Wasn't calling anyone "a liar", just explaining my experiences. Since I have no desire to own a Buell or Harley and the tranny smoothness is a minor consideration on the one Hog I MIGHT own, sportster or UG Classic, I'm not worried about it. I'll test ride one if I ever go to another harley fest like Laughlin, but I won't go out of my way for one. I certainly, after reading stuff like the
http://www.mybuell.com site, wouldn't touch a Buell with a 10 foot pole.
Now, there's two ways to look at depreciation. You can buy a new Harley and resell it in a few years and not lose much on the deal, or you can buy that USED shadow, avoid most of the depreciation, and ride the "better" machine, if you consider it the better machine, and avoid most of the depreciation. Personally, I'm not into cruisers and wouldn't own a shadow in any case.
I don't know what I like about sportsters, but they're just different I guess. They're not exactly cruisers. They are more like a standard, but really they are sportsters. They sort of defy categorization. A rubber mount one would make a dandy all around motorcycle, though, and you can fix those brake with a small wad of hundreds. Lots of aftermarket for any hog that a shadow can't lay claim to. That sporty would be pretty unique with a pair of brembo four pots squeezing some major diameter twin discs, wouldn't it?
Not sure what's available specifically for the sportster, but I'm sure there are upgrades. I gotta friend at
http://www.directparts.com that can get you anything that might be available.