I'm obviously biased, but you have to decide how much maint. you will DIY or if you'll take it to a pro. Chain and shaft drive bikes are different animals. When the shaft or final drive goes, you're done and it's expensive. But compared to a chain bike, it requires next to no maint. I have about 30k miles between my two GS's and wouldn't do much more than fire roads on one. I learned my lessons the hard way. For serious offroad work, I'd want a totally expendable dirt bike.
Here I am learning an expensive lesson about 30 miles from pavement.
Here's the kind of bike you need for serious offroad work.
