Some fair points Spoonz but I used my aprilias, ktms and triumphs year round and none suffered overly badly. I take care of my bikes and after every single solitary winter ride, the bikes got cleaned as I've seen what salt does if they're left even just over-night. Sure, a few nuts and bolts corroded badly here and there but in 12 years of aprilia ownership I can honestly say they stood up to it better. Mind you, they were covered in more plastic and the R series bikes do have frames which are more exposed. There's no getting away from the fact that the paint finish on these GS bikes is piss poor.