I rode from Jacksonville Beach, FL to Mission Beach in San Diego, CA in 47 hours, 45 minutes.

I rode that bike for almost 40k miles before I sold i in 2015. I rode almost every day. In fact, from 2013 to 2014, I only put two tanks of gas in my 1999 BMW 323i convertible!

I love BMW bikes. I've owned 3 and still have the first one I bought in 2010. I'm partial to BMW, but the other brands you have named are good as well. One thing to look at to maybe help your search is to call the dealerships and talk to the service manager. Ask them how much it costs to do an oil change, valve adjustment, service interval service, tire change / tire mounting, etc. While you may be able to do all of these yourself (as I did except for the tires), how much the dealership charges for the service and the parts for said service are very telling as to which may be a better deal. When I was looking back in the early 2000s, I was looking at Ducati, but found their service prices were very high, compared to the Aprilia, which was sold at the same dealership. I ended up buying a 2003 Aprilia Futura instead of the Ducati Monster I was looking at.

Good luck in your search, and keep the rubber side down!

First photo: camping at Panamint just outside of Death Valley
Second photo: my Idaho plate - 2 wheel SUV