jesus christ. and yet people argued with me a couple weeks ago about understanding basic mechanics before owning a bike...

as far as everyone's 'stories' about the bike sliding on a hill, your driving test at 16 years old teaches you to park a manual transmission vehicle in gear. a bike is no different, except that most have no reverse.


so put it in first, put the jiffy down, lean the bike over, turn the bars, and walk away.

 

I hate the side stand, 3 times its folded up on me dropping the bike to the deck. I've been lucky so far, each time the bike has come to rest against a wooden bench or I've managed to control the drop until its engine bar is resting on the rubber floor of the garage. Each time no damage thank God, Now I always push the stand out fully, keep my foot on it until the weight is fully on it. I then snick it into first, giving it a rock to make sure its engaged, I've checked the locking system but the bike seems to move quite a bit forward before it locks. I just dont trust it, it seems to be much weeker than the one on my last bike, a Fat Boy.

 

On a level floor, my machine also rolls forward slightly until the tang locks. This discussion has inspired me to look closely at the tang to see if turning it over might re-index the stand to a more forward position in the down and locked position.

 

I put it in 1st gear, shut it down, then put it on the jiffy stand. I use a dime to ease my worries if I am parked on a steep hill. Just pull the front brake and put a dime between the lever and the bar. I parked once in the mountains in a steep uphill space and my old ultra (worn out & low compression) seemed to slip a little. Don't have that problem with this Ultra. I picked up this 08 with only 14K miles late this summer and only have 20K on it now.

 

Hi .notice someting like that on my 08. After putting floorboard ext.probleme was not kickstand.was me not pushing it far enouf. Fix was.. Kick stand ext...30.00 h.d. Shop. Mrfuji

 

Damn that's a good idea. I'm gonna have to remember that one!
Thanks!

 

34 years riding and I've never heard that one. But...with my luck (if my bike had weak compression and a metric jiffy stand), someone would want to steal the dime and the bike would roll off.
Again: HD sidestand, jiffy stand, or KICKSTAND, as it's properly called by those on the street, does NOT let your bike "roll" forward more than a couple inches at best, facing downhill. If it's that steep, yeah, put it in gear. I do on driveways a lot, and with the stand UP, you can't PUSH the bike down the hill without clutching.
Y'all worry about nothing. If your compression is so low it moves, you need to be eating P&J's for a while.

 

Quad, You are right. I did do P&J for a short time then I upgraded. During that time I never rode 2 up and just couldn't put out the cash for a rebuild or a newer bike. I didn't really notice the loss of power (compression) because it lost power as it aged. That old ultra got me by. The time I thought it was moving I had parked on a really steep grade. The dime trick just made me feel better. But since then I have gotten things straightened out and upgraded. I love the new to me 08.

 

blackflame, did ya get her figured out yet?

 

No offense intended either. I'm lowbucks too, & live by the old adage "oils is cheeper dan partz" - glad you got her tightened up. How many miles did she have on her then?