I understand that choice of the vehicle for such kind of a travel is a matter of a personal choice. Someone would pick Goldwing, someone would ride on a bicycle. Need to know how to repair the bike, bike should not be too complicated and should be easily repairable in every situation. And spare parts must be available too. But, for my opinion, better follow sort of balance in this question. Riding too heavy bikes like our ST can bring traveler to situations when he drops it and won’t be able to pick up alone somewhere in the middle of nowhere. I’m not sure that I can pick it in sands or on the muddy road for example. Not mentioning plastic fairings and panniers, they can easily be broken and hard to repair - sure need to be prepared that bike will be laid down not only once in that kind of travel.
On the other hand, by my opinion, riding weak 7 -10 hp bike has a bunch of cons too. Yes, those bikes are lightweight, and you can literally pull it off the trouble places on hands. But they are low-speed and you would always struggle with lack of power, and engine and drivetrain will be used on its maximum limits and will have much more probability to break down if compare to any mid-level powered bike. Plus low load capacity, not much things you can carry on to the trip. Short refill distance.
So, maybe it will be boring and not so exiting for other people, but I would personally prefer some mid-weight 600 - 800 cc adventure bike for that. Hondas, for example, are good and reliable, known everywhere and it is possible to find spareparts or order it online in case of critical damages. I believe that Honda Africa Twin for example, would easily survive 50-60k km trip without any major issues and repairs if not drop it from the cliff)
