As I finally got my legal motorcycle license, I'm now looking for a bike that can take me places. I've owned a CQR and a cheap Regal Raptor, but they weren't made for local roads, so I sold them (read: the parts that didn't break).

I've browsed through this forum and I think that the new YS250 2013 (previously sold as the YBR250) with some modifications might be a good one for touring through China and further, but the GW250 (S) gets more love from the folk around here and looks like a fine traveller too. Also, a JH600 or Shineray X5 might do the trick, but I've heard they need more maintenance and I lack some skills in that field.

A lot of major mountain roads here in Sichuan are not that nice for 2-wheelers and some roads are completely gone. There's plenty of great, new pavement around here too, but most of the touring will be on roads that don't offer the same smoothness as some of the roads people around Beijing/Shanghai ride on. So, which of these motorcycles (especially the YS250 or GW250) can you recommend, and why?

EDIT: I know there are some other threads around here that ask for recommendations, but I can't find real comparisons between the bikes I named in this posts. In addition, some of those threads are incredibly out-dated