The big Stark Varg supermoto information topic

Yes, of course and you're right.

I initially considered this set because the wheels are exactly how I would spec them.
But I want a 4.5 in the rear.

Can't say you're wrong either. I would have loved anything in the 4.00 to 4.50 range better.
But well, cheapness won and i figured i could always sell them. Since a beat up set of repainted and dented SM rims for a KTM go for nearly €1000 here in the Netherlands i guessed selling after it didn't fit wouldn't hurt too much. Offcourse i would have to wait until 24MX did away with the pricedrop.

I really like the front, but the rear is so wide you actually need to take the rear caliper of and fiddle around quite a lott to get it in there. Then there is the barelly fitting in between the swingarm and the chain. Didn't really expect that to be so tight.
There is no amount of extra grip a 5.00 160 can offer that offsets that for me.

I have a question about the front brake adapters for SM 320mm brake discs. A standard KTM EXC, or SX adapter work? The front brake caliper positioning is the same as modern EXC/SX models?

Yess they will. MotoMaster also lists the same items for Stark and KTM.

Here's my mid-season update from my dedicated race bike.

Brakes: Beringer axial 6 pot and master with cast iron rotor
The feel on these is amazing. They are pricey. They do bolt right on. If you have a 16in front then you won't have a quick change option. You've got to unbolt the rotor and then the caliper in order to take the wheel off.

Rear hand brake:
Absolute game changer having started the season with the foot brake. The brembo master still requires a huge amount of force. Basically max squeeze with one finger barely starts to lock the rear up.

Wheels:
Warp9 built them for me. I started with a 16.5 front and later dropped down to a 16. The 16 is miles ahead of the 16.5. If I could go back in time I would have started with that. But having the 16.5 gives me a rain tire option.

Tires:
First 2 races. Battleax. Not bad.
Current. Michelin. Chef's kiss. Great feel, great grip, great profile.

Suspension:
Bone stock: I bumped up the compression and rebound but I'm still undersprung.

General racing impression:
Unless there is another rider on a stark ahead of you in the grid you will always get the hole shot. Being a bit chonky the lighter bikes will punish you in tight sections, but they stand little chance on a straight. Lots of chatter on the stock suspension. There's a guy that migrated his suspension off of his KTM, sent it in to RG3 twice, and he still gets chatter. So perhaps it something to do with the frame... Our races are 7 laps. At 70hp I use about 35% of my battery in that time. I run zero regen to try and control battery temps as we've had some riders' bikes enter safety mode on hot days.

I'm an absolute beginner at this but i did it a couple of times now.

Only one time with my 17'-17' ContiAttack SM 2 set instead of 21'-19'. Installed a 320mm rotor with just an adapter for the OEM caliper. OEM suspension, but fork compression max stiff. So far i did not overheat the front brake yet. However this day was in the rain and had my first kneedown. Closely followed by a elbow, hip and shoulder down...

What i did however noticed was that the Stark was the way better wett track bike. From being at the rear of the field i soon was the fastest on track, even compared to more skilled riders with dedicaded rain tyres.
Being butterly smooth on the ''engine brake'' made it so much more predictable through the tight corners.
Also on this straight every bike tends to make a little ''tank slapper wobble''. I tested 3 ICE bikes there so far and they all did, asked around and all bikes do. Both SM builds and Enduro's on SM wheels. Except the Stark. We think it has something to do with shifting over that repaired tarmac.

You will probably think i'm slow as @#$% but i had enough fun to share it

Erwin P said:

i had enough fun to share it

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing mate. Great edit, I really enjoyed how you reversed the crash and then made the corner

I found that when I installed a 320 disc at the front my caliper began to rub because the new disc was 4.5mm compared to the stock 3.2mm. I ended up making my own 1mm spacer. This was with a KTM 320 caliper. Did you have any issue with yours?

I had roughly the same issue. However just with the bolts.
In my case it was rubbing against the adapter bracket wich was quite overengineered so i took 2mm of that.

And thanks! My editing skills are also still little, but growing over the past 1,5 season i've been filming.

yea the adapter bracket is quite thick. Removing material from that is probably the best way to do it to be honest, now my front wheel is 1mm off centre

What are you guys doing about the long kickstand? I bought an EX along with a set of SM tires to have a fun commuter bike during the week. I rode it into work the other day only to walk out of the building and see my bike laying on the ground. I saw Warp9 sold an adjustable one at one point but it's no longer on their site and other sites that still sell it state it doesn't work with the EX.

Buy the one of the MX everyone hated for being too short.

I now have a EX replacement from AliExpress that actually doesn't break.

Erwin P said:

I'm an absolute beginner at this but i did it a couple of times now.

Only one time with my 17'-17' ContiAttack SM 2 set instead of 21'-19'. Installed a 320mm rotor with just an adapter for the OEM caliper. OEM suspension, but fork compression max stiff. So far i did not overheat the front brake yet. However this day was in the rain and had my first kneedown. Closely followed by a elbow, hip and shoulder down...

What i did however noticed was that the Stark was the way better wett track bike. From being at the rear of the field i soon was the fastest on track, even compared to more skilled riders with dedicaded rain tyres.
Being butterly smooth on the ''engine brake'' made it so much more predictable through the tight corners.
Also on this straight every bike tends to make a little ''tank slapper wobble''. I tested 3 ICE bikes there so far and they all did, asked around and all bikes do. Both SM builds and Enduro's on SM wheels. Except the Stark. We think it has something to do with shifting over that repaired tarmac.

You will probably think i'm slow as @#$% but i had enough fun to share it

Click to expand...

