[mvm1200]

so my buddies and I geared up for a day trail ride. First destination.... Bfast! head out to our local bikers bfast joint 30 miles up the road. Beautiful temp and cloud cover @ 9am. We get to the highway and my bud with the 2010 GSA takes off pops a standup wheelie ..... and dang, one of two things happened... he either just lost it or the darn swingarm broke! right in front of the three of us on a 4 lane highway! from behind it looked like he went a lttle left and then the rear end just dropped to the pavement. Fortunately we didn't run over him, nor did any other cars! The bike never flipped just went down on the side. busted up the crash bars and windshield stay bracket, top case & bracket .... and the swingarm was broke in half!! He is experienced. Fortunately didn't get busted up too bad, bruises and rash because he was geared up with protective clothing. Anyone ever see the swingarm break in half?? is this a weak point?? He is 6'5 240 and an empty top case, but not too heavy IMO. what a way to start the day!! we all finished the day ride, he just went home and got another bike! A little p'd off he wrecked the bike, which we thought might be totaled at the time.

 

[rsmith]

Saw one broken at Santa Fe. Older than water cooled model. They were a group from down in Mexico. Bike was really loaded heavily. The had been riding fire roads jumping water breaks. Think they found a replacement on internet, overnight to dealer, repaired it in a couple of days. Was in August I think.

 

[JetSpeed]

The Paralever swing arm is probably the weakest link in the GS's suspension and is a fairly common failure, as you can imagine the torsional forces applied to the aluminum paralever of a loaded GS can be substantial...add a wheelie and well...
I got over wheelying when I got sick of changing out steering head bearings in my CBR1100XX.
BMW beefed up the swing arm on the new LC bikes to handle the additional power and I have not heard of a failure.

 

[gezerbike]

A friend on a 2006 RT snapped his swingarm on a quick dip in the road where they had just installed a new culvert. BMW refused to cover it because they said his Wilbers shock must not have been adjusted properly, thus causing the break. Dealer gave him a break on labor, but it still ran him over a grand. Unlike your friend, he did not go down. There was a post over on ADVrider several years ago of a similar break.