Suzuki Bandit
Bill, what style of ST bike do you prefer? More on the sport or more on the touring?
It's pretty subjective even if you have a response for the above. There are surely riders who consider a 'Wing sporting (and who have the chops to hustle one around, for that matter)... and pre-carpal tunnelers touring on R1s.
You probably want to look up the past ST shootouts on MO as suggested previously. (If I remember right, there's blood on the floor after the voting in a couple of them. My favorite was the one where Burns tosses out competing votes until the FJR wins!)
Here's my simple two-up ST experience -- maybe it will be helpful to others: I ride a 2nd gen Bandit 1200. My girlfriend insists it's very comfortable for a sportier bike. (She's 5'4", I'm 6'2".) The Bandit seat is one piece, so the passenger doesn't perch on a staircase step behind the driver, unlike some of the true sportbikes. This plus the moderate peg placement is happiness for my passenger on long rides.
Further, I use a detachable windshield, stock seat... and yeah... those silly camouflage Bunsaver cushions. We've sailed through multi-day trips up to about 1500mi on this bike. Not exactly a fancy setup, but cheap and fun for us.
When the trip's over, I go back to mostly city riding. So I pull off the touring extras, which leaves a naked 100+HP bike and spare cash for bail.