>24 hours old and constant red light

[Dyno]

I’ve seen 2 other posts but would like to add my experience in here as it’s important for these issues to be heard.

As the title says, put the bike together yesterday, rode it in 20hp-40hp for about 20-30 minutes before it shut down, flipped it back on and after a short ride it shut down again but with a constant red light. Loaded it into a truck and took it home. Today I go to take it out, get another 10-20 minutes of riding in a low power mode before the bike shuts off again. I go to turn the bike on and the phone starts screaming at me saying the inverter is overheating.

I waited for the Varg to cool down and started looking up the issue. I did most of the “fixes” I was comfortable doing. Resetting the bike, checking for updates, and unplugging and plugging back in the CAN BUS plug. Start the bike back up and all seems to be fine. Take it out again being very cautious, as I don’t want to mess anything up but I just want to ride the dang bike! 10 minutes in and same thing, inverter overheating.
From what I’ve read this is going to turn into a $3500, 3 hour Powertrain swap that’s covered under warranty due to a bad sensor in the powertrain.

If anyone has any ideas or some good news to put my mind at ease it would be greatly appreciated. At the moment there’s a very expensive paper weight sitting in my garage…

 

[UKLee]

3 years since we saw video of working bikes and over a year since customers first had these powertrain issues and Stark are STILL turning bikes out with these problems and plenty of others.
At least it will get fixed under warranty although stark will expect you to do it for nothing or you take it to a dealer who might well take for ever. My replacment powertrain is now getting noisy so more trouble on the horizon.
£3100 if this happens after the warranty is up.

Is this a gen 1 black platic cover or gen 2 silver cover?

 

[Dyno]

3 years since we saw video of working bikes and over a year since customers first had these powertrain issues and Stark are STILL turning bikes out with these problems and plenty of others.
At least it will get fixed under warranty although stark will expect you to do it for nothing or you take it to a dealer who might well take for ever. My replacment powertrain is now getting noisy so more trouble on the horizon.
£3100 if this happens after the warranty is up.

Is this a gen 1 black platic cover or gen 2 silver cover?

Gen 2 silver cover.

 

[Dyno]

Will keep this thread updated throughout the process so others are informed. Hoping this is a easy fix but from what I’ve seen the bike needs to be nearly fully disassembled to replace the powertrain.

Sent a support email last night (Dec 11, 2024, 01:07 GMT+1/ 7:00pm EST) and yet to hear anything back.

 

[UKLee]

Will keep this thread updated throughout the process so others are informed. Hoping this is a easy fix but from what I’ve seen the bike needs to be nearly fully disassembled to replace the powertrain.

Sent a support email last night (Dec 11, 2024, 01:07 GMT+1/ 7:00pm EST) and yet to hear anything back.

Yes but seems you do not need to remove the alloy side plates from the main frame as it says in the video, others who have done it say you can just about get the drivetrain in and out without, just as well because hard work to get the tapers out.

 

[Dyno]

Just received an email back from support, without question they said it was the drive unit and that they will be sending a new one to me to replace it. Seems like they are used to this issue and send out new units without any fuss.

 

[Bert]

Running into the same issue as well.
Bike runs, after a few mins of riding bike throttle cuts out even when it’s in a map, shut the bike off and power it on and the bike with have a solid red light and won’t get out of neutral.
Seems to me that it’s an overheating issue. I will have to reach back out to stark to see what they say.

 

[GSpick]

Running into the same issue as well.
Bike runs, after a few mins of riding bike throttle cuts out even when it’s in a map, shut the bike off and power it on and the bike with have a solid red light and won’t get out of neutral.
Seems to me that it’s an overheating issue. I will have to reach back out to stark to see what they say.

Damn Bert! Sorry to see this. First the firmware issue and now this.

 

[Bert]

Damn Bert! Sorry to see this. First the firmware issue and now this.

Yea, it’s been a troubleshooting process right out of the box. But I might of found a solution to the throttle issue from another user in another thread. I gave it a go and it seems to have cleared the issue. I rode the bike twice already and I was able to ride the bike around my neighborhood and in some grass field for 25min without having any issues. Going to the MX track tomorrow to see how it goes and if I’m able to ride it without the throttle cutting out.

 

[Bert]

GOOD NEWS!
Bike was working flawlessly today at the MX track. Was able to run the bike for multiple session of around 25-40min today. It seems that the CAN BUS rest is one last resort if you are having issues with the constant red light and the bike not getting out of neutral after a few minutes of riding. Was able to get about an 1 hour and 35min of run time total. Started with Max charge and came down to 14% by the time I need to load up and head out.

 

[iofel]

Got the solid red light. Still awaiting for starks reply. Tried resetting, unplugging and plugging back in vcu, bus cable nothing. Probably vcu problem. Literally yesterday was working perfectly, charged it over night, boom turn it on and solid red light.

 

[Bert]

It’s going to be an issue with the powertrain. The issue came back and stark sent me a new powertrain. They said that the thermal sensor in the inverter was faulty. Stark had said that when it’s a solid red light it has to do with an overheating issue.

 

[iofel]

It’s going to be an issue with the powertrain. The issue came back and stark sent me a new powertrain. They said that the thermal sensor in the inverter was faulty. Stark had said that when it’s a solid red light it has to do with an overheating issue.

Bummer. Thanks for the help. Will keep posted when stark replies!

 

[iofel]

Bummer. Thanks for the help. Will keep posted when stark replies!

 

[40hp]

Got a solid red light while plugged in charging at 120V today. Does not charge. Also throttle does not go even though I get a solid green light and phone app says I am in mode. Working fine yesterday before this. Bike has 24 hours.

Sent a message to Stark. Question for those who have been through this, how long (days) did it take Stark to respond?

 

[AL_V]

If you contact them through the support form on their webpage, I usually hear back within 24 hours.
If I email without using the form, I’ve had mixed results.

 

[40hp]

Got a solid red light while plugged in charging at 120V today. Does not charge. Also throttle does not go even though I get a solid green light and phone app says I am in mode. Working fine yesterday before this. Bike has 24 hours.

Sent a message to Stark. Question for those who have been through this, how long (days) did it take Stark to respond?

Update:

Stark did get back to me within 24 hours and requested a time for an online meeting which I've now done.

Stark only had to push an update to my bike and that fixed my issues. I did have the most recent firmware update pending for a few weeks, but just kept riding it without updating. Not sure if that caused the issue, but for now on I'll update the bike as new firmware becomes available.

In my case, Stark support was very good. It's rare to get a live person video call to troubleshoot technical issues. Was also nice not having to go through a dealer.