Very informative post and video, even for no Supermoto riders. The power delivery advantage in the wet is quite impressive. No wobble is also. Your riding was just fine, smooth is fast. In the comments you mentioned switching power modes for different parts of the track, but it wasn't noticeable. I'm thinking that's inconvenient. I don't bother with anything but max HP and adjust the right wrist. You should try it? SuperMoto brings in a whole new element of engine braking, what are you trying?

Caseit said:

What are you guys doing about the long kickstand? I bought an EX along with a set of SM tires to have a fun commuter bike during the week. I rode it into work the other day only to walk out of the building and see my bike laying on the ground. I saw Warp9 sold an adjustable one at one point but it's no longer on their site and other sites that still sell it state it doesn't work with the EX.

Click to expand...

Buy an early version stark kickstand bracket and use that bracket on your EX. This will solve the kickstand problem if you're using SM wheels. I have 17 inch wheels on my EX and use the early version kickstand bracket with the current EX kickstand. When stark changed the bracket and begin using them on the EX bikes they have continued to use the original kickstand. In other words, the kickstand is unchanged from the first production bikes all the way through the EX bikes.

Caseit said:

What are you guys doing about the long kickstand? I bought an EX along with a set of SM tires to have a fun commuter bike during the week. I rode it into work the other day only to walk out of the building and see my bike laying on the ground. I saw Warp9 sold an adjustable one at one point but it's no longer on their site and other sites that still sell it state it doesn't work with the EX.

Click to expand...

My EX stand works fine on SM wheels, but I could see how a strong gust of wind or someone bumping into the bike could topple it. When my bike is at home I park it against the wall in my garage in case my young boys climb on it, that way the wall will catch it before it goes too far past the balance point.

Johnny Depp said:

Very informative post and video, even for no Supermoto riders. The power delivery advantage in the wet is quite impressive. No wobble is also. Your riding was just fine, smooth is fast. In the comments you mentioned switching power modes for different parts of the track, but it wasn't noticeable. I'm thinking that's inconvenient. I don't bother with anything but max HP and adjust the right wrist. You should try it? SuperMoto brings in a whole new element of engine braking, what are you trying?

Click to expand...

Thanks!

I really dislike the snappyness of full power. So i use 48hp (wich i use on MX, Enduro etc) everywhere but when i close the throttle for corner onto the straight i switch to 80hp. That way it's so smooth you are not able to see it. Closing the throttle on the end of the straight i push 1 down wich is again smooth.

In MX/Enduro i prefer 40% engine brake. However for SM i go 50-60 ish and likt that best. More than 60% gives me that "lock up" feel in the tight corners.

clearence…
with 17“ sm wheels the clearence of the bike has shrunk to 280mm, no load, on its own legs.
to receive the roadworty at the vehicle authority i need at least 310mm.

now i liftet the ex to the point where front and rearwheel just touch the ground.
in this case i‘ve 310mm. but the rear shock is fully extended now.

however the spring on the shock is charged, as soon as it is on its legs
the shock compresses a little… and the 310mm are gone.

adjust the max. lenght of the shock? possible?

any ideas? it doesnt have to be practical at all.
its just good for the moment at the authority.

greez

bernardo

Bernardo said:

clearence…
with 17“ sm wheels the clearence of the bike has shrunk to 280mm, no load, on its own legs.
to receive the roadworty at the vehicle authority i need at least 310mm.

now i liftet the ex to the point where front and rearwheel just touch the ground.
in this case i‘ve 310mm. but the rear shock is fully extended now.

however the spring on the shock is charged, as soon as it is on its legs
the shock compresses a little… and the 310mm are gone.

adjust the max. lenght of the shock? possible?

any ideas? it doesnt have to be practical at all.
its just good for the moment at the authority.

greez

bernardo

Click to expand...

Take it to the authorities fully stock with the dirt wheels on. EZ fix. I once tried to register an EXC with SM wheels on it and it was a hassle, even though KTM made the wheels for me. In hind sight I should have registered it with stock wheels and then switched the wheels.

DaveAusNor said:

Take it to the authorities fully stock with the dirt wheels on. EZ fix. I once tried to register an EXC with SM wheels on it and it was a hassle, even though KTM made the wheels for me. In hind sight I should have registered it with stock wheels and then switched the wheels.

Click to expand...

in good old austria…
it is an ex and i‘ve a numberplate on it.
the sm parts are to be legalized.

Erwin P said:

Thanks!

I really dislike the snappyness of full power. So i use 48hp (wich i use on MX, Enduro etc) everywhere but when i close the throttle for corner onto the straight i switch to 80hp. That way it's so smooth you are not able to see it. Closing the throttle on the end of the straight i push 1 down wich is again smooth.

In MX/Enduro i prefer 40% engine brake. However for SM i go 50-60 ish and likt that best. More than 60% gives me that "lock up" feel in the tight corners.

Click to expand...

Thanks. On a dry track do you have trouble with wheelies or wheelspin? It seems those are the limiting factors on dirt. I was surprised to find that the crack of the throttle was the same whether on 20hp or 60. The map updates seem to have really mellowed the rideability, but a wet track is another thing.

Johnny Depp said:

Thanks. On a dry track do you have trouble with wheelies or wheelspin? It seems those are the limiting factors on dirt. I was surprised to find that the crack of the throttle was the same whether on 20hp or 60. The map updates seem to have really mellowed the rideability, but a wet track is another thing.

Click to expand...

The crack of the throttle between 20 or 60 is worlds apart though...?

Wheelies kinda, but i roll on smooth on the straight an thus it is no issue. Same in the corners. Smooth opening gives a super predictable response, way smoother than any ICE.

Offcourse full power and open throttle gives both wheely and wheelspin at the same time. But since i'm not suicidal i put it in 48hp and have grip instead.