I was pleasantly surprised with my 09 XTR I brought it second hand with just 600 km on the clock and have just clocked over 4500km. I have had no surging or any problems, the bike is comfortable and it seems to like what ever was thrown at it. The last ride I did with a mate on his XR650R we did about 2000km. About 3/4 of that was gravel and dirt roads with a small section of heavily rutted 4WD tracks through Southland and Otago. Yes it wasn't as good as the XR on the heavy going. I think a ohlins rear shock and a bit of work on the front end would fix that but I cant decide if it is really necessary $$$. However I have done a few mods which I think are necessary if you want to go off road.

Michelin T63's front and rear
Metal Mule 2 into 1 exhaust
Blitz handle bars
Pug screen
OTR bash plate
OTR foot pegs
OTR centre stand
OTR rear rack

The only problem I had on the trip was I didn't have it on the side stand properly (my fault) when I was opening a gate, it fell and it bent the bloody radiator it was very minor damage but it did expose a weak point. Hopefully this can be cured with a touratech crash bar or a gilimoto tank as some extra fuel would be nice and it may help protect the radiator a bit. Anyone out there tried any of these two products?