When I was looking at the St's 5 years ago I had narrowed it down to 3-4 bikes. The ST, Triumph Trophy, BMW R12xx, and BMW K1600. The Triumph really intrigued me but the fear of having a non-popular Euro bike for long-distance riding and touring had me in fear of towing the bike home with no hope of ever getting it fixed on the road if something went wrong while on a trip. I have always liked the BMW's and had ridden an RT several times at work while training, I'm not used to the low-end torque as I have always ridden Hondas where you get the power band at higher RPM's, nothing wrong with it just different than what I have been used to over last 30+ years of riding. I loved the K bike but the price was just out of the range I was willing to pay. I had concerns of maintenance costs and the BMW forums were loaded with people that had the same opinion... "If you can't afford the maintenance then you can't afford a BMW" I guess I COULD afford the maintenance but I don't WANT to. The Honda requires very little maintenance and you can do the majority of it in your garage without expensive dealer-only parts. I was leaning towards the BMW for the technology, especially the GPS and radio. I realized that I would most likely use a BT helmet kit so the radio was a non-issue, GPS is easily done on a phone or stand-alone device so I went back to reliability as my main determining factor. I found a 2012 with only 1,800 miles on it from a fellow forum member that was still under factory warranty. I purchased it, went to the dealer, and extended the warranty until 2023 (Unlimited mileage) for $600! Having the peace of mind that any major issues would be covered by the dealer was a great feeling, especially last year when the rear shock failed. The warranty has already paid for itself and more. It was also reassuring that I tortured a 2007 ST for almost 5 years at work and it never failed me.