I want Stark to succeed…but,

[Beatbox7]

In the past 3 months I have taken delivery of 2 Vargs.
1 EX and 1 MX. I want this bike and this company to succeed. However, I have spent 5 times as many hours working on these bikes as I have riding them. I literally haven’t even ridden the MX yet and have 2 open tickets currently. I have about 5 tickets across both bikes so far. I’ve had software issues, defective parts, parts that are designed and assembled so poorly they will never work in their current form and tube failures on both bikes, one within 5 miles and one straight out of the box. The MX was shipped with the wrong wheel on it and is titled a 24 bought in July of 25. Replacing tubes on brand new wheels is a pain in the rear and time consuming…I know it’s part of the hobby, but right off the bat? Stark needs to discontinue these tubes until they are proven, no one wants to immediately work on the bike, let me get a few rides in first at least…Stark has been very responsive, I appreciate that a lot, but we need to get quality control up to speed and they need to do more stress tests on components to ensure early customer satisfaction. Thanks for letting me vent.

 

[AbnormalWrench]

I thought it was well known how horrible those tubes are. I never rode the bike with them. I had already set up a spare set of rims and tires ready to go and swapped them out while assembling the bike.

 

[Beatbox7]

I thought it was well known how horrible those tubes are. I never rode the bike with them. I had already set up a spare set of rims and tires ready to go and swapped them out while assembling the bike.

Stark clearly isn’t aware.. lol

 

[BD114]

What other problems did you have? I've only done about 5 hrs on my new MX but its been solid so far. I heard the feedback and put a set of HD tubes in before I even assembled the bike. I agree they should just switch to standard tubes. Maybe they will when they run out of stock on the red thin tubes. Surely they'be heard the complaints by now.

 

[Beatbox7]

I had issues with my EXs tail lights and software glitches…the MX I just got but they shipped it with the wrong wheel and now don’t want me to ride it until a local dealership corrects it…I have a trip planned this weekend and I’m not canceling so they will have to figure out what to do with the wheel when I return , I have no intentions of damaging it, but it’s screwy to ask me to stare at my bike for weeks until a dealership can install a new wheel…

 

[Chaconne]

I had issues with my EXs tail lights and software glitches…the MX I just got but they shipped it with the wrong wheel and now don’t want me to ride it until a local dealership corrects it…I have a trip planned this weekend and I’m not canceling so they will have to figure out what to do with the wheel when I return , I have no intentions of damaging it, but it’s screwy to ask me to stare at my bike for weeks until a dealership can install a new wheel…

Sorry you are having issues. Did you have these bikes directly shipped or did you go through the dealership for purchase? The dealership I bought my Starks from assembled and tested my bike before I received them and took care of some paperwork hiccups was well. They made sure I got what I bought. I wouldn't have left the store or finalized payment if it wasn't exactly what I wanted. If the dealership installed the wrong wheel then it might be them?

From the sounds of it you spent over 20k on two new Stark bikes. If the dealership has the correct wheel I would remove it and just return that, you are going to have to remove the wheel to replace the tubes anyway.

 

[Chaconne]

In the past 3 months I have taken delivery of 2 Vargs.
1 EX and 1 MX. I want this bike and this company to succeed. However, I have spent 5 times as many hours working on these bikes as I have riding them. I literally haven’t even ridden the MX yet and have 2 open tickets currently. I have about 5 tickets across both bikes so far. I’ve had software issues, defective parts, parts that are designed and assembled so poorly they will never work in their current form and tube failures on both bikes, one within 5 miles and one straight out of the box. The MX was shipped with the wrong wheel on it and is titled a 24 bought in July of 25. Replacing tubes on brand new wheels is a pain in the rear and time consuming…I know it’s part of the hobby, but right off the bat? Stark needs to discontinue these tubes until they are proven, no one wants to immediately work on the bike, let me get a few rides in first at least…Stark has been very responsive, I appreciate that a lot, but we need to get quality control up to speed and they need to do more stress tests on components to ensure early customer satisfaction. Thanks for letting me vent.

Stark is a somewhat typical European motorcycle company. Great innovation and ideas but often with an overreach attempt at clever and over-engineering on the unimportant. Generally there is also a mediocre capability to deliver consistently and often it is those attempts at clever which cause problems.

I have owned Euro bikes from the late 70s and it has been the same since my first Bultacos, to Maicos, to Huskys, to KTMs & etc. Stark is pretty much no different and if anything TBH I think they are little better than most Euros. But if the Asian countries put in a bigger effort on E, Stark could find itself in the same boat as those previously named Euros if it doesn't improve.

All that said, after swapping out the tubes my 2 Starks (one titled in 23 bought 24 and one titled in 24 bought in 25) have been pretty much bullet proof and a joy to ride --if that is any consolation.

 

[Lost]

Well that sucks...

Vargs seem to fall into 2 camps, either no issues or nothing but.

My EX as an example, other than awful communication and over a month without the documents needed to register has been great.

Almost a 1000km and the only issue so far has been the lock function not wanting to unlock.

 

[wilhelm192]

In the past 3 months I have taken delivery of 2 Vargs.
1 EX and 1 MX. I want this bike and this company to succeed. However, I have spent 5 times as many hours working on these bikes as I have riding them. I literally haven’t even ridden the MX yet and have 2 open tickets currently. I have about 5 tickets across both bikes so far. I’ve had software issues, defective parts, parts that are designed and assembled so poorly they will never work in their current form and tube failures on both bikes, one within 5 miles and one straight out of the box. The MX was shipped with the wrong wheel on it and is titled a 24 bought in July of 25. Replacing tubes on brand new wheels is a pain in the rear and time consuming…I know it’s part of the hobby, but right off the bat? Stark needs to discontinue these tubes until they are proven, no one wants to immediately work on the bike, let me get a few rides in first at least…Stark has been very responsive, I appreciate that a lot, but we need to get quality control up to speed and they need to do more stress tests on components to ensure early customer satisfaction. Thanks for letting me vent.

You should grease everything before you ride the bike anyway .

 

[kailua808]

Well that sucks...

Vargs seem to fall into 2 camps, either no issues or nothing but.

My EX as an example, other than awful communication and over a month without the documents needed to register has been great.

Almost a 1000km and the only issue so far has been the lock function not wanting to unlock.

Same. We have two EX and ride them hard. Did a hard enduro and beat them up. They are a dream to ride. Hopefully the software update addresses a few of the glitches.

 

[Chaconne]

You should grease everything before you ride the bike anyway .

View attachment 14257

Did you find any components on the Stark lacking grease? The last bike I disassembled pre-riding was my 2014 Yamaha WR450F and all the grease-ables were well greased. I had Yams and KTMs after that and did not disassemble. I never had problems, but it is probably is still a good practice.

 

[DaveAusNor]

You should grease everything before you ride the bike anyway

I just rode mine after the initial assembly. Plenty of time over the winter to pull it down and check everything.