Gold Wing? Voyager? Venture? what a person to do?

This is my second year of road riding, (after 38 years of off road racing)!
If I knew it was this much fun, I'd done a LONG time ago, (and maybe I wouldn't have needed a knee replacement at 49, my shoulders and wrist wouldn't be sore) :(.
2500 miles since May on my '07 Vulcan 900, 1500 on my DR 650, (my work ride bike. I bike ride 7 days a week).
I've joined a riding club, (Northeast Pleasure Riders), and now my wife and I am doing 150 mile plus rides. Thing are looking so bright I gotta wear shades!
They all seem to have newer Gold Wings, but I'm not sure I'm ready to plop down $21000 (yet) and what kind of scoot.
If I was ready for a BIG tourer, I'd LOVE to get a Beemer, but I want a older? cheaper? model to try first, say under $5000 to try one out.
I saw a Kawi Voyager, a Yami Venture, (a '83 at a nice price), a few older Gold Wings., all in the '80's
What's the scoop on all three??
Good years, bad years, things to look out for.
There's a '83 Yami on E bay $2500now. A guy knows a guy, who knows a guy who has a "sweet" Gold Wing. A dealer has a Voyager that was left out in the weather and has really low miles, but the chrome and detail needs help.
HELP!!!
Confused Joe

I had an '02 Gold Wing I sold 2 years ago. We moved into a townhouse and I just didn't have the space for it. Besides the wife never went on the bike trips I wanted to do and it was too big for buzzing back and forth to work. I loved the GW, she had plenty of power and safety. The '02 were the new model year with the 1800 6 cylinder boxer engine. The were also desgined not to lay down passed 45*, unless you had too much momenteum. Plus you all kinds of add ons, but she came pretty well loaded. I had bought mine new for $15k, so while I think they are still north of what you want to pay they should be pretty reasonable. This was also the first year did an aluminum frame, so while the bike was thier biggest yet, it was still lighter than the last style. They did have a couple of recalls on frame welds but I got mine checked right away with no issues.

Good Luck and enjoy!

Damn, they're all good bikes for touring. Another one to look at from that era is the Suzuki Cavalcade.

The Venture Royale of the mid 80's is an awesome bike, it was always rated as the best handling of all the tourers. My father-in-law has an '83 and he loves it. He's a real peg scraper with it also. Starting in either '85 or '86 they changed the saddlebags to make them bigger, but they don't look as nice as the early bikes.

Thanks!
I love the cruiser bikes, but aftera 3hour trip on my 900, I realized i need a REAL Tourer!
This way I can justify a trip to other longer place, cuz we got,"the bike".
I look at the Suzuki.
Tanks,
Joe

My Father-in-law has been from Ohio to Nova Scotia on the Venture at least three times, with my Mother-in-law, who would not be shy about expressing her discomfort if it were a problem.

I just bought a new '07 C90T Suzuki for under $10,000, and I've ridden it slightly less than 5,000 miles since April 2nd. It's a nice riding bike, has a windshield with lowers, and nice saddle bags all included in the price. I put crash bars (casing guards), highway pegs, and a rack on it, but that's all. I did go out in the garage and build a bracket for a small platform with velcro so I would have something to set my travel cup on. As far as I'm concerned, they're equipped right from the factory for touring. I changed the seat right away, because I'm long legged, and the studs on the passenger seat were poking me in the rear. I ride it all the time to Kansas City and back, which is 320 miles round trip, with no problem. It's a good touring bike! You might want to look at one of them.