Hey guys, about the oil you use, I found Shell Rotella T6 here at Advance Auto store but it says “Heavy Duty Diesel Engine Oil”. Is that the right stuff?
Also, I rode my AK home after purchase on an interstate with 70 mph speed limit. A few times I was at 80 mph briefly to pass someone.
I did ask the dealer mechanic if it was OK to ride home on the interstate. And he said it’s OK….LOL but you guys have me worried.
Jeff
Break-in is something that has always been about the same on every bike I've ever owned, even newer model bikes within the last 10 years.
I personally would not have done that but it really is up to you. I do admit to being just a little over the recommended speeds stated in the manual for the initial break-in, but just a very little at 55 mph rather than 50 mph once in a while but never constantly. And I was sometimes on a highway with a higher speed limit. Didn't mean I had to go that (so what if others have to pass me, I had a riding buddy following me all the way on a bigger bike). Maybe if he said it is "OK to ride
on the interstate" he meant it is OK to be there but not at that speed. Some of the requirement in the owner manual for keeping the speed lower during break-in is for you to become accustomed to a new machine, but some of it is in fact about seating parts and seals together. Manufacturing is so much better now than it was 50 years ago when it was a lot more important to pay attention to break-in procedures. Parts are much better matched together now and are made to better tolerances. But that does not mean that parts don't shift or adjust with stress and higher speeds put higher stress on parts. What I have seen seems to indicate that the difference in a high stress break-in vs a low stress break-in won't break the bike but might possibly maybe bring on a few service issues long into the life of the bike mechanics. Any issues will likely not show up for many 10s of thousands of miles
if you see them at all. 50 years ago these issues might have broken the bike within a few hundred miles. The biggest reason I've heard favoring a high stress break-in is based on the idea that racing bikes are broken in this way. But racing bikes get their engines rebuilt after one or two races and not after thousands and thousands of miles. This issue of break-in is almost as big a controversy as what oil is best. I'd say just be aware of the performance of your AK and otherwise don't worry about it now.
I've used Rotella T6 in all my bikes since 2004 at least. Yes, the bottle highlights that it is primarily PROMOTED as a heavy duty diesel oil. But that blurb on the bottle front is mostly advertising. It is a very good oil for that application but that is not all it's good for. As long as somewhere in the small print (where I used to find it when I looked) there is stated that the oil meets the requirements for JASO MA/MA2. That's the spec that is
REQUIRED for any bike with a wet clutch. The AK 550 has a wet clutch meaning that the clutch shares the same oil reserve with the engine. If the oil you choose to use does not state that specification then it is not good for any bike with a wet clutch. The other spec that might be specified and goes along with the JASO spec is that the bottom outer ring of the API service circle on the back of the bottle (if it has one) is blank and does not show "Resource Conserving" or "Energy Conserving" in that space. Usually JASO MA qualified oils will have a blank in the bottom outer ring of the API service circle. The JASO spec is much more important.
