I've often wondered how people choose from leather or had bags when deciding what kind of saddlebags to add to a bike. I like the nostalgic look of the black leather bags, but the more modern looing hard bags offer better security as you can lock them.
Both seem to work find for storing items and keeping them out of the elements.
I don't have saddlebags on my sportster because I haven't seen any that actually look like they belong there. I personally like the hard style bags that are on the RK and St Glides. I found a site online called BADAPPLE that make hard saddlebags that look awfully close to that type of bag but they look to be somewhat smaller and proportionally correct for the size of a Sporty,I think they were about 1 grand. for now I'll just keep using my SAG bag over my backrest
Broke,
It's no secret, you purchase what you like; what looks good to you.
Unless your doing a re-do, you get whatever's on the bike when you buy it.
If you don't like it, change it. If you're doing a re-do, the same applies.
Trib