If you are looking for info, troll through the thousands of backlogged comments on the various motorcycle forums. There are tons, from sport-touring specific, to cruiser specific, to general motorcycling. Its just a matter of reading a bit and finding some that fit your personal style and will be able to help meet your goals. In addition to those more general forums, where you will find a bunch of people who were looking at the same thing or rode all the bikes you are considering, each bike seems to have at least one forum devoted specifically to it. Try checking them out as well once you start to get a bit of a short list.
Just a personal plug, having ridden both 600 sport bikes (very little) and 650 2-cylinders, there really is a world of difference. The 650s have a very manageable power band, and don’t put in that unusual position of lug, lug, zooom, there goes the front end (and now I’m a youtube statistic). Its pretty easy, predictable, and the 650s will break a hundred much easier than people tend to think. Not that you need to go 100, but its nice to know you have plenty of usable power to quickly pass a truck at 75 or 80 or hop into the fast lane to avoid merging traffic.