990 - is the side stand strong?

The side stand looks to be made of alloy - is it?

Went for my annual test the other day and the garage didn't want to tilt my bike on the side stand (as they normally do to lift the wheels off the ground) as they thought it looked like a lightweight alloy stand and thus might break.

Which got me thinking about using Ferries...
I'd like to take my SD to the Pyrenees but I suspect the Ferry staff will wrap a large strap over the seat and then ratchet it down on it's side stand, might this break the stand?

Seems strong enough.

I rotate my bike in the garage on the kickstand all the time.

Ditto and mine have been ratcheted down in the back of breakdown trucks so many times................

Yep i'm guilty of spinning the bike 180 on the side stand aswell and it's probably been done dozens of times with the stand showing no signs of giving up yet.

I concur with the above. My Yamaha on the other hand doesn't like it and it lets me know with a wobbly side stand.

Cant ever recall on here of one breaking, I used to tilt mine all the time on it, so imagine it wont be a problem.