which way to tilt front wheel on side stand

[Tfrank59]

okay this is kind of a dumb one, but which way do you tilt your front wheel when your bike is on the side stand? A lot of guys say they're going to use the steering lock so they tilt it to the left, which they say is more natural. I don't use the steering lock in most cases and if I'm going to gas my bike I have to tilt it to the right, so that's the way I set my front wheel when it's parked. I guess it's no big deal but some people say tilting the steering to the right makes the bike heavier on the side stand - is that true? I actually think it makes the bike sit more upright when the steering is to the right (which if so means it's less lean weight), and on the side stand my bike has a little too much lean to it in my opinion, which is another reason I turn it towards the right.  I'll also admit that after over 40 years of riding it's force of habit for me to turn the front wheel to the right.

[mike72903]

It feels to me like the bike is easier to get vertical when mounting if the wheel is to the right.

[John Schmidt]

Curious, why do you have to turn your wheel to the right to gas up? I never have to, in fact mine is often pointing straight ahead but turning to the right is never needed to pump gas. In fact, I usually straddle the bike and set it upright when I fill up, gives a more accurate refill.

As for parking, never pay much attention to it, just stand up and flip the backrest forward and swing my leg over. It usually goes to the left but not really an issue.

[Tfrank59]

John, my kuriakyn drink holder on the left handlebar and might have something to do with it   

[Gryphon Rider]

I like to lock the steering if away from the bike, and almost always to the left.

To the left puts more weight on the side stand; right, less, and the bike more vertical. I suppose I would turn the bars right if the ground sloped down to the left.

[BF]

I park mine with the wheel straight. 

[Firefighter]

When I park away from home during the day I pay no attention to direction, but mine naturally flops to the left. When I park for the night I usually use my center stand so the wheel is straight ahead. When I gas up I am astraddle so as to fill completely, so straight ahead.

An interesting thing happened the other day, I was airing up tires on my wifes Honda Spirit (750), and the wheel was to the right and the bike was standing up straight. While I was pushing the air chuck hard against the valve stem, that force was enough to cause the bike to fall over to the right and onto my Valkyrie! (I have lowered the Spirit for seat height reasons) I was horrified, but no damage was done. So I need to keep the Spirit wheel to the left.

Some have had trouble with a tire going flat and the bike standing too straight and falling, especially if they had already modified the sidestand to cause the bike not to lean as far.  Firefighter

[Chrisj CMA]

I park mine with the wheel straight. 

+1 unless I feel like locking it

[bikerboy1951]

At the local airport a guy parked his bike with the wheel turned to the right.  It was very windy and it blew over.  Try it yourself and see how easy it is to bring the bike upright with the wheel turned to the right.

[John Schmidt]

John, my kuriakyn drink holder on the left handlebar and might have something to do with it   

I have a drink holder on the left also, you can see the top of it in the picture....the small silver loop extending above the tank is part of it. Never an issue since I always pull slightly ahead of the hose so it comes in behind the handlebars.

[Valk_Ridin_Soldier]

That's a gorgeous bike, there, fella. 

[falconbrother]

Always to the left.  It flops that way naturally and has a better lean.  Too little lean leads to bikes falling over into other bikes -n- such.  Seen it done. 

[Mallett]

Curious, why do you have to turn your wheel to the right to gas up? I never have to, in fact mine is often pointing straight ahead but turning to the right is never needed to pump gas. In fact, I usually straddle the bike and set it upright when I fill up, gives a more accurate refill.

As for parking, never pay much attention to it, just stand up and flip the backrest forward and swing my leg over. It usually goes to the left but not really an issue.

John if I were you I would rethink straddling the bike while filling up...I watched a guy do that one time & the gas ran over....reminded me of the song Great Balls A fire....js...LOL

BTW, I turn my wheel to the left when I park my bike...

