Pretty much the silliest name I've ever heard given to a mc part. But then, they kind of talked funny back in the 40's.

Here's what I googled...

Originally, most bikes had a frame mounted 'center stand'. On most older HD models, there was a center stand clipped to the inside of the rear fender requiring the operator to lift the whole back end of the bike to swing it into place under the frame, the "jiffy stand" was a quick easy method of standing the bike up without getting a hernia...the term jiffy stand was coined to distinguish the center stand from the side or "kick" stand as it could be deployed in a 'jiffy'. My 1949 Harley WL has both stands, the center stand is only useful when changing the rear tire on the side of the road.

 

It's been a kickstand for as long as I can remember. Jiffy? I don't know where the hell they got that crap.

 

i put a jiffystand EXSTENTION on mine ....great MOD

 

it's a nostalgic phrase but i have always called it a kick stand.

 

Kick Stand! I think I've only heard the manufacturers call it a jiffy stand.

 

its called a kick stand !!!!!

 

First off, in all my 50+ years on this Earth I have NEVER, not once, EVER heard ANYBODY actually refer to the thing as a jiffy-stand, except in print, EVER!
Is this somehow a bigger deal where some of you live, or what?

 

I'd never heard of it before becoming a Harley owner but knowing a little about bikes of yore, I figured this was probably the origin.

Mark H.

 

sorry lad's, it's a "side stand"
grumpy.

 

It's always been called a Jiffy Stand by HD.
I call it a kickstand since that's how it's raised and lowered and that's how the rest of the manufacturers refer to their side stands vs center stands.