Another kind of ST (Super Touring)

Some of the features of the AK 550:
>Noodoe BT connection to cell phone. Enables custom screens to show in the center round display on the dash. It also include navigation built in with the cell phone app. That center screen also can show alerts from text and phone calls but ONLY when stopped and not moving. I think there is also a locator feature that shows where I parked the bike in a large parking lot like at Walmart using the Noodoe app. That center screen can show photos or custom clocks or speedometers adjusted for offset and weather and other things.
>TPMS is built in, also a voltage meter, and a fuel consumption all built in on the dash display. I think that the TPMS will read pressure without needing to move the bike at all. Some aftermarket systems require the wheels be turning a certain bit before they will read.
>Along with odo, trip meter A and B, there is also miles since last belt change and miles since last oil change.
>It is a Bosch ABS system
>It has 2 driving modes.
>There are integrated heated grips.
>As the photos show it is a belt final drive. The belt miles indicator is actually for the CVT belt and not the final drive belt since that should last a great many miles. We'll see though.

I'll be testing out in the next many weeks how cold the heated grips work for my hands and then I'll decide if I need to install my heated gloves controller. I am fairly certain that when temps get down close to zero F I will need the heated gloves. But it will be nice to have both heated grips and heated gloves working together if that is possible or does any good.

OH, almost forgot. This bike is a true keyless ignition. One photo shows the command dial that turns on the bike and also locks the bike and/or opens the seat to access a large storage space under it. Something to get used to is that the fob has a very far range. I tested this out with one dealer I visited and found that the fob can be almost 50ft away and the bike will still turn on. So I bought a pair of Faraday pouches to keep the fobs in when I don't want the bike to sense them. Steering lock and unlocking the gas cap cover are a few of the functions of the command dial. When the bike is turned off the command dial just spins freely without doing anything so when it's locked and turned off there is no way to unlock or open the gas cap or do anything on the bike. And there are 2 fobs that come with it. If the battery dies in the fob there is a spot on the dash to place the fob to turn on the bike anyway... just like my Rav4 or any other modern keyless ignition vehicle.

The left glove box has a power connector with USB ports, but there is no 12vdc socket. That is something I'll likely be adding to enable me to use my mini compressor if that is ever needed.

A few months ago I downloaded the pdf of the Service Manual as well as a pdf of the color electrical diagram. All for free and in English from one of the Euro country Kymco headquarters web sites.
 
Jethro said:
Is it Korean? They seem to continually improve their products.
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Kymco is a Taiwan company. NOT Chinese though. The company has indicated in their home page messages that they really don't identify with China but prefer to be considered separate... like much of Taiwan. Kymco USED to be a part of Honda but split off to form their own company in the early '60s. They continued to make parts for Honda and also for all of the other big name motorcycle makers. They made the engines for several motorcycles and scooters, and starting in the '70s complete scooters for other companies like Kawasaki and even Suzuki (I think). Several scooters in the last 10 years or so were simply rebranded Kymco scooters even while Kymco was making their own scooters and motorcycles under their own name. Kymco made the engine for the BMW C650 and still makes engines and other parts for generators and quad tracks and other vehicles. They've been very highly rated in Europe and has been the number one company compared with all other motorcycle/scooter companies in some European countries off and on. They are still number 2 in a few countries there as well as number 3 or 4 in several others. I think even # 3 in Italy, the home of Vespa, and # 4 in Germany, home of BMW. And, yes, they also continually improve their products just like Korean companies do.
 
Nice looking Scoot Bob.
You've obviously done your homework, Kymco are commonplace in the UK with many dealers in England, Scotland, Wales and N.I.
Enjoy fella.
Upt'North.
 
Nice Bob. I looked and maybe I missed it, but what is it?

Edit: I guess it's a Kymco AK550. Never heard of them, but knowing Bob, I'm sure it's a nice ride. :thumb:
 
rjs987 said:
OH, almost forgot. This bike is a true keyless ignition... Something to get used to is that the fob has a very far range.
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I remember that the new generation of GoldWings have an On/Off switch for the fob so that somebody can ride off with the bike while it's in range of the fob. You'd think either the range would be limited to close proximity or there would be a switch (no doubt seen as an unnecessary manufacturing cost). "Let them buy Mylar!" An inelegant but potentially necessary solution.

