I come from metrics where I never used it. But seeing as Harley spells it out in their manual I do use it with my SGS. Couldn't tell you if its really necessary.

 

Never have never will.

 

I don't use it. Never have except in rare circumstances, and probably never will.

 

Kill switch, ignition, then wait for the double chirp before walking away.

 

I use it if I'm on a hill that requires me to hold the front brake while turning off the ignition. Otherwise, never touch it.

 

Yep - I use it every time. Kill and then the ignition.

 

We have a guy in our group that's been nicknamed "Killswitch" from the day we tried for 1/2 an hour to help him start his bike with the killswitch off. Yes, we were all riding metrics.....

 

We have a guy in our group with the same nickname, for the same reason! He actually had the dealer come pick up his bike and trailer it in. Imagine his embarrassment when the dealer called him and said... "Sir, you're kill switch was off." He still turns red in the face when we bring it up... 4 years later! Lol

 

I've never used a kill switch to stop a motorcycle engine. The kill switch seems like a weird holdover from another age or another type of motorcycle use, like, say, racing. If a bike tipped over while running, the rider could kill the engine quickly with the kill switch and perhaps save a leg from a spinning wheel and chain. This eventuality seems very unlikely in a modern tourer like my Ultra Classic.

I got pranked once on a Goldwing by a riding friend who thought it was funny watching me crank the bike fruitlessly after he flipped my kill switch. On my 2000 Kawasaki Voyager, the kill switch was very easy to hit while riding, and I did this very embarrassingly several times during the 55k miles I owned that excellent bike.

In the past, on other bikes, I have gone into the switch gear and disabled the kill switch completely, making it a dummy switch with no function. I suspect the reason HD recommends hitting the kill switch first is because the kill switch is activated by thumb with hands on bars. They'd rather we not take our hands off the bars to do much of anything while the motor is running. This may be good advice for a novice or weekend-only rider.

 

Kill switch, usually, when I remember...