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I have a Ninja 300. I currently commute 50 miles round trip; about double that if I have evening plans. I have a Givi rack with a 47L top case which can carry a rather large backpack in transit and then hold either my helmet or jacket with gloves and overpants at my destination (caveat: I'm extremely small so obviously my gear is smaller. Can't guarantee your jacket would fit). I also use it in combination with tail bags for extra storage, which come with me when I leave the bike.
I would like hard side cases for holding all my gear on the bike at once but there's no ready-made hard side case solution for the Ninja 300 unfortunately. I don't know how much gear you may want to leave with the bike at any time so this might not be an issue for you.
I personally prefer commuting on a lower power bike, but that's just me. I've never feel like it's lacking in power. I'm not sure what the ranges are for the bigger bikes you're considering but the bigger bikes I've commuted on (FZ-09 and Street Triple R) only had a range of ~120miles vs the +200 miles of the Ninja 300. I really hate having to get gas so frequently. I also much prefer the high mpg and cheaper consumable parts of the Ninja 300.
No opinion on carrying a passenger as I don't intend to carry a passenger and have modified my bike so that I can't.
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My Ninja 300
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