I remember that when I first started reading the posts on this site. Yes it was after I bought my UC. And yes I started to panic a little. It gets hard sometimes to differentiate the real story, as always. You will find that moderators (new and old) and most members will steer you in the right direction. It gets difficult I think when you are new because many of the experieced folks here have observed the same issues over and over. I believe just about everything that could be talked about has been. Then you are up against the sheer volume of posts to look through to find "the truth" and this is typically when you are frustrated with an issue.
Sometimes you will find those that "type in your language": you can have everyone saying the same thing but only one is able to say it in a way you will understand. This is normal. I laugh when I look back at what I was doing to adjust my clutch, until someone could translate what "free play" was into my brain.
I particularly remember a pretty recent post about transmissions that were "blowing up left and right". I remember it because if I would have read that when I first joined, I would have been very concerned. Now I think the poster was trying to stir the pot a bit.
I come back to many of Smitty's posts because most of the time he is really telling you to look around you, pay attention and use common sense. Many of the others have so much history and knowledge, the make some assumptions that us newbies haven't even thought of, but we are learning.
Look around. HD's are all over the place. If they really are a brand with many many issues, the owners certainly don't care. If there is one thing HD owners do: it is care. Nothing sounds, looks or rides like HD. Period. You made a great choice. The more you ride the more you will see.
