Comfort is subjective and there's no reason or proof that off road bikes are not economical, it's all down to riding style. If I ride my 950SE hard, I'll get less than 30mpg but if I take it easy through the gears & don't open the throttle wide open, I'll get 50mpg.
Buy the time you've bought a bike, bought the offroad items and carried out the mods, you'll be no better off in terms of bike quality or financially, especially if you pay someone else to do the mods or any engineering work. If the spannering and bike knowledge is minimal, you run the risk of cobbling together an expensive deathtrap.... If on the other hand, you know what you're doing and can do the mods yourself, then go for it.
I've recently just finished prepping a DRZ400S for a 4 month trip to South America, I reckon I spent well in excess of 150 hours working on the bike & that's with me doing 95% of the work myself. The bike's in BA now & my girlfriend arrives tomorrow, here's her 'blog:
Pumpernickel on Tour
It's very easy to get the geometry wrong when modifying a bike, been there, done that on at least two occasions.
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