Hi Modron, i'm guessing you didn't exactly get the answers you were looking for. My advice for your situation would be to get the YBR250 and leave the suspension stock. I would call the YBR more of an 'all purpose bike' than a street bike in the modern sense of the term. Its suspension and ground clearance will get you through pretty much anything china has to throw at you, even if you've to go a bit slower than on a dirt bike.

You're scared to get stranded in the middle of nowhere and rightly so. You probably don't have to weeks to spend in a workshop learning how to rebuild an engine, you'd rather spend that time riding. The X5 and other new bikes look like they might have potential, but until their reliability is proven the best bike for you is still the YBR250.

Here's a thread about the Yamaha's closest rival which contains some good info for you.
http://www.mychinamoto.com/forums/sh...ll=1#post48627



Don't be put off thinking only off road looking bikes can go off road. I did 200km of dirt on an old CB400SS with the wife yesterday and had loads of fun.