To try and belittle harleys as a whole is foolish. Like any successful company they have good and bad, but aside from the bikes that fall to one of the extremes of good or bad it's all subjective. handling is a big one for me, but it's not for some. You couldn't get me to trade my speedy for any harley, but not because there aren't any that can do certain things better. it's because my speedy looks and feels so right for me.
My problem with harleys isn't with the bikes themselves. It's with the reason the people who buy them do so. It's that whole biker dude lifestyle. From what i've seen the vast majority of HD riders buy into it to one degree or another and to me it's plain moronic. i know 2 people with HD's. One is one of the few who himself hates the whole HD lifestyle. The other bought one and became a completely different and idiotic person who is just one of the millions of lemmings that want to be cool. He bought every single accessory that you have to buy in order to be part of the scene, and i know him well enough to know many of the things he's bought wouldn't have happened if he'd bought strictly by what he personally liked with no regard to becoming like the crowd. Every single thing that is part of the whole HD persona he had done/bought. Myself and others who know him literally just shake our heads and roll our eyes knowing who he is and seeing the phoney persona he's trying to be. It's friggin rediculous and obvious as can be.
personally the fact that there are so HD people like him would rule out any HD in my garage no matter how much i might like it because i don't want to be part of that scene in any way shape or form. To me it's really quite a pathetic scene.I feel sorry for those who truly love harleys but don't want to be a part of that whole scene like the one friend of mine. I'm just thrilled at the fact that i was lucky enough that my favorite bike of all happens to also be so unique that i don't have to worry about being one of the many. A hell of a nice cherry on top for Triumph owners IMO.