Stark Varg Stolen 4-27-2025

[Chaconne]

Hi All,
My 2024 Varg was stolen from my garage and was a carry away to a vehicle or truck in Methuen, Massachusetts sometime after midnight on 4/27/2025.

A police report was filed and the bike is factory locked and inoperable except for power on --and does not have the phone which I still have.

Some notables are the Acerbis hand guards and Acerbis black front lift strap. And it has an AXP bash plate. It also has Rhino bar straps attached as it was ready for riding that day. The thieves also took the Yamaha stand the bike is pictured with, as well as the Stark charging stand behind the bike in the pic.

Please let me know if you see or hear anything. I loved my bike and would really like to get it back.

Thanks,

@Chaconne

 

[Erwin P]

Sorry to hear!
So you know wich parts are locked? Just the VCU or are the Battery and Drivertrain also disabled now?

 

[Chaconne]

Sorry to hear!
So you know wich parts are locked? Just the VCU or are the Battery and Drivertrain also disabled now?

Not exactly sure, I think it is VCU and Drivetrain. Less sure on the battery, I know for sure the CMOS would be alive.

I am thinking one of the discussion threads a while back may have been a case of a factory lock now that I have to think of it for real (say maybe for a loan default).

That is why the dealer couldn't easily revive the dead machine and the Stark was not being cooperative from the user's view --as the note holder probably would have control of title in a non-payment dispute.

 

[Theo]

the bike is factory locked and inoperable except for power on --and does not have the phone which I still have.

The bike can receive over the air updates and be locked and it can also send data to Stark Future so that they can analyze temperature, error codes, etcetera and this happens using 4G via cell towers, which means, I think, that it can be located using cell tower triangulation; the accuracy is something like half a mile.
Surely if we were talking about some serious crime, the police would tell the mobile network operator to track it; I don't know whether they would do it in this case. I also doubt that Stark Future would give you the data to identify your Varg (AI says it should be like an IMSI or a IMEI number), but maybe Stark would collaborate with the police to do that.
If I were in your shoes, I would tell the police about this possibility and then if they think it can be legally done I would ask Stark Future to collaborate.

 

[Chaconne]

The bike can receive over the air updates and be locked and it can also send data to Stark Future so that they can analyze temperature, error codes, etcetera and this happens using 4G via cell towers, which means, I think, that it can be located using cell tower triangulation; the accuracy is something like half a mile.
Surely if we were talking about some serious crime, the police would tell the mobile network operator to track it; I don't know whether they would do it in this case. I also doubt that Stark Future would give you the data to identify your Varg (AI says it should be like an IMSI or a IMEI number), but maybe Stark would collaborate with the police to do that.
If I were in your shoes, I would tell the police about this possibility and then if they think it can be legally done I would ask Stark Future to collaborate.

Yes I have told the police about it. One thing the Stark folks noted was there are some limits since some of the interactions require the presence of the Blue Tooth connected phone (I still have the phone). They were able to see the last time my bike was powered on with coordinates which was accurate. It also confirmed it was a carry away and not a ride away (since I knew that last power up was me).

Much of this is dependent on powering up and so far I don't think the bike has been powered up. My guess is that the thieves were druggies and are looking to score a few quick dollars rather than ride it. There is a market for inner city street dirtbikes near here but they mostly ride Japanese bikes like Yams and Kawis. I am not sure how much of a interest they would have for an E-bike that doesn't work. I know some of them and the hang outs so I am going to scope those areas.

 

[Dirt-E]

So they can power out on, but it won't go into drive mode, correct? You would think they would try to power it on and give it a go at some point. But it's the bike itself using an IMEI or some output signal? I thought only the phone did that.

Regardless, I'm hopeful you can recover the bike. I think it would be good for all of us to collectively know what goes on if the bike are taken and methods for getting them back. Sorry to hear about your loss, but thank you for sharing.

 

[Chaconne]

So they can power out on, but it won't go into drive mode, correct? You would think they would try to power it on and give it a go at some point. But it's the bike itself using an IMEI or some output signal? I thought only the phone did that.

Regardless, I'm hopeful you can recover the bike. I think it would be good for all of us to collectively know what goes on if the bike are taken and methods for getting them back. Sorry to hear about your loss, but thank you for sharing.

Yes power on is all they can do. Which is what I want so then Stark can provide the coordinates to the police.

It is the bike itself. It is similar to upgrading the firmware, the bike can connect to Stark without the phone at all.

Also I am lucky I still have the phone. The phone is matched to the VIN and Stark will not provide a new phone to my VIN. So the bike is inoperable and potential users can't get a phone for it, and their location will be identified if they power it on and it is in range of a 4G tower.