Welcome fellow Az rider...
First,.. how much riding experience do you have?...
.. and how tall are you?...
A Savage will be better for a beginner, or a person under 6ft...
KLR's are very tall, and pretty top heavy...
Pricewise,.. the Savage is cheaper, and easier to modify...
I don't recommend building a Frankenstein bike from the scrapyard...
Find a good used Savage,... and go cafe' from there...
You can then do it piece by piece, and have a running bike as you go...
I've been riding, and modding my Savage for 6 years...
... it started out like this...
...and ended up like this...
Creating a cafe' bike,.. can be cheap or very expensive... just depends on how far you go...
... and you not might want to go too far... (a cafe' bike is not that good on dirt)... (bars will be too low, and pegs will be too far back)...