AK 550 Reliability in question

[Lesavage]

Hello everyone

In the country that I live in I rode the AK 550 and absolutely loved it.
I was about to tell my dealer that I want one, but decided to wait a few days in order to check online about the bike.
I read and heard numerous people complaining about reliability issues with 2017/18/19 models but everyone says that the 2020/21 models are improved and has less to no problems.

I'm now torn, whether I should buy this bike - but I'm really not interested in buying this bike and spending time and effort in the repair shop.

From your experience, is this motorcycle worthy of the term "reliable"? Or should I look elsewhere? I'm currently contemplating between the AK 550 and the Honda Forza 750. They are very different and the Forza is much more expensive but it's a Honda so you'll know it's going to be reliable..

[klaviator]

I don't think anyone here has had one long enough to give you a good answer.  The fact is that you can have issues with ANY brand or model of bike.  One thing I would look at is the service departments of the dealers near you.  My Kymco Dealer has an excellent service department but it is 100 miles away.  The local Honda dealer doesn't have a good reputation so I would hesitate to buy a honda.  On the other hand the local Yamaha/Kawasaki dealer is excellent.

Of course it is worth investigating how reliable the AK550 is but I would also look at the dealers and their service departments.

 

[Clampett]

Happens to any brand or model. Non are 100%. Kymco has a good record.
Honda and BMW have used them for their scooters.
My question is who are these numerous people complaining that you're referring to? Competitors? Other brand fan boys?

[rjs987]

So far during this last year, and I've been reading and watching videos all year on this scooter, I haven't watched or read hardly anything bad about it at all. I say "hardly anything" because I have seen ONE video posted that seemed to indicate a negative review of the AK 550 but didn't watch it because it was in a foreign language that I don't understand so didn't know what they were really saying, just that I could tell they were not happy with it. But that's just one out of over a few hundred others I did watch. Same for forum posts... very few posts were against it and while those who did speak out against the AK it was really the same small group of posters saying the same thing. Mostly that it was too heavy to be a reasonable scooter. That's totally a matter of perspective. I think I recall doing a little searching and those who posted negatives about the AK were accustomed to 150 to 200 cc and maybe 300 cc machines. So of course the AK would be heavier than those. I come from 1100 to 1500 cc machines and my last one before the AK was a Burgman 650. So the AK 550 is an extremely light weight bike per my perspective. Just the day before yesterday I was pushing it in/out of the garage and thinking how nice it is to have such a light bike now that could perform the same or better than my Burgman. At least 115 lbs lighter than the Burgman, which was 100 lbs lighter than my 1300 before that. I have only really heard/read about the overall series from 2018 to 2022 model years and more specifically about the 2021/2022 models and those all seem to be reliable. Also, I look at other Kymco scooters to see how those stack up and always seem to hear/read good things about all those as well. Reliable and bullet proof. That's not to say there are NO problems. As Klav stated ALL bikes have something that can go wrong. Most of my bikes have been Honda bikes and those all had something that was considered an issue to be aware of. So I take a lot of negative stuff that might be said with a measure of caution about any one bike having anything like a deal breaking issue.


Just to illustrate: A few have said that the Burgman 650 has a major issue with the CVT and should be avoided because of it. That Suzuki is an unreliable brand because of that issue. After doing my own research it is really just a few who have had that issue with the CVT belt breaking. And most of the time it wasn't the belt at fault but some other part within the CVT that caused the belt to break. On top of all that it turns out that somewhere around .3% to .5% of the total run of all Burgman 650 scooters from 2003 to 2018 have had any issues like that with the CVT. I don't know any vehicle that is considered very reliable, yet has an issue of that kind of magnitude more often than that.

[Stig / Major Tom]

Hello everyone

In the country that I live in I rode the AK 550 and absolutely loved it.
I was about to tell my dealer that I want one, but decided to wait a few days in order to check online about the bike.
I read and heard numerous people complaining about reliability issues with 2017/18/19 models but everyone says that the 2020/21 models are improved and has less to no problems.

I'm now torn, whether I should buy this bike - but I'm really not interested in buying this bike and spending time and effort in the repair shop.

From your experience, is this motorcycle worthy of the term "reliable"? Or should I look elsewhere? I'm currently contemplating between the AK 550 and the Honda Forza 750. They are very different and the Forza is much more expensive but it's a Honda so you'll know it's going to be reliable..

Prices I see for the Honda are only a two or three hundred more than the Kymco.
Yeah, if they're close - gotta go with the Honda's well established quality, reliability and re-sale value.
What are the prices in your country?

Stig

[klaviator]

Prices I see for the Honda are only a two or three hundred more than the Kymco.
Yeah, if they're close - gotta go with the Honda's well established quality, reliability and re-sale value.
What are the prices in your country?

Stig

The Forza 750 isn't sold here but if it was it would likely be way more than the AK550.

[Stig / Major Tom]

The Forza 750 isn't sold here but if it was it would likely be way more than the AK550.

