Some info that might be useful;

My riding buddy is lacking on inseam which initially scared him off from our beloved 690's. However, after riding with me a few dozen times and the increase in lowering options, he has now moved from 'considering' buying a 690/701 to figuring out when he'll be making the purchase. He has a Husky 650 Strata now so I'm thinking he'll go for the blue/yellow/white bike.

However, directly after purchase of the bike, he's going to go with a lower seat from SeatConcepts and also sending his forks and shock to Enduro Engineering. Since I've been following suspension for our bikes the last couple of years, I've noticed EE seems to be sustaining good reviews for their work and now have "lowering" as a very prominent option.

Both mods will total less than $1,000usd and get him a great bike with a seat height that he feels more comfortable with when on pavement.