I had the heel shifter fall off on my 09 and the pinch bolt was still in it. I too got lucky and shifter arm wedged between the floorboard and the primary cover so I didn't loose anything.

 

Preventive Maintenance helps.

 

I am a believer in PM, however I don't see how oil and fluid changes, air pressure checks, etc., would have caught a loose bolt on the shifter. My maintenance schedule does not list the shifter as a check point.

I'm constantly pushing the buttons on the radio. Should I take the fairing off to make sure the radio doesn't fall out of it's mounting brackets?

 

yEA, and a little elbow grease with a little Mothers polish

 

It's so easy to be an arm chair quarterback. "You should have checked that before that happened" is not helpful. Since starting this thread, I'd bet more people will now check the shift lever bolts.

And then there are those who post such brilliant insight like "that can't happen" which is usually followed by a number of people say "but it happened to me too". The bolt on my remaining lever was tight and it could still slide. I've replaced mine with the Softbrake +0.5 lever and added the chrome spacer with the spring. It's the perfect setup for me.

Helpful tip - before you ride, take 10 seconds to make sure your shift levers are not moving on the spline.

 

Brilliant insight? I went out to my bike just now and checked it, it is impossible to remove the shift arm without taking the bolt completely out of the shift arm. Impossible. It is also impossible to have the shifter installed properly in the picture you posted. The bolt must align with the undercut in the splined shift shaft.
I have a customers 13 Glide here, I went to his and tried and what do you know, the same thing, it cannot come off, the bolt has interference with the non grooved splines.
So its not brilliant insight, its brilliant fact. Why do you think the groove is there for? Why do you think the screws and shift levers align perfectly with the groove when installed properly
Maybe a few have defective shift levers but all the late model tourers that I have worked on, will not come off unless the bolt is completely removed

Now clean that bike. The cleanliness shows that there is no pm done. Yes checking the shift lever is part of a pre ride proper pm plan

 

Preventative maintenance is more than "oil and fluid changes, air pressure checks". It is in the "etc."

And yes, if you do not check your radio mounts, that means you are not checking your fairing mounts.

It's your bike, check what you like. I am constantly checking stuff on my bike.

 

No,it's not. Because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it didn't happen to me. But I'm trying to change your mind. The inner shifter came off without taking the bolt all the way out.

They recall bikes because issues happen to some percentage of them. Bt this logic, I could say 'impossible' to those that had clutch issues because it didn't happen to my bike.

It's my daily driver and here in western PA we have 'weather'. I do PM on it weekly (tire pressure, air shocks, etc). But I really do need to give it a good cleaning & polish.

 

Heck doesn't everybody know to check the bolts on the shifters and the inner shift arm during a service. AND check the bolt on the tranny shift shaft lever to. It's not a Toyota.

 

We have a clash of cultures here. Perhaps parts falling off regularly was a way of life for long time H-D owners. That type of "personality" is not what I'm looking for in a scoot. My bimmer was fabulous in that regard. It is one of the reasons I didn't buy a H-D earlier. I don't want to spend as much time tightening as I do riding. In that regard, the new H-D has been a pleasure.

And for those of you who don't believe the shift lever will fall off with the bolt in place, I'll be happy to wager a cool one that it will on my ride.