Thanks for the welcome!
I grew up in Europe riding Kawasaki and Suzuki. You don't see too many Harley riders in the UK. Instead, sport bikes and big enduro/ touring bikes are far more popular, such as Kawasaki, Suzuki, BMW, Triumph, Honda, and Motto Guzzi. Having grown up with these bikes, the Harley thing really appealed to me when I moved to the US. There was a certain mystique I guess about owning a Harley, especially having grown up in the UK and watching American TV shows as a kid. So I bought one.... and it was fun. Aside from the Harley culture and feeling like you belong to a club of sorts, which was kinda cool to begin with, the bikes themselves are not as smooth as some of the metric/ European bikes, plus the air cooled motor was killing sitting in summer beach traffic. In addition, the Harley was more expensive, required more maintenance and seemed to utilize older technology. Someone offered me more than I owed on my Harley, so I sold it, paid it off, made a nice profit, and then purchased a bike that I liked more without the need for a finance payment. I'm not saying I'd never own another Harley. I think they're nice bikes and many of them look great. The bikes are American icons but I'm happy having made the move. Sure there are people that say, "oh I guess you got the Kawasaki because you couldn't afford a Harley," or "for the price of the Kawasaki you could have bought a Sportster and owned a real Harley instead of a copy." Honestly, those people are not worth wasting my breath on so I don't bother justifying my purchase to them. My thoughts are that people can ride what they like, regardless of who makes it. Get out there, have fun, be safe and enjoy the freedom of riding. Anybody that gives someone a hard time for riding a metric bike isn't the kind of person I want to associate with anyway.
Safe travels