I'm 44 and went from riding dirt bikes early on, to sport bikes in my 20's and 30's to upright, naked sport bikes now. I've never considered a HD, but this is a really good looking bike to me! However, the trade off is that Japanese sport-ish bikes with 150+ HP and loads of fun can be had for $6-8000 used all the time here in the US, I'm guessing HD will charge a premium in USD because they are HD and they can. Really enjoyed your review!
I rode this bike twice during the 115th it does have good brakes acceleration and handling are excellent as I found it too easy to just smoke through busy expressway traffic at rediciouls speeds
IMO, as a long time HD owner of many, it's just a softail with a big motor, good suspension, a fat tire(not uncommon on "sporty' HD's) and ugly bodywork. I do however like the direction the company is going in the near future and I also agree that this is a good replacement for those who love the VRSC platform.
This FXDR is nice I like Harley is trying something different. I have a test ride setup in the near future and I can wait to compare this to my XdiavelS.