Which bike? Touring in Colorado

A buddy of mine and I are planning to do some riding and camping in Colorado soon. I think I've narrowed my rental company down to this one - www.tourbikes.com/. We'll focus on twisty mountain roads, and I doubt if we'll do much off-road other than maybe for a few hundred feet to get to a campsite.

I've always liked the BMW and Triumph adventure bikes, but the height/weight make me a little nervous, and I won't really need the off-road capabilities. Maybe the naked BMW R1200R is the right choice?

If it makes any difference, I'm 6'0" with a 32" inseam and currently ride a Suzuki SV650S.

In Colorado, you're cutting yourselves off from some real experiences if you don't have the ability to take a trail. Not for massive off-roading, but ghost towns are cool. Better camping too.

A buddy and I rented R1200RT's out of LAX and rode up to Monterey. They handled nicely, held all our stuff and had pretty much every feature known to man.

They are big bikes, but fun to ride through some really twisty stuff (Hwy 33 from Maricopa to Ojai). The RT has a two-position height adjustable seat, it was really tall for me when I picked it up but just fine after I put it on the lower position.

Get the lightest dual sport they have. You won't regret being able to take the path less traveled. I think that the BMW F series would be better than the big GS or any of the major touring bikes.

I've toured Colorado a lot on a Harley Dresser. Quite comfortably, I might add. Up over 10-12K ft, mountain roads, etc. A FLHT handles quite well, actually.

Note that I don't spend money in Colorado anymore.

You're used to the SV650, so I'd be inclined to say the likes of their VStrom or BMW F800GS.

Be realistic about what you're doing. If you guys are carrying tents and packing food, your needs/wants will be a bit different than if you planning to sleep in hotels and eat and restaurants.

You can see a whole lot of Colorado from paved roads. You can see a whole lot more by riding on groomed dirt and gravel roads. And if you get in trouble on either, you're likely not going to spend more than a night out there. Get in trouble back on the trails, that's different. Yes, you can see even more from them. But it's not like you're going to run out of things to see if you stay on nicer roads.

Understand the distances in Colorado too. A nimble(ish) dual sport like the KLR might be the nicest once you're onto trails, but the hundreds of miles you can put down getting to those places can be very fatiguing. If you guys are figuring on a lot of normal tourist places and such, a very comfortable highway hauler would be even better.

I was thinking not of extreme trails, but things like the Alpine Loop. Wicked views and a few ghost towns. You could also get up into places like Yankee Boy Basin. From the pavement, you only get to see what everyone else sees.

Counterpoint to the "see what all the other tourists see" is that it's wonderful to see. Especially to a first timer. Yes, Estes is full of tourists, but really, so what? For a person there for the first time, it's spectacular.

Something else to consider is altitude and where he's coming from. Taking a new bike up to those altitudes can really hit a person. Especially if the new bike is tall and top heavy, and they've already expressed some concern about that. In which case riding a little more conservatively on an easier to handle bike might be a good idea. All the more reason for a Harley!