It does seem like a well thought out neat little scooter. Maybe some detailed snaps with your review? :D
 
Now I'll be figuring out how to pack for camping trips on this one. I was OK without a top case on my CTX but I did have the saddlebags. Every other bike I've owned that I rode to camping destinations had a top case so this one will be different for a while. I like the stock passenger handles on this AK and every affordable top case adapter replaces those handles so I'll have to think on that for a while. I already have a large dry bag that will fit more than what I was putting in the top case of my Burgman so I think all will work out. All part of the fun of a new ride.

I will be adding more photos after I have it home, and maybe a few when I pick it up.
 
ST Gui said:
I remember that the new generation of GoldWings have an On/Off switch for the fob so that somebody can ride off with the bike while it's in range of the fob. You'd think either the range would be limited to close proximity or there would be a switch (no doubt seen as an unnecessary manufacturing cost). "Let them buy Mylar!" An inelegant but potentially necessary solution.
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In my experience with my brother's 2021 GW, the fob needs to be within about 10 ft. to be able to start it.
 
Now it looks like I'll be riding the Burgman down and Kymco back instead of involving a trailer. I like that better anyway. I verified with the dealer that they are OK with me adding 350 miles to the Burgman without affecting our deal.
 
Say Russ (@ardykay54 ) wanna ride down with me? :rofl1:
I plan to leave around 6 am Saturday morning. We can meet up just south of Mt Pleasant where Iowa highway 16 intersects with 218. Should take me about 2.5 hours to get there.
 
rjs987 said:
Say Russ (@ardykay54 ) wanna ride down with me? :rofl1:
I plan to leave around 6 am Saturday morning. We can meet up just south of Mt Pleasant where Iowa highway 16 intersects with 218. Should take me about 2.5 hours to get there.
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Love to! If only they had a Guzzi V100 Mandello for me to ride home on. :biggrin: (They don't...checked the inventory) Russ.
 
Rode down with Bob to get his new scoot! The dealer no longer sells Guzzis.....He did have a 2020 left in the crate......not what I was looking for...Oh well.....had a nice 700 mile ride over two days with Bob....I'll let him tell you about his first longer ride....Thanks! Russ.
 
And it will be seen at the events I attend... like LOCSTOC. Maybe even FerrySTOC if that goes on in 2022.
Rode the Burgman 650 down to Moto Italia at Edwardsville, IL and met Russ at the first gas stop along the ride and he accompanied me the rest of the way around.
The trip down was faster than the trip back. Went 364 miles to get there.
Russ seemed to enjoy talking with a few customers who came in while we were there as well as looking over their bikes and the one Guzzi they had in stock... and also noticed an old Pacific Coast in the back as well.

Spent entirely too long at the dealership but I was going over things on the new 2022 Kymco AK 550 and setting up the phone app and connecting that to the AK for trying out the navigation on the way home. Ended up that the navigation took longer than I thought to update all the mapping to enable it to work well on that first trip. I didn't plan to go all the way home the same day since I knew I'd be at the dealer at least a few hours. We ended up taking nearly 5 hours to get to our motel after leaving the dealer sometime around 4:30. Part of that was taking it extremely easy on the new bike for the first 100 miles keeping the speed lower and varying the RPM as was required by the mfr. and recommended by the dealer. The nav really didn't work well at all on the way to the motel. It kept trying to get me to turn around or take side streets/roads to get back to... somewhere else than where I was headed. So I ended up ignoring it and going by instinct.

This is a small dealership and one of very few where they actually do repairs to bikes rather than just replace modules that the computer diagnostics say to replace. This is one BIG reason many dealer shops don't work on bikes more than 10 years old.

