I've got 5k to for a street/play bike.

625's vibrate bad on the road. If you don't plan to ride it very far it will be fine but any more than 30 to 40 minutes on pavement and your hands will be numb.

I'd convert a XR650R.

Lot's of used ones already done out there.

Check out the classifieds on supermotojunkie.com or look for supermotos on ebay.

You can buy a new KLR650 for that money and it's much better on the hiway.

A KLR? Good God he might as well get velco strap shoes while he's at it! Dude I'm sure he wants some style.

An XR650L would work too.......it's basically an XR600 that meets all the old DOT crap. I had an '04, I stripped it down, did a few mods, added a scott's and a fork brace, put an IMS 3.7 tank on it, replaced all the lights with LED's, all the plastic and body parts with XR600 plastics, a WB pipe for a 600R, and I had a rippen dual sport with a magic button that I was only into for about 2500.00 when it was all said and done. I even ran it in a few hare & hounds.........more than competitive and did quite a bit of ST on it. Best sand bike I ever had too.........I could hit 100+ mph in big, open sand washes with no problems. You can pick L's up dirt cheap, they're already street legal, so you can do what you want with them. Best part is.........compared to the 650R, or any other modern 4-stroke........the ride is so friggin' plush. Like a motorized couch. I could do 100's of miles on that bike without Monkey Butt...........super comfortable.

If you can get the XR street legal in your state it's water cooled where the XRL is still air cooled.

I did something similar last week. I found a 2006 SV650 with 5k miles on it for $3500. It's now my daily driver. I'd suggest if you're not going to do any off road, or even serious off road, consider the SV or the Monster. You can also find some Honda 599 and Kawi stuff out there. The Zook V-strom 650 looks very comfortable as does the new Kawi Versys.

Well, I've only had it for three days now but the guy I bought it from says a tank of gas will take you about 140 miles depending on how you ride. The low fuel light comes on with 1 gallong left and then goes solid when you're at 0.4 gal. I think I could maybe push 180 or 200 if it went empty.

The thing's a blast to ride.

The 650R isn't a problem to kick......once you get the technique down. It's not like a 450F.

It's all about what you want. If you just want to Motard a bike..........you have a lot of options. If you're a big dude.....you won't like the DRZ's. Lot's of Ebay shit for both the XR650R and 650L, and either one would be pretty easy to Motard. The biggest points for the 650R is the vastly improved suspension up front and the engine has a helluva a lot more torque in stock form........and you can push it even further. Bigger forks, heavier triple clamp. The L's forks are the same ones with lighter valving as on the 600R. The L is aircooled.........I personally don't see it as a problem.....fewer things to bang up when you lay it down, and you can certainly make that engine bark without coming close to a heating problem. Both benefit from the same mods........the L would probably be cheaper to motard because it's already half way there.

650r is the way to go with a motard. Decent power and weight. Mine is just uncorked and will carry the front end with just a sharp hit of the power in first and second. Kicking over a 650r is a pain in the ass until you get it down because you have to deal with the decompression lever. Mine will start in a couple kicks usually. I have a good hole in the bottom of my sneakers from kicking it over. The DRZ's and XRL's are ok, they will get you there, but not much fun due to the lack of power and weight. Probably a little less to maintain, I change the oil in my 650r every 600-1000 miles and adjust the valves every 1000. Pretty easy to do.

Plan on buying a seat because any ride more than 20 minutes and you will be standing up because it becomes so painful. All the little things of a plated offroad bike do start to add up if you are using it as a daily driver every day. It would be nice to have a electric start, radiator fan, mirrors you can see out of, keyed ignition, locking gas cap, lesser maintenance, etc. All of these can be easily fixed, but after you factor in the costs including a set of 17's it starts to become unworth it as it is money you will never see again. The other thing that still bugs me is you have to go through every red light because the bike will never trip the magnetic sensor for most traffic lights. I've got street tires on mine, but now that I bought a hypermotard for commuting I'm putting it back to dirt. Dual sporting is a ton of fun. Trying to get all my buddies to buy dual sports.

I'm hoping honda does indeed come out with the rumored CRF700X, based off the old 650r engine they updated with EFI and a taller stroke that is in that new quad. For such a big bike the 650r becomes amazing when you hit high speed whopped out fire roads. That thing can tractor along at 80 mph and somehow the stock suspension just takes everything. Rides like a cadillac. My RM would be bouncing all over the place and killing me with headshake.