[Tfrank59]

Hey thanks for all the replies. I wasn't sure if I'd even get one . By the way, when I gas up my bike(s) I always pull up with the pumps on my left, get off the bike, put it on the side stand so it's leaning towards the pumps, and then I gas up.  Anyways I have to get off the bike to pay or whatever, and I have made an oops before and spilled some gas but at least it didn't go on me, which it possibly would if I was sitting on the bike. I think I tried gassing up with the wheel looking straight ahead and it flopped to the left on me once or twice so now I always turn it to the right.

[John Schmidt]

Curious, why do you have to turn your wheel to the right to gas up? I never have to, in fact mine is often pointing straight ahead but turning to the right is never needed to pump gas. In fact, I usually straddle the bike and set it upright when I fill up, gives a more accurate refill.

As for parking, never pay much attention to it, just stand up and flip the backrest forward and swing my leg over. It usually goes to the left but not really an issue.

John if I were you I would rethink straddling the bike while filling up...I watched a guy do that one time & the gas ran over....reminded me of the song Great Balls A fire....js...LOL

BTW, I turn my wheel to the left when I park my bike...

Yes, I've heard of that happening, usually when the rider isn't paying attention. Plus, I stand, don't sit while refueling. I watch the gas level closely and keep it 2-3" below the opening, have never had it run over on any bike.

[Jess from VA]

Ditto filling while on the bike, centered up and feet down. Always with a center fill bike.

Now if you have a right side fill, then put it on the stand.

If you can't pay attention, never fill over half full and you'll be safe.  I've had drips on the tank, but so has everybody who gets off the bike.

The real issue is pump feed speed.  If you can the feed down to slow at the end great, but if it's full blast or nothing, trying for a good top up is stupid, on or off the bike.

I once had a lady watch me and say she wished she could fill her car from the driver's seat.  I told her there once was a time a guy making $1.25 an hour did all the work, but those days are gone. 

[Tfrank59]

I remember those days when you didn't pump your own gas (it was actually my job for about a year as a kid) and it's still like that in the state of Oregon. but I actually prefer to pump my own gas at least in my own motorcycle 

[BF]

Ditto filling while on the bike, centered up and feet down. Always with a center fill bike.

Now if you have a right side fill, then put it on the stand.

If you can't pay attention, never fill over half full and you'll be safe.  I've had drips on the tank, but so has everybody who gets off the bike.

The real issue is pump feed speed.  If you can the feed down to slow at the end great, but if it's full blast or nothing, trying for a good top up is stupid, on or off the bike.

I once had a lady watch me and say she wished she could fill her car from the driver's seat.  I told her there once was a time a guy making $1.25 an hour did all the work, but those days are gone. 

I did that for $1.65 and hour.   

[Jess from VA]

Ditto filling while on the bike, centered up and feet down. Always with a center fill bike.

Now if you have a right side fill, then put it on the stand.

If you can't pay attention, never fill over half full and you'll be safe.  I've had drips on the tank, but so has everybody who gets off the bike.

The real issue is pump feed speed.  If you can the feed down to slow at the end great, but if it's full blast or nothing, trying for a good top up is stupid, on or off the bike.

I once had a lady watch me and say she wished she could fill her car from the driver's seat.  I told her there once was a time a guy making $1.25 an hour did all the work, but those days are gone.

I did that for $1.65 an hour.  

Bob Arthur's Mobil Station in Trenton MI.  My first job with W4 withholding (15).

With a mandatory uniform charge against pay (monogramed) (which was sort of expensive and we all suspected Bob got a kickback from the laundry).  And withholding any shortages in your cash drawer on a big old cash register, whether it was a just a mistake with the machine (and not with the money) or not.  

And super service; during peak hours we ran two pump jockies, and if there weren't two (or more) cars at the pumps, both guys worked each car (with an appropriate vigor and good cheer, and using words like sir and ma'am), and that was cleaning all windows, mirrors, headlights, looking at the tires, and we were told to pop every hood without asking to check fluids, for which he gave us a nickel a quart on oil.  

