I just got done with the Arlen ness 3 inch extension kit and wow must say very nice kit. I found the parts the kit came with to be high quality. Part of the kit was moving the kickstand and Theres only 3 bolts holding the hole bike up?? I know the kit has nothing to do with this even stock theres only 3 bolts...but i found this shocking that only 3 small bolts hold up a 15,000 dollar softail lol funny........

 

I only got 2 bolt on my rear stand... lol You can feel comfy with 3...

 

There's really not much stress or weight pushing on your stand, think of the amoutn of effort it takes to pick your bike up to center when it's on the stand, not much really. 3 grade 8's are more than sufficient.

 

Thats right

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but that's one cool ride Shovelhead.

The kickstands are stronger than they appear. Once I was lowering the jack and the bike started falling to the right. Since I was on that side I pushed it to the left side. I tried to slow it down, but in essence, the kickstand absorbed the bike's weight plus its momentum as it "fell." Not something I'd recommend, but I had always wondered about the strength of the stand before.

 

Thanks Bud.

 

If it breaks just do like when we were kids, put it on the handlebars and seat... Works the same...

 

Harley's don't have kickstands. Imports have kickstands and sidestands.

 

Ha ha... You are correct. "Jiffy Stand" is the correct term for a Harley. I wondered why so I looked it up. Here's what wiki answers said:

==---------------------------
harley davidson has always called it a jiffy stand, at least as long or longer than it has been called a kickstand. H.D. has been around a very long time and had they been more popular in the early years everyone would be calling it a jiffy.

Originally, most bikes had a frame mounted 'center stand'. On most older HD models, there was a center stand clipped to the inside of the rear fender requiring the operator to lift the whole back end of the bike to swing it into place under the frame, the "jiffy stand" was a quick easy method of standing the bike up without getting a hernia...the term jiffy stand was coined to distinguish the center stand from the side or "kick" stand as it could be deployed in a 'jiffy'. My 1949 Harley WL has both stands, the center stand is only useful when changing the rear tire on the side of the road.
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So, it's a historic name that sounds a little wimpy today. I would suppose if Harley was naming it today it would be something "badder."

 

LOL holy sht dude i haven't thought of that in years...we used to do that or ride real fast, skid into a J-turn, and then just dump the bike on the ground.

Oh, being a kid again