Guess it depends on your terrain and where you intend to ride it. If your doing a fair amount of road work and fairly open terrain, I'd go to the big bikes 500cc+. I think the 525EXC might be a good compromise. I rode a 450 Berg and was disappointed personally with the power....the 550/650 is another story entirely, but would be a handfull in tight stuff. The Husky also looks real nice, however I have no experience with them to offer. The GasGas has the pluses of having familiar handling, EFI and that wonderful slipper clutch to rid you of that evil engine breaking bother. It and the 450 Berg would be OK for short 10-25 miles pavement runs, but would get old fast on longer runs. Maintained 60mph should not be a problem for any of these bikes.
I just know that for the terrain around here, a 450 is about as big as I'd want to wrestle for "real" offroad riding. That's why I have an EC250...and a KLR for street/adventure touring/dualsporting.
As for tires, if you want a decent wearing, decent grip tire go with the Dunlop 606 (full DOT). They are tolerable offroad and wear better than any knobby I've ever seen...also grip decent enough on the asphalt. About the only thing that can really do both with any competence.
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