I beg to differ with the MOCO position that "This is a cosmetic concern and not an indication of an internal issue". The rust (iron oxide) we are seeing at one time was the steel our swingarm is made of. This is one component of our motorcycle, I certainly don't want to see slowly being converted to rust. This is a lot of rust for a low milage / new design. Long term?, who knows. Do they need to wait for someones catastrophic failure to correct this properly?
Tom P.
Based on the historical evidence, I would say the answer to that rhetorical question is a definite YES. Until they've been sued repeatedly and it starts costing them some major coin, there doesn't seem to be too much about safety that concerns my good buddies at the MoCo. It only took them 30 years to work up a partial fix for the handling/wobble issues on the Touring frames, for instance. Engines locking up due to junk crankshafts didn't worry them, front tires severely cupping in 5000 miles doesn't seem to be worrying them, etc.
BTW, if a little surface rust really bothers any of you guys all that much, I would recommend that you never crawl under your car or truck and look around very closely. Especially the folks living in the snow and salt belt. You may have a heart attack. Oh, and don't look inside any of the frame tubes on your Harley either.
IMHO, I would seal all the openings in the swingarm (after thoroughly blowing all the crud and moisture out) except the drain hole. Then I would ride and ignore the little bit of surface blush rust that's going to be in there no matter what you do, at the same time that I'm ignoring the same kind of rust in the frame tubes. When the frame or swingarm starts to sag, that's Harley's way of telling you it's time to buy a new bike. Another alternative would be to buy one of the many alternative brands that have aluminum swingarms.
Jerry