Dealer looked over my Burgman and I showed him about the farkles that were added. One big reason I decided to bite the bullet with this dealer is that they offered more for my Burgman in trade than anyone had actually offered for a sale price from my advertising. Plus, they were willing to deal on the price a little. Ended up with a better deal than if I bought a 2021 model at a lower price but more upcharges tacked on and no trade. Everything went as expected financially.

The ride back to the motel the Saturday night was long but the AK performed wonderfully. The engine revs a little higher than my Burgman did for the same speeds but that just enables it to out perform the Burgman. It accelerates faster. Smaller engine (550.4cc vs. 638cc) and about 130 lbs lighter than the Burgman with about the same torque and HP. The seat is comfortable. The slanted foot board is a little closer than on the Burgman, but that's good since I always felt it was too far away. The level foot board feels a little lower than on the Burgman, but that's due to the seat being a little bit higher. Both foot boards were more comfortable to use on this bike. The seat height is actually 1 inch lower than on the ST1100 I had. The all LED lighting, including headlights, worked really well. I was able to clearly see way down the road with those, especially on high beam. Russ was following and told me the tail light showed up really well. But that the brake light was rather small but very bright. I've intended to add a flashing brake LED bar similar to what I have had on all of my last 4 bikes. There is a bracket for the rear reflectors that will work well to mount that LED bar.

The dealer had filled the gas tank and ended up with 6 miles on the bike when I arrived. Now it has 412 miles on the odometer. The trip home from the dealership was 406 miles. I was able to get the maps figured out for the connected navigation and that worked well today on the rest of the way home. I think I figured out that the selected maps just didn't completely download to the bike before we left the dealer and then were not able to do so while on the road. That did complete while we were at the motel so today the navigation worked as well as any other navigation system. I want to try it out a lot more before I decide if I even want to mount my phone, or any other device, on the dash. I am thinking right now that I won't have to. I'm very good with that idea since the only reason I would have my phone mounted on the bike is for navigation. I can still have Google Maps running and giving me voice prompts while the bike navigation is showing on the center screen with the phone sitting in the glove box plugged into the USB port, which is what I was doing today. That worked out rather well. The Noodoe system on the AK 550 already handles showing me if there are text messages or phone calls I missed while riding, but this ONLY shows up when I am stopped and does not interrupt anything while riding. That part was working fine yesterday since there were a few text messages and a phone call I missed but the screen didn't show that to me until I stopped at the motel.

This bike has a "welcome" feature that I ended up turning off. That causes the Noodoe screen to light up and pulse a few times when approach the bike even when it is turned off. Some owners on other forums have said this is the bike sensing the remote fob but I found that not to be the case. It was doing that when it sensed my phone if BT was still turned on. I turned off the welcome sensing and also will make sure to turn off BT on my phone... which I usually do anyway when I'm not using my Sena.

A few more photos. I bought a few supply things... a few oil filters (dealer has a real good price), an air filter, and a CVT gasket. That last item could not be bent, obviously, and was packaged on a stiff cardboard. I was able to bend the corners of the cardboard that were clear of the actual gasket so it would fit in the storage under the seat without being damaged. That is what I planned for by bringing my clothes in a small dry bag that I put under the cargo net on the passenger seat.

At the dealership
IMG_20211107_103229.jpg

At the motel
PXL_20211107_140145775.jpg

On the way home today at the actual American Gothic house in Eldon, IA. Just to the left of this pic is the visitor center.
PXL_20211107_163159652.jpg
 
rjs987 said:
The dealer had filled the gas tank and ended up with 6 miles on the bike when I arrived.
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Wow. I've never got a full tank from a bike dealer (forget car dealers). This is where everybody chimes in to say they not only got full tanks of fuel but also got free CamelBaks filled with Hi-Test.

rjs987 said:
the selected maps just didn't completely download to the bike before we left the dealer and then were not able to do so while on the road.
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How do you download maps that it couldn't be done on the road? Does it only download with the IGN off or something similar?

A great review so far. You did a very complete overview prior to buying but I hope you give a comprehensive ride review now that you've got yours. But no pressure!! :D
 
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