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The rear brake pedal being low is typical of these bikes, and it is exacerbated if you install more aggressive footpegs, like I did, which are typically taller in profile. I have my pedal wound all the way to the highest point on it's adjustment and while it's better, it's still a little low for my comfort. I may just give up and make a spacer to clip to the top of the pedal to make it physically taller.
Lowering your pegs will definitely help with that. I think a lot of the perception of the KLR having "weak" rear brakes is the pedal height being whack, so riders are not necessarily engaging the rear brake in full when they mean to. I know I certainly wasn't until I adjusted the shit out of mine.
I'm sure I don't need to tell you that you can adjust the effective height of the brake pedal by loosening the nut on the bracket and screwing the threaded end of the master cylinder piston in and out.
A taller windscreen is on my shopping list as well, because I have confirmed that a bunch of the wibble-wobble and buffeting I get at highway speed is the wind hitting me which makes it tough to keep the bars straight (especially when you're surrounded by 18 wheelers). I'm torn, though, because I really don't feel like necking myself on the top of the windscreen when I'm riding off road. My bike is a Gen 2 which already has "better" wind protection and aero than your Gen 1 (not by much) so it might be worth the investment if you stay on pavement regularly.
You can indeed sit at 50 or 60 MPH all day on one of these bikes. I do so regularly. Mine will touch 100 MPH with a long enough runup, and made it to 112 once without exploding. They don't exactly leap forward if you open the throttle above around 70, though.
The Tusk handguards are a perennial favorite for the KLR, probably because they are effective but cheap (like KLR owners themselves). I have the same pair; on a Gen 2 you also need handlebar risers so you don't smack the cowling at full lock, but on a Gen 1 you don't.
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