After starting this conversation in 2009, and having spoken over the years with a fair few people and not managing to find any sensible answer, i Asked Jeeves .................. my reply was .............Why not !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (genuine reply), asked Wika as well got same reply lol

Anybody want to enlighten me?

well, in this country you ride on the left & therefore are supposed to park on the left (on a street) so with the sidestand on the left the bike is leaning away from the traffic. However, how that figures for other countries I don't know. Maybe it's just a hangover from the days when most countries drove on the left??   Also most people get on the bike from the left hand side (same side that you get on horses from) so maybe it stems from that??                                                                                                                                                                               

I recon Stella has hit the nail on the head with the horse theory.                                                                                                                                                                              

Being a leftie  - in both hand and foot - in a right handed world, having the side stand on the left was such a bonus for me but  I've no idea why it is positioned so....just glad it is!!!

 Though as what HFG says sounds sensible and practical.....I'll go with that!                                                                                                                                                                              

Although Honda once produced a bike with side stands on both sides , makes sense in a strange way     Its gettin hot in here, oh yeah i got my anorak on                                                                                                                                                                               

As Stella said it makes sense here but aboad not so .....

Horses and swords have been thrown in the mix ...
                                                                                                                                                                             

when folk went around on horse back we didnt have a side of the road as such so it would not be an issue
                                                                                                                                                                             

When sword fighting in the old days from a horse.   Most people in the world are right handed so would use the sword in the right hand, when they get off the horse they still have the sword in that right hand and use the left hand to hold on to the horse and get off on the left side.   They can still be fighting with the right hand and be protected by the horse between them.   World wide fact.   No you can't sword fight from a bike and no horses were hurt in this statement about fighting.   You lot dont watch much TV then, oops ! no i was decorating honest.                                                                                                                                                                               

How about the long stick thing from bikes then Al ?
                                                                                                                                                                             

What an absolutely cracking question!! Something that has muddled its way round my head a few times but never actually made it out of my mouth... 

Along with why are they so positioned that your foot can't find it sometimes and you end up looking like an arthritic dog trying to scratch it's head... 

Oh and love the replies!!                                                                                                                                                                             

Side stands are easy to find IF your looking in the right place to start with lol                                                                                                                                                                             

Still on the horse/sword theme. if your right handed your sword scabbard will be on your left side and therefore less likely to get entangled  with if you mount the horse from the left hand side.
On an aside, ALOT of cavalry horses ended up minus their left ears. A right handed cavalry man could slash effectively to his right but attempting to slash to his left would often result in him amputating his own horses left ear!                                                                                                                                                                             

I don't look!! I just think my foot should know where it is... Do you look JP lol.. learning from the greats ;)

And I'm glad I'm not a horse!!                                                                                                                                                                             

Yeah, the whole sword thing makes perfect sense - and later on it may even have become true.  But wayyyy back in ye old days warriors were trained to mount horses from either side in case the circumstances during battle obliged the rider to dismount / remount from a more advantageous side.

Knights had to be winched into the saddle of those strapping war horses - you just couldn't do it in full armour that easily. Too damn heavy. Too damned tall.

And those huge swords that knights use to lug into battle were massive - the last thing you wanted swinging about as you rode was a big hunk of steel.  So they tended to be strapped to the saddle for pulling after dismounting.  A lance was use for wading into battle.

True about the swords SS, but not true about the armour.
The modern infantry lugs around with twice the weight of armour.
A knight who couldn't remount in battle lost his primary advantage so wouldn't have accepted the notion of calling for his winch crew during battle.

I'm guessing that the follow on from horses probably gives the best explanation for the side stand though.
Or maybe cos most people are right handed, they'd be right footed too so easier to stand on your left foot and do the intricate work with the right?

Good question though                                                                                                                                                                               

Another thought aswell re sidestand on the left. (Apart from getting onto a horse from the left) But in the (good?) old days of kickstarts, the kickstart was on the right, so it would make sense for the sidestand to be on the left....just in case the bike fell over whilst kicking it into life...maybe?  it would also mean that you could 'jump' on the kickstart without also having to hold the bike up with your left leg?

You wouldnt or shoudnt have the side stand down when using a kick start it will over stress the stand and may even snap off. RCL As for looking for the stand when I say that I meen the side stand on the harley is just under the center of the primary case and you catch the edge with the inside front of your boot under your big toe. Kawasaki is just behind the footrest catch it with inside heal of my boot.                                                                                                                                                                               

hmmm i must admit this has never even occured to me, dunno why and now i am interested to wonder if and waht the reason may be.... all very interesting about the horses and mounting from left i guess the other thing is that my exhaust is on the right and so this would get in way of getting my foot on side stand, but who knows if the exhaust had been on teh left!!   I dunno i just ride... bt now im intrigued lol maybe whoever first made a bike just liked it that way!!!                                                                                                                                                                              

ok ok so thats explained the sidestand.... what i wanna know is why is the centre stand always in the centre!!                                                                                                                                                                             

mmmm on spanish bikes the kickstarts on the left and the side stands on the right , perhaps the exception that proves the rule