There was no standing around by anyone if there was a car in the drive (and if there wasn't you kept the toilets and office spotless and stocked, or mopped the shop bays, emptied the trash, did what the mechanics told you, and sometimes we washed cars and a fleet of service trucks) (and like in old military movies, we regularly painted rows of big rocks white).  It was not a good thing for Bob to see you standing still, he liked to see movement.  If he caught you not moving often enough, he fired you and picked the next guy out of a big stack of applications to work for $1.25 an hour.  This was my introduction to business, supply and demand, workplace politics, and dealing with the public and bosses (besides my parents).    

Not surprisingly, the owners of a large number of the new (and recent) 1968 hot rods, and dads in their Lincolns and Cadillacs and Imperials, and all kinds of people were rightfully indignant and put off at a 15yo popping their hood without asking.  Some of the local hoods (and even some of the dads) offered to get out of their cars and kick our asses if we tried opening the hood again.  I'm pretty sure the origin of my left ear hearing loss is from them leaning on the horn right when I put my head down 10 inches from the grill to pop the hood without asking.  After a while we only popped the hoods without asking when old Bob was watching.  When we asked, only about half of them wanted us to, and we were pretty sure Bob already had this figured out.  Old Bob was a piece of work (and not beloved of his toiling workers).

$1.25 X 40hrs = $50 a week before deductions, and more money than I had ever seen.  This lead to the age old paradox facing all teenage boys of the day:  you absolutely needed a car to get to work (and were dying for one of your own anyway) (I hitchhiked to work and home until my 16th birthday when I got my old Volkswagen), and you sure as hell had to keep that job to afford (and continually repair) the old car.  And sometimes the hitchhiking was more reliable than the car.

Then there was getting a girl to go with you to the drive-in in your Volkswagen (and getting through parental inspection, again with words like sir and ma'am), and having the 440Volt heater explode into flames in the backseat just as you leaned over the emergency brake for a kiss, and wondering if that was some kind of sign.  But that is another story.

Keep kicking Bruce.  

Sitting on a relatively flat surface pavement, the bike is going to be more stable with the front wheel flopped left into the lean.  If the bike gets bumped (and moves), from the front or the rear, it is more likely not to fall than if the wheel is flopped right (though pushing it backward can fold the stand regardless).  The accuracy of this statement can easily be tested with your bike and any car in a parking lot.

[Tfrank59]

Sitting on a relatively flat surface pavement, the bike is going to be more stable with the front wheel flopped left into the lean.  

This is true – because when pointed to the right the bike is lighter on the side stand it does move easier (probably moves easiest when pointed straight ahead though). The issue with my bike of course is that I feel like it leans too far on the side stand (more than 20°!) and is therefore placing greater weight on the side stand when steering is pointed left.  I'm trying to lessen that weight I guess, and again it's also just force of habit as I said.

[Ramie]

Ditto filling while on the bike, centered up and feet down. Always with a center fill bike.

Now if you have a right side fill, then put it on the stand.

If you can't pay attention, never fill over half full and you'll be safe.  I've had drips on the tank, but so has everybody who gets off the bike.

The real issue is pump feed speed.  If you can the feed down to slow at the end great, but if it's full blast or nothing, trying for a good top up is stupid, on or off the bike.

I once had a lady watch me and say she wished she could fill her car from the driver's seat.  I told her there once was a time a guy making $1.25 an hour did all the work, but those days are gone. 

I did that for $1.65 and hour.   

I did it for free at my dad's service station.

[WintrSol]

I did that for $1.65 and hour.   

My pay was $0.65, but then, gas was between $0.17 and $0.28.

[Tfrank59]

I've been hijacked

[0leman]

I remember those days when you didn't pump your own gas (it was actually my job for about a year as a kid) and it's still like that in the state of Oregon. but I actually prefer to pump my own gas at least in my own motorcycle 

Oregon lets Motorcycle riders fill their own tanks.  The gas folks will start the pump and let the rider work the handle.   I normally go right side pump if possible and as close as possible so can put handle back in slot.   AND I do straddle  my Valk.  So far have not had a spill over.   

As far as parking the bike, I tend to turn the bars so the wheel points right, as the 65 series CT tends to cause my Valk to lean a bit more on the foot peg.