Steve, look around for a well-priced "R" around 2010, buy and ride it. If it does not suit your taste, not a big loss.
It is an amazing motorcycle, and the harder you ride them, the better they work. In fact when dawdling along the Karoo roads, my 19voertsek XT600 is a better bike,
better packing space, better small-ripple suspension, and MUCH smoother low-rev cruising.
The "rally-look" is also a point with which I would not go, the wind protection will be great, but the added crash-damage risk and also weight I find going directly against what the 690 stands for. This is of course each owner's own choice.
The 690, for a single, is surprisingly powerful, yet I have gotten 25.3 km/lt as a personal best a few weeks ago, downhill from Sutherland/Ouberg/Ceres.
I find it not too uncomfortable on long roads.