"Longevity? Harleys are no more durable out of the box than Japanese bikes, in fact I'd say a bit less so. I know people who've gone over 100,000 miles on (liquid cooled, to be sure) Japanese bikes without ever opening the engine at all."
I keep hearing that argument, but in practice, the Harleys are far more durable. All I have to do is count the crappy AMF Harleys vs. the Hondakawayamazukis of the same era. The Japanese bikes outsold the Harleys by a wide margin, yet the Harleys remain on the road while the J-brand bikes are gone.
The old technology of the Harley motor, combined with the improved steel of recent times create a motor that is astoundlingly long lived, easy to maintain and reliable. Even the mechanically challenged, like me, can replace the top end every 100K miles or so.
All of that high tech stuff wears out and costs a lot to replace. I'll stick to 1930's tractor technology.
Here's another one of my bikes with crappy old technology that has outlived all of that high-tech stuff.
Pushrods forever! (I love them old Vespas too)
"The Japanese bikes outsold the Harleys by a wide margin, yet the Harleys remain on the road while the J-brand bikes are gone."
That's because they've been rebuilt, probably more than once. Of course, parts for those old Harleys are readily available, whereas the supplies of them for most Japanese bikes are disappearing. But some older Japanese bikes have started to reach the level of collectible, and a market in repro parts for them is developing. Of course, the Japanese also made huge technological strides every couple of years, whereas parts for Harleys tend to be usable in many model years. Not a knock against either one, in my opinion, just a different frame of mind. In fact, I agree with you, and as I've said if I wanted to touring rig I might well choose Harley, and the ease of rebuilds and availability of replacement parts would be part of the reason. But at the 10,000 miles a year or so I've currently got the time to put on my bike, it'll last until I'm sick of it and ready for a new one. And meantime I'll be riding a bike with higher performance and better handling than any of those "classics", which is important to me. Apparently it's not so important to you, which is fine with me.
I'll stick to 1930's tractor technology.That's what confuses the moto-geeks about Harley's. They were designed and built in the Great Mid-West, the land of the tractor. Since the first Harley's were built in a shed, the peripheral components available to HD, such as ignition, oiling and lights were essentially from vendors that supplied tractor companies such as Deer and Massy Ferguson. Many engineers at HD had tractor company experience before working for HD. A Harley is not British "Bike" or Japanese "Rice Rocket", it's an American "implement".