Just got my M endorsement last fall with plans to get a motorcycle, and then went and knocked up the wife and had to put those plans on hold to try to get a new house for an extra bedroom.
I was looking a lot at bikes to figure out what I wanted, and always loved the looks of the nightrod, but really don't know that much about them. A guy at work that knows bikes well told me that if I got a HD...even if I wanted to don't get a sportster. Said they are too light and I'd just want something else right away.
Since HD was likely out of the budget I also thought about buying a buddies Boulevard for 3k after he upgraded to a new Victory, but didn't pull the trigger at the time and found out we were having the kid a short time later. Regrets