Hey Lemmy!
I bought a new 2015 street 750 and I have ridden it all these years. Recently I have been thinking that I want to switch it up and get something else. I mostly use my street 750 to commute to university, but now work; with an occasional day trip to visit family on the other side of Texas. I am thinking of getting a Yamaha MT-03. I know it is an entry level bike but it seems to have good reviews. It has a passenger seat for dates and a sixth gear for the occasional road trip. Since I am mostly commuting I don’t see why 300cc will be too small, so I should save some money with it. I mostly want to ask if there is a reason I should consider the 600cc version or something I also really like the XSR700 but feel it might be hard to find around me.
Any other advice?
The Honda Rebel 500cc would be more similar to the Harley you have now.
The MT-03 will feel sluggish for sure, go for the MT-07 instead. You can (and should) find aftermarket seats, all new bikes come with crap seats that give you a 10m grace period to get to a motel before s/he quits.
If you’re into switching to nakeds, you can’t go wrong with a Honda Hornet (CB 750), Suzuki GSX or Yamaha FZ6 (the latter is my bike), all 600cc/100hp. Most other nakeds are 60hp. All accessible in the used market.