I thought this response regarding the Gen2 side stand which folded up was worth forwarding. It's by Cheap Bass Turd on the KLRforum group. He begins in reference to shortening a side stand in reference to another question:
*I remember when you did that, Alp.*
I followed suit to give my scooter more lean when parked. It sat too vertical.
I took a large crescent to the mount welded to the bike after removing the kickstand.
There's the lip behind the weld that I bent our a few degrees and it's been fine since.
As a metullugical lab tech for 12 years (iron and steel foundry).....yes you got a factory booger.
The base metal is considered mild steel and quench tempered. Yours missed out on the
heat treat or hadda slag bit in there causing a weak spot just waiting to be overstressed.
Kaw ought to replace it knowing those NEVER come back to them. It's a very strong
unit and should literally never fail even if you sit on the bike on the stand every day
and read the newspaper. (do they make newspapers anymore?) Any element can be burned out before pouring unless it's heavier than iron. Manganese, Sulfur, lead, and
tin don't burn off. If they are in the mix, they are in our parts. Carbon changes the
strength and microstructure about 4 time s during cooling. The quench freezes it in stage 2, the strongest interlocking of the molecules and free atoms bound up tight
and crazy strong. Sucks this piece slipped thru the system, but not surprising that
some little dude in Thailand didn't give a shit about his job that day.
To be fair, the quality control is top notch even tho Kaw uses Cheap labor.
American companies in China give bonuses and free lunches, little stuff to
help the low dollar employees be glad they have been given a job they like
by their governments. Black n' Decker, Harley, to name a couple that come
to mind. Many more do it and we get nearly American quality except some
critical widget made of plastic that used to be metal crapping out. (drive gears
for drills, impellers on sump pumps, etc. That's not the assembly line guys' fault.
Be polite, but demand that you get the motorcycle you paid for, not a 98% good unit.
CheapAndTactful