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Too much power is not a bad thing if there is good traction control. It looks like Stark is still struggling with traction control in flat corners and the virtual flywheel settings in the whoops.
The FiM has Neutered the Stark for WSX
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Border Dave
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Philip, please explain what you mean by traction control. I was under the impression that the Varg is not equipped with any type of electronic traction control.
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All modern dirt bikes have some type of traction control. Have you heard Yamaha 4-strokes sputter at WOT as if hitting the rev limiter, even though it is still accelerating? This is traction control kicking in.
The Alta has traction control that did not allow the motor to spin up too quickly, effectively limiting its acceleration. No traction -- still, the motor can not rev itself up and the rear wheel to the moon, even though the resistance is just the inertia of the rear wheel. It works well on many tracks but not all, and it is not adjustable.
The Stark has a "virtual flywheel". This is a very similar principle, except you can overcome more inertia with more throttle. Perhaps, they have also added some other code and other tricks. All electric bikes have torque limiters, too. This is all traction control. Without traction control, any electric bike would be completely unrideable. It would pop wheelies and loop out at 0 mph or dig in deep without going anywhere. Traction control exists. We just want it to be user-adjustable.
Someone who rides chocolate cake all the time probably cannot care less about traction control. But I do. One of the biggest struggles that I have here in Arizona is riding dry dusty tracks. I have seen poor traction earlier this year in Arenacross in Prescott, AZ. All Starks were slow in one long flat sweeper, spinning rear tires and polishing the hard clay instead of cornering, and all gas bikes were cutting underneath them very easily.
A similar problem happens in the whoops. The rear wheel spins up, the rear end drops between the whoops instead of skimming the tops, and the racer loses forward speed. Happens in SX all the time. I heard that gas bikes throw roost but the Starks throw rocks into the 2nd level of the grandstands. That's the virtual flywheel problem.
You may add loose rocks to the list of terrains where Varg is spinning and bogging down.
I always blame my poor skills first, but I compared it with the Beta 300 2T back to back and the difference was immense.
Stark must improve traction control and power delivery for low power output in the low grip terrain.
Weird, I've never seen them mentioning traction control, and AFAIK indeed they're one rare example of MX bike without any TC.
OTOH, virtual flywheel was touted since launch but I haven't seen anyone (Tortelli, riders or anyone else) stating they finally had it on the factory bikes. It wasn't part of the subscription-only pro mode, was it?
OTOH, virtual flywheel was touted since launch but I haven't seen anyone (Tortelli, riders or anyone else) stating they finally had it on the factory bikes. It wasn't part of the subscription-only pro mode, was it?
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The positive side of having poor traction control, or not enough of the "virtual flywheel," is that you can save the bike in the air from a sure endo by opening the throttle wide. This works on gas bikes, too, but electric bikes are a lot more effective at this. This is partially because you don't need to upshift, but also partially because the electric motor can just spin up faster. Once these behaviors up in the air equalize, then you will know the e-bike eccelerates at the same rate as the gas bike. However, I do not want the behavior in the air to change. I do not like endo-ing, LOL! Only the on-the-ground performance must change. And for that, the Stark has an accelerometer, which can tell the bike's brain whether it is up in the air or not. I cannot explain why Stark hasn't programmed all of that and hasn't given us traction control knobs yet.
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Traction control is not only ''traction control'' as we know it from ICE's. It's also E's spinning up to ''infinity'' when they loose grip while ICE has a limit to any certain gear.
And as @Philip says. The airtime on a Stark is increadible. I never use the rear brake in the air anymore. The right wrist can make the Stark exactly do what you want.
The hard bit is it not spinning on loose/slippery rock while spinning to whatever you want mid air.
We had a serious accident on a Dutch Enduro event (the guy is badly injured), but since it allready has gone viral i might as well share it. He was in 1st place of the national Enduro championship, going high speed in the rev limiter over a ramp, but the deck of the ramp broke. Sending him nose down dozens of yards through the sky. You can hear him revving it to get it's nose up, but being in the rev limiter made it unsaveble. An E would probably have done better in saving the rider.
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And as @Philip says. The airtime on a Stark is increadible. I never use the rear brake in the air anymore. The right wrist can make the Stark exactly do what you want.
The hard bit is it not spinning on loose/slippery rock while spinning to whatever you want mid air.
We had a serious accident on a Dutch Enduro event (the guy is badly injured), but since it allready has gone viral i might as well share it. He was in 1st place of the national Enduro championship, going high speed in the rev limiter over a ramp, but the deck of the ramp broke. Sending him nose down dozens of yards through the sky. You can hear him revving it to get it's nose up, but being in the rev limiter made it unsaveble. An E would probably have done better in saving the rider.
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