starks 6hr range may be possible

I just took part in a hard enduro day.

we did the extreme route. logs, roots, fairly technical hill climbs.... started the day with 95 percent. ended the day with 45 percent. total ride time was 2hr 52 mins!
youd have to be super fit to try ride the track for 6hrs. but if you were it might just be possible.

the more extreme the track the longer the battery lasts.

exactly. In slow technical hard enduro riding, these electrics last forever.
same experience with my Alta.

I just had my first real ride on the Stark yesterday and I was shocked at how much battery the hill climbs use. You can almost watch the % go down as you ride. These are not long hills and I'd say the average drop was 2-4% per hill! Other than that the battery does quite well. One thing I assumed would help in slower technical riding was switching from the 14 to a 13 tooth sprocket but I am not sure if it works the same with an electric motor. The power is impressive and addictive. Overall this is an amazing machine.

sand300 said:

I just took part in a hard enduro day.

we did the extreme route. logs, roots, fairly technical hill climbs.... started the day with 95 percent. ended the day with 45 percent. total ride time was 2hr 52 mins!
youd have to be super fit to try ride the track for 6hrs. but if you were it might just be possible.

the more extreme the track the longer the battery lasts.

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What were your power and regen settings on this ride?

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I know the general consensus is that our Vargs are already range deficient, but for my style of riding I would be happier with the bike if it had an optional battery pack that was half the weight of stock. I would gladly accept the 50-ish percent runtime resulting in this weight loss. Keep all the cells as low as possible, reduce case materials accordingly, slim up the BMS, etc. and yield a 30-40 lbs. weight drop (maybe more, if they get clever about it). All while keeping the cells at the lowest possible point for better mass centralization. Charging times from empty to full would be half.

Now, Imagine that this new battery envelope was such that the new smaller package of cells was also 'quick-change' capable. You buy a second (or third, or fourth...) battery pack that's charging on the generator while you're out burning up the trails. Come back, have a beer, pop in the full spare, put the depleted pack on charge, and off you go for round two.

FYR said:

I've been thinking about this for a while now. I know the general consensus is that our Vargs are already range deficient, but for my style of riding I would be happier with the bike if it had an optional battery pack that was half the weight of stock. I would gladly accept the 50-ish percent runtime resulting in this weight loss. Keep all the cells as low as possible, reduce case materials accordingly, slim up the BMS, etc. and yield a 30-40 lbs. weight drop (maybe more, if they get clever about it). All while keeping the cells at the lowest possible point for better mass centralization. Charging times from empty to full would be half.

Now, Imagine that this new battery envelope was such that the new smaller package of cells was also 'quick-change' capable. You buy a second (or third, or fourth...) battery pack that's charging on the generator while you're out burning up the trails. Come back, have a beer, pop in the full spare, put the depleted pack on charge, and off you go for round two.

Click to expand...

Maybe the Dust moto will make a good companion to the Varg for this very reason. Honestly I don't really feel the weight is an issue. If anything it's too responsive when doing slow technical riding. It's only when I fall over and the bars get stuck on something like a bush that it's more difficult to get up. But it's also encouraged me to get stronger. The weight is nice for stability but I could see it being an issue for the MX guys. I had to get a friend out of a tight spot on his Xtrainer and I was expecting it to feel like a toy compared to my heavy Varg but to my surprise it felt like a pig! Really not that much lighter "feeling" at all. This bike friggin' rocks!

The range is not adequate for mx
The bike is way too heavy for mx
There are no electric bike classes in mx
This restricts the stark to being a novelty bike

markhamr said:

The range is not adequate for mx
The bike is way too heavy for mx
There are no electric bike classes in mx
This restricts the stark to being a novelty bike

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You certainly have the right to not own or ride one.

I am more hoping I can trade it in on the new model with a swappable battery
that weighs 10 kgs less. Instantly the best dirt bike ever.
I am not bagging the bike I just hope stark are listening to the feedback
so they can make adjustments

markhamr said:

I am more hoping I can trade it in on the new model with a swappable battery
that weighs 10 kgs less. Instantly the best dirt bike ever.
I am not bagging the bike I just hope stark are listening to the feedback
so they can make adjustments

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"I am more hoping I can trade it in on the new model with a swappable battery"
What new model with swappable battery? The EX has the same set up as the MX.

Others from your part of the world say there are classes they can use them in.

I tend to agree with some of what you say but making it with swappable battery or more battery power are both going to add weight you can not just insist they lose 10kg, That said top level riders can get 30 minutes in motocross, I can only assume we are not getting what they are.

The only discipline where it's not legal to race a Varg in Australia is Pro SX. It's raced in vet MX (won title), flat track, Enduro and hard enduro championships.

In France it's raced in SX, pro MX, Vet MX, cross country. Granted it's not exactly suited to cross country, requires small mods for 1 min battery swaps (and other bikes or constant swaps before the race to charge multiple batteries, the lack of standalone charging is the real pain here).

It won't suite everyone needs, you're entitled to find it too heavy but it's competitive in AX, SX, MX, enduro/Superenduro, that qualifies it a bit more than a novelty bike in my book.

I understand riders wanting more and waiting for more from electrics, as a matter of fact the margin of progress for electric bikes is immense compared to ICE. The unknown is timescale but they'll definitely get lighter with more range (20-30% more range every 5 years would be a conservative estimate based on the past decade, not talking about hybrid or solid state that keeps being announced "in the next 5 years" ).

I doubt the top 20 on points here have to worry about e bikes in pro mx
You can get around most of the problems more nuisances
but weight is what i would like stark to concentrate on
no shopping bag tubes

markhamr said:

I doubt the top 20 on points here have to worry about e bikes in pro mx
You can get around most of the problems more nuisances
but weight is what i would like stark to concentrate on
no shopping bag tubes

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In AX they're up to speed against Friese (AMA AX) or Deano (AX UK), plus Hicks is as fast on his Yam 450 than on his Stark so agreed they'd be somewhere around top 15-20.

Which is all the more reason to allow them to race, yet other OEM are afraid of the competition.

I am not even comparing the 2
115 kgs is the magic marker like day and night
ask any engineer