Klav, Not way more ......in the UK the AK550 lists for £9,899.00.
The Honda 750 lists for £10,099.00

Pretty sure a lot (most?) of us would go that extra £200 to ride home with a 750 Honda!

Stig

[klaviator]

Klav, Not way more ......in the UK the AK550 lists for £9,899.00.
The Honda 750 lists for £10,099.00

Pretty sure a lot (most?) of us would go that extra £200 to home with a 750 Honda!

Stig

You are right.  I wonder why the AK550 is so much more expensive in the UK.  If you convert the 10,099 price of the Forza 750 to dollars it would be $14683.  The AK550 would be $13,337.  However I don't think they add fees to those prices like US dealers do. 

[rjs987]

You are right.  I wonder why the AK550 is so much more expensive in the UK.  If you convert the 10,099 price of the Forza 750 to dollars it would be $14683.  The AK550 would be $13,337.  However I don't think they add fees to those prices like US dealers do.

I would still be riding my Burgman 650 if that's what the AK 550 cost around here. The dealer I went to added fees/upcharges to end up with $10,450 after we were done wheeling and dealing on price. Then he took off the $250 military discount Kymco was pushing and then the $4200 for my trade-in. The balance was what I wrote a check for. That was the ONLY way I would make this deal. The highest price in the MidWest USA that I received from cold calls to any dealer was $10,899 and no chance at a trade-in. That place even told me to keep trying to sell it privately 'cuz I wouldn't get anything close to what I would want from them.


I looked at the Forza 750 a little while. I decided even if it was available here I would still go for the AK 550.

[Lesavage]

Thank you all for your comments.
I live in a country where maxi scooters own a big market share
The AK550 was known here in the past to have reliability issues, from what I heard, the common issues were: leaking front forks, final drive belt making quirky noises, rear wheel hub/shaft failure, melted handle bar grips, keyless system sucking power albeit engine is off, resulting in a dead battery and also they key fob itself is looking for the motorcycle resulting in constant replacement of the key battery.

All those issues are not insane, but a lot of people got rid of it and I can definitely understand them, the last thing you want is to spend days at the workshop..
I heard that the 2021 model is almost issue free, so I'm really thinking about taking the risk.
Just to answer your question, in translation to US dollars, the AK550 (in my country) costs 20100$, the Honda Forza 750 on the other hand costs 24310$ USD.

So quite a noticeable difference for the Honda.

[Ruffus]

@Lesavage, welcome in this forum.
Maybe this link helps your decision...

https://www.kymcoforum.com/index.php?topic=31880.msg223665#msg223665

If you have german there is a very informative forum for KYMCO.
www.Zzip.de

Also pics and prices here in Italia in €€.
Price shown is out of the shop inclusive VAT.
Change of ownership (imatriculation/ title) of about €300,- and insurance of your choice has to be added.
Topcase and first inspection have to be paid extra
Price difference of ~€2.400,- out of the door might influence people too..

[Stig / Major Tom]

Thank you all for your comments.
I live in a country where maxi scooters own a big market share
The AK550 was known here in the past to have reliability issues, from what I heard, the common issues were: leaking front forks, final drive belt making quirky noises, rear wheel hub/shaft failure, melted handle bar grips, keyless system sucking power albeit engine is off, resulting in a dead battery and also they key fob itself is looking for the motorcycle resulting in constant replacement of the key battery.

All those issues are not insane, but a lot of people got rid of it and I can definitely understand them, the last thing you want is to spend days at the workshop..
I heard that the 2021 model is almost issue free, so I'm really thinking about taking the risk.
Just to answer your question, in translation to US dollars, the AK550 (in my country) costs 20100$, the Honda Forza 750 on the other hand costs 24310$ USD.

So quite a noticeable difference for the Honda.

Interesting,  battery and quirky noise issues still being reported here by 21/22 model owners.

Stig

[rjs987]

...
The AK550 was known here in the past to have reliability issues, from what I heard, the common issues were: leaking front forks, final drive belt making quirky noises, rear wheel hub/shaft failure, melted handle bar grips, keyless system sucking power albeit engine is off, resulting in a dead battery and also they key fob itself is looking for the motorcycle resulting in constant replacement of the key battery...

Haven't had mine long enough for any of the fob battery issues to show up but can see where the bike battery could become run down faster than on other bikes. I did hear about earlier models having the heated grips issue but also heard from others about that seeming to be fixed on later models.


I have had other bikes with phantom battery loads but usually those are so small it took a long time to run down the battery enough to prevent starting. My AK does drop battery power faster than any other bike I've owned but I minimize that by putting my remote fob in a Faraday pouch when I don't need it for riding and also I turn off BT and Location on my phone to reduce the battery drain on my phone as well as prevent the AK from finding and attempting to connect to my phone. I also turned off the Welcome screen to keep the AK from that causing any battery drain. I don't expect the battery drain to be a problem for several days to a week without running the scooter but while it is parked in my garage I do plug it into a Battery Tender. I do that with my wife's scooter as well just because it is the cold season here and that one will be parked for the next 4 months. No other issues have shown up yet.