Because when its on the stand, its easier to slide the jack under the bike on the right hand side. And when you're lowering the bike you have the stand already down so it "lands" and leans onto the stand.
Always lower the bike SLOWLY.

 

I would know why you would bother? If it tips over from the stand when tied to the stand (jack) then it will tip the jack too (ok, it is wider so less likely...), but I find it quite stable on the jack anyway...

 

IMHO,, straps are to prevent an initial shift of the MC's weight which would result in it beginning to topple off the Jack. Ergo, the MC should be centered / balanced on the stand in a way that, for all intents and purposes, would require no tie downs to sustain it. The MC's COG will change if you, for instance, remove a tire or forks. Thats when the straps would typically come into play. With this idea in mind, there is no reason to have multiple straps, all bar tight, holding your MC to the Jack under normal conditions. The straps are to "hold" the MC in place so numbers of them and tightness need only be sufficient.

At the risk of seeming patronizing,,, be careful,, "use common sense",, when attaching tie downs. Attach them at the Jack ONLY to points which move up and down with the MC. If the straps are run between fixed points, like the Jack base at the floor, and moving points on the MC, your straps will tighten or loosen as the MC moves up or down. Resulting damage could be severe and dangerous.

 

It's not just "less likely", I would say when my bike's lifted and strapped, on a flat surface it WILL NOT tip over unless something extreme happens.

In order for it to tip over the stand would need to be lifted.
That's a lot of weight that would need to be lifted.

When siting on the my Sears yellow jack the surface contact of the frame that sits on the jack is about 10" X 17".

When the bike is strapped to the jack the bike and jack become one.
This results in a surface contact of 17" X 32" which is the footprint of the jack.

Obviously a footprint of 17" X 32" results is a more stable footprint than a 10" X 17" footprint.

That being said, I don't strap my bike to the jack.
I always put the bike onto my Redline dolly and strap it to the dolly.

My dolly has a footprint of 24" X 20" so in this case the bike's not going to just tip over.

The picture below is my Heritage strapped down to my Redline dolly with my 225 .lbs Son sitting on it.
He can rock back and forth and side to side and that bike is not going over.

When it's strapped to the jack it's certainly not as stable as it is on the dolly but I still think it would be very difficult to tip it over given the 17" X 32" footprint of the jack.

So back to the OP's question; Just strap the bike down to the jack from a solid point on the bike such as the foot boards and then you don't need to worry about it.

 

One of the chief reasons to tie down on a jack is for wheel or engine removal. Removing parts changes the balance of the load and can cause the bike to tip forward or back off the jack.

 

I agree when removing major parts it probably a good idea as the balance changes significantly.

RJ

 

I don't strap, usually put a generic car stand under each side of the engine guard and let it down slightly so the weight is "locking" the car stand and it is wedged from shifting. Don't let it down too far, again just to tighten it in place. I agree, the straps going to the motorcycle jack (not lift) and are likely to tilt the jack and didn't see the point of straps.