Sorry, I know it's a dumb question, but I don't know much about the wide glide. Does it have a locking jiffy stand?

 

I leave my bike all the time while warming up. Sometimes on the backyard lawn, driveway or motel when traveling, no problems. However as of the last few weeks I noticed that the bike wil not rest on the stand fully and you need to shake it a bit till the stand slides into the locking position. The reason I noticed at this point is that the chrome stands top bar ( THE PART THAT FALLS INTO THE SLEEVE THAT PRVENTS THE JIFFY FROM MOVING WHEN THE WIEGHT OF THE BIKE IS ON IT) has worn a groove into the sleeve and this seems to prevent the bike from sliding onto the stand. At this point my fix to this is to extend the stand out, then as I rest the bike on the stand I need to lift the stand with my left foot to bypass the groove in the sleeve then the jiffy will seat fully in the sleeve. The bike is five years old so I'm not sure if this is common but watch fo it because this definately could cause the bike to fall over when not fully on the stand. The only other reason may be the spring but not sure, I need to take a closer look.

 

your bud is probably right he thought the stand was all the way down
I had mine fall sometime during the night on time it was standing when I closed the garage door and leaning against
a padded table the next morningonly problem the way it leaned I coudn't get along side the low side to lift it
so had to wait for help. one other time I parked got off wlked about 30 feet and was lighting a cig when it just
decided to fall over I now check my stand each and everytime I get off..

 

Same thing happend to me while standing next to the bike putting on my helmet. On a slope, running, it vibrated enough to move down slope about 6 inches then tipped over on the right side. I was next to it on the left side and never had a chance to save it. I cussed myself for months over that.

Leave your bud alone, he'll beat himself up enough on his own, and...he won't do it again. If he does, then he is fair game for being a dumb a**.

 

When you buy a Harley, it enters you into a higher state of being. One that mere harley-less mortals will never know.

That being said - It's funny as heck to read stories like this on the forums. Gives me the tips I need to prevent my own from doing it. I'm sure if I didn't just read this thread, I would fire it up on my inclined driveway, let it idle, not doublecheck the kick/jiffy and walk inside for something only to come back to my fallen bike.

Thanks for the heads up.

 

If the nut is loose on the locking bar, the jiffy stand will not hold. Check the nut. mine has come loose twice in 5 years.

 

Call me crazy, but the only time my Fatboy's engine is running is when I'm straddling it.

 

I agree with Hacksaw's explanation.

All the other ideas are possible and explanable if the jiffy stand is in bad condition, or not locked in position or pointed downhill, but here is why I think Hacksaw's answer fits best.

If you leave a bike pointed up a slope with a perfectly locked jiffy stand, in neutral, and on say a concrete driveway, with the wheel turned to the left to lean into the jiffy, running, warming up such that the idle gets rougher the longer you are away (carb'ed models for sure), and it will/can walk itself backwards IN AN ARC, until the jiffy raises itself in relation to the rest of the bike which swings lower in the arc. The result? The bike becomes more centered, and should the weight on the right become greater than on the left, it tips over on the right-hand side.

How do I know? I got all the above conditions, and I've come damn close to loosing it like that.
I did loose it in a similar manner while washing it. I left it in neutral, it got slippery under the jiffy and rolled down a tad. That time I cushioned it a bit, but it went over and hurt some parts - not to mention my abs for three days.

I'll park the bike in the drive with the engine off and in gear and NEVER leave it running again.
My street is sloped as well, so I either start it in the garage and drive it to the street (or push it to the street and start it) then back the rear wheel up against the curb block while going back to close the garage. That keeps it from walking.

 

That sounds like the time a guy comes in the avionics shop to ask if I would show him how to work a GPS in this T-tail lance(aircraft)he just bought.I say sure lets go look.We get outside and He points to the ship and I see its running.I just fiqure someone else is in it.
We get up to it and I see no one else inside.I say you left it running?He says the parking brake is on!I think to my self this idiot is a pilot!

 

Same thing happened to me about 3 weeks after I bought the bike. I was parking in a parking lot when a big pickup pulled in next to me and I thought it was too close. So with the jiffy stand down I moved it back a bit, turned and then pushed forward, I'm glad I get off on the high side because about 5 seconds after I got off down it went, sick feeling. But since it is an RK it landed on the engine and bag guards so no damage was done thank god or I would have kicked myself. I know what happened, when I moved forward a bit with the jiffy stand down it drug on the ground and went back just slightly and didn't lock in place when I set it back down on the jiffy stand. Now I always make sure it's pushed all the way forward when getting off. One good thing I learned that day besides making sure the jiffy is all the way forward was how to pick my bike back up. A guy and his son were going across the parking lot and saw it happen and he came over and showed how easy it was to get it back up since he saw me struggling with it. He turned the handlebars all the way to the right or the oppisite way of the direction the bike fell and pushed with his side and up it came with no help from me, I was impressed. I almost wanted to try it myself but decided that I could wait to try that out.