As someone else touched on, now lets include the cost of maintenance and repairs over that ownership lifespan.
HD has a long track record of major engine design defects that can and sometimes do result in destroyed engines. Not all, but it would be naive to suggest it's not a real genuine issue - see my earlier post on the common issues.
Round in the cost of an engine rebuild/replacement on one of those HD's and suddenly those numbers are upside down in a BIG way. For those who don't turn their own wrenches HD dealership service is also notoriously very expensive.
Most metric owners on the flipside will incur little more than oil changes, tires, and routine maintenance at <$ vs HD service.
I won't disagree that HD resale value is higher, but I'd bet that if a brand new metric buyer and a brand new HD buyer walked off the showroom floor today with their respective bikes, had dealer service when necessary, and tallied up total cost of ownership (every dollar spent) over a 150,000KM ownership period before posting for resale... in the end the numbers would tell an interesting story.
Now, the metric owner relying on dealer service and the HD owner turning his own wrenches for everything could change those numbers again, but also very vice versa. It all comes down to who's bike is going to break the most, and how much it's going to cost to fix it.
