General Hypocrisy... perhaps, sort of.

It's been a bit more than a month or so now, but I have to confess that I sold my '24 80-Alpha MX to an absolutely cool buyer that only wanted the SM wheels and was delighted to get this amazing bike as a beginner/commuter rig.

So, why did I sell? Well, I have owned at least 50 moto's in my "moto life". I'm a (old) racer, MX and Off-road, and with the the Varg, I had a tough time getting on with the extra weight and the clutch-less factor (for my style of riding). Man, I so wanted to be the "Varg" kinda guy, but I just couldn't make it work. Battery was dropping dead well before me, and I was ready for a lot more riding before the bike was (as long as I didn't have to pick it up - repeatably). Charging while out in the wild with a generator at 110v, was... well, it sucked. I felt like I needed 2 Vargs to cover my desires.

Full confession - Even before I sold my Stark I'd already gone out and bought myself a new KTM 450 SX-F and built it into an enduro/tech-trail monster. "E" start, 2 hours of solid railing the gnarliest trails I ride, then 50 seconds to refuel and go off again. This bike is 37 lbs. (put 37 lbs. in a box and pick it up) lighter than the Alpha. I'm much happier now.

I know you all love your Vargs, as did I (and I do sorta miss it). But, what needs to said is that it's not the only, or best bike that satisfies all riders, not does it solve the world's problems of the world.

Just one old asshole's opinions.

What you've said is completely valid. You need to have the bike that's right for you.

What's funny though, is that I've gone the other way.
The EX ticks all boxes for what I want out of a bike at the moment. So much so, I've just sold one of mine and prepping another for sale.

Enjoy your KTM.

Yes it is not for everybody that is for sure. My gas bikes are across the country now and I don't use them very often but I still like them. The Varg works for me with the kind of riding I do now mostly the slow gnarl and enduro.

I gave up on gas dirt bikes because of maintenance, when they sit long periods carb problems, and oil change and air filter and too ends etc.

Electric has real limitations, when I had an Alta I could only get 20 miles of moderately aggressive trail riding, I’m old but I could have gone twice the distance. Charging time was too slow like mentioned above. And the Alta was really heavy, same weight as the Stark

I made the choice to build a Don Cox special - biggest reason is lower weight and battery can be swapped by removing some plastic.

The electric allows me to ride more frequently with less maintenance but range is still limiting factor of about 20 miles.

I totally get why for many riders like pro’s or enduro competition where the only option is gas currently.

Hopefully those new Molicel P60 cells will add 20% range when they become available.

I’ve been messing with electric for about 10 years and the advancement are really impressive.

Of course range can very widely depending on rider and terrain: