BMW's do seem easy to do, but this is offset by (at least in the UK) BMW dealer rates typically being 50% (or more) higher than Jap service prices, my franchsied Honda dealer charges £60 per hour, my BMW dealer is £92 per hour, many BMW dealers charge over £100 per hour!
The main worry (Yamaha or BMW) is if they do the more awkward stuff, I have had a ZX9R with a FSH from a main dealer and when I got a friend (and Kawasaki dealer mechanic) to look at it he told me the shimns had never been done (Despite the previous owner paying £500 for a service that included this work)
I changed the FD oil on my GS at 7.5k (supposedly done by dealer 500 miles and again at 3.5k - again with receipts to "prove") and it came out filthy black and sludgy, now perhaps it does get filthy in 4k, but I did it again at 11.5k (I do it with each tyre change) and the oil was pretty clean which suggests the dealer skipped this extra bit of work to up his profit, or the tech guy is on a bonus scheme and skipped it to up his pay packet.
My mechanic friend also told me a story (Late 80's) a Honda dealer mechanic he knew who's boss refused to pay for the special tools to do VFR valve adjustments, when he asked "what happens when you get a VFR in for a valve check", the guy said we just charge him an extra 2 hours labour and tell him they were all OK.
I am not too fussed at "pain in the arse" every 24k, or "piece of cake" every 6k, the real question is does it get done???
Especially with Bucket Under Shim bikes, I am prepared to check screw and locknut systems myself, but with the Tenere I would want it done by a pro, and I do not know of a single main Yamaha dealer in the UK I would trust to do the work, which is why I used my friend, but unfortunately he has since passed away.
For me the biggest benefit is a lot of independant techies are out there that will work on Yamaha's, BMW is a far more closed shop with few independants, the only ones near me are those that have recently lost their BMW franchise - but they still insist on charging BMW rates!