I recently did 2200 km over 4 days in the Snowy Mountain region of Australia on my 12S and felt no pain. The bike is an excellent tourer and all I had for luggage was a BMW tank bag (huge) and tail bag (Ventura).
The roads for the most part were very engaging which takes your mind off num bum syndrome and it was only on the boring drone home up the freeway that I felt a bit sore. Mind you I was pretty knackered from the four days of riding as well as the evening refreshments. Maintenance wise the 12S is no different to most boxers in that it is simple for the average home mechanic to keep it in good nick. I went with three mates one on a 12S one on a Duke ST3 and another on a new 800GS; now that bike is pretty special. Dont know about off road ability but it can scratch with the best and has bags of go for an 800cc motor. Very impressive.
Cheers, Haggis
