After having this conversation with several people yesterday 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
Various theories according to the net. It's normal to mount a horse from the left, there are more right handed people in the world etc.
My belief from what I've read before is it to do with the flooding of the market in the 60s from Japan. The japanese have always driven on the left and have always had the sidestand on the left.
The full reason? I don't know.
I think geoff has hit the nail on the head,cos we (and the nips) drive on the left,we tend to pull into the kerb on the left (unless of course you are a woman then it's generally the middle of the road) hence a left hand side stand.
my thinking for the stands 2 be on the lft on bikes is so that when lots of bikes are all parked 2gether they all lean the same way, this then keeps them all looking nice and neat when parked in the road along side each other, also they then dont bump into each other like they would if the stands were some on the left and some on the right
perhaps its on the left so its the same side as the gear selector, so as your putting the bike in neutral, the stand is there straight away to put down to dismount the bike.