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[dvdt]

In the category of long term wear items, the kickstand spring of my 2014S failed. Something to bear in mind if your bike is getting upwards of 86k miles! Out of curiosity, anyone else have this item fail, and for other folks with high mileage Zeros, any unusual components that have suffered wear out failure?

[ESokoloff]

Im not sure what constitutes  “unusual”  components so here’s a list of replaced components.
Rear sprocket/sheave, onboard charger & charge socket, as well as battery changed under warranty.
Swing arm bearings got notchy @ 48k so I replaced them after packing them with AeroShell Grease 14.
Had to replace the headlight but that was due to the cheep ADV Monster H4 led (I think they went out of biz) letting the smoke out of the wire & impacting the reflective coating (upgraded to JW Speaker adaptive headlight).
I had to replace lots of charge cords until I came up with a better socket/plug solution (screw terminals).
Countless brake pads & tires as well as a rear rotor & several belts.
Front/motor sheave replaced after I rode through a mud flow during a rather wet storm (it was dark & I didn’t realize the situation until I was already committed).
2016 DSR that I purchased used in 2017 with 2.8k miles.
Now a few miles short of 96k.

Where did the spring break, midspan or at a return bend?

[TheRan]

Did the spring actually wear out, as in it was worn through from sliding at the ends? If it snapped anywhere else I'd say it's more likely that it was due to corrosion, springs don't usually tend to "wear out" and break when used within their designed parameters.

[dvdt]

I didn't take notice of this prior to the kickstand failing to remain in the stowed state. My guess is that this was a fatigue failure, as a rough estimate based on my commute there would be about 10k cycles. I agree that an appropriately designed steel component can have an arbitrarily high fatigue limit. All I can say is this most definitely failed! I am in a mild climate (SF bay area), with the bike garaged over night, and I avoid riding when the road is wet, so I don't anticipate corrosion (and no corrosion is immediately visible). No unusual stresses applied over the life I'm aware of. I'll see if I can't take a magnified image of the point of failure when the replacement is available, though that might be week after next owing to other priorities.

[DonTom]

I am in a mild climate (SF bay area), with the bike garaged over night,

I once had two Yamaha Ventures of near the same year, (1983/1984)  one kept in SSF and the other here in Reno. The one in SSF rusted apart in no time, the one here in the desert always looked like new and I am still riding that one. The one left in SSF I had to junk.


And yeah, it was in a garage in SSF.  Still too much salty air from the ocean.


-Don-  Reno, NV

[ESokoloff]

Looks  like your inner spring is also broken.
I just checked my small spring & it’s also broken in the same spot.

Anyone know why is there an inner spring?
I’m wondering if it’s only job is to arrest the big spring when it breaks??
(Sorta like the inner safety wires on an old school garage door spring).

[TheRan]

It's supposed to be able to just barely hold the kickstand up should the main spring break, I'm surprised it broke too unless that happened during removal. It almost makes me think perhaps they got damaged during fitment, either in the factory or maintenance over those 80k miles, like a pair of pliers were used and nicked it making a weak point.

[ESokoloff]

Redundancy makes sense.
Unfortunately in my case & presumably the OP’s case the small spring failed before the heavy one.
Something for all operators of duel spring’ed kickstand bikes to be aware of (monitor).

For main spring dismount/mounting, here’s the “Penny” trick explained…..

@jerrywithag23