The basics
Many people bring a lot of mental baggage when the name Harley-Davidson is used. They hear or read that name and begin to assume a lot of things about the bike, the owner, and so on. Most, if not all of that, does not apply here.

The sportster is a small harley and many harley riders consider it to be a girl's bike or not a real bike at all. However, it can manage twisty roads at dangerous speeds, manage the long highways and freeways in relative comfort, and has done just about anything I've asked of it. In the modern world of hyper-specialized and super-focused purpose built bikes, it is a basic, all around, multi-purpose instrument. I frequently call it a swiss-army bike.