New Stark Discounts/Stock Tube Issues

[Chadx]

In the U.S., you pay sales tax based on the State you live in. Some States have very high tax rate, some have zero sales tax (like my State). There is no federal/country tax.

As for early adopters, I ordered day one, but have not yet fullfilled my order. I have $300 downpayment sitting there on my preorder. Then the 80hp went on sale for $10,999. They are no longer selling 60hp. They programmed all in-stock bikes as 80hp hoping that "perk", along with the discount would help liquidate the backlog of inventory. I have no use for 80hp and there is zero value in it for me. My reservation was for $12,000 including the $100 kickstand which is not included in any of the in stock bikes, so call mine $11,900.

The 80hp are $10,999 which is about $900 cheaper than my $60hp preorder with no kickstand. The will apply my down payment to that order. I'm still on the fence at that price. $900 is a decent and king of temping discount. That being said, if I could buy a 60hp Varg, like what I originally ordered for $1,900 - $2,000 less (so a price of $9,999), I would have fulfilled already. The 80hp is a zero value perk for me personally but it's a zero cost upgrade for Stark that they can market as a $1,000 perk, so I get why they are doing it this way and not offering any of the in-stock, discounted bikes at 60hp.

 

[Chaconne]

Im not sad at all. It was well worth the full 13k to have the bike delivered to my house May of 2023. I have no intentions of selling it so dont mind the price cuts. I might use this as an opportunity to scoop up a second Varg.

Ya me either. I think it is bullshit to whine about the pricing. I am not a Stark fanboy but we were early adopting, and the bikes were in early production that is the way it works. And some of the early stuff that was not so good they have already have improved due to customer demand. No other brand does that.

Plus, the market for dirtbikes has collapsed, and at least for me I got in solid season of riding. I paid 13K OTD in early 24 from a dealer with full setup, got exactly what I wanted. And the KTMs and GasGas ICE bikes I liked weren't all that much cheaper and would likely have needed more mods than my Varg has. Ya the tire tubes were shit but outside of that I have paid for no maintenance and the only costs all season was for shit I broke crashing or banging into obstacles (I solared most of my energy all summer) .

Dirtbikes depreciate as soon as you ride them off the lot, many brands have no warranty to speak of either and the prices for all brands will be falling. We might even see KTM end the GasGas and Husky lines entirely as sales are so bad.

These aren't investments they are hobbyist toys. Overall Stark has been pretty good (even though they have pissed me off more than once) especially compared to the established brands. The price cuts are to sell bikes. And I have encouraged my friends considering KTMs and GasGas bikes to reconsider if they could make the Stark work for them it is that good.

 

[Erwin P]

I will however send them an e-mail when their plated enduro comes out.
As an early adapter i paid premium and my bike is less sellable than a newer one. Prices droppen €2000 since then. The write-off will be substantional.

Maybe they are willing to offer a good trade in deal on the plated enduro for early adapters.

 

[Chadx]

This isn't entirely different than other manufacturers offering rebates on a model year when new model year lands. Or on a current model when a new model refresh comes out. This might be a touch more money than those, but it happens yearly on many brands (dirtbike/motorcycles/ATV/UTV, snowmobiles, automobiles, boats, etc.).

Buy summer toys in the fall and buy winter toys in the spring for the best price...but then wait for the following riding season to use them.

 

[Aleksandar13]

I have placed a deposit with a uk dealer for a gen 2 road legal one with side stand, hand brake, enduro wheel. Road legal with brake light and headlight, registration and delivery home for £10,499. That's free 80hp software, around 150 for delivery and 500 for road registration including lighting kit. I'm very happy with this deal as most dealers still sell them around £11,500 stock.

I guess they have to reduce the price to be closer to the Petrol engine bikes and get more people onboard to grow the brand and become successful, unfortunately for the early people who have bought that means a kick in the... But most companies and comercial setups work like this from a startup to becoming a full grown company. I appreciate every single one person who invests early and gives the opportunity to the company to sell and develop products that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

Think about the early days of tesla, how many people and businesses said he will fail, same thing will apply here but on a smaller scale I guess, unless they become engine and battery suppliers for larger brands which is possible.

Aleks

 

[Chadx]

...I guess they have to reduce the price to be closer to the Petrol engine bikes and get more people onboard to grow the brand and become successful,...

It's simply to liquidate current backlog of inventory. They built to the number of pre-orders and enough of those were not fulfilled that there is a surplus of bikes in the warehouses. This price is to reduce inventory and the price is only on in- stock bikes. Once those are gone, so is the price break. The price for ordered bikes will be the same as it was before.

 

[Beagle]

It's simply to liquidate current backlog of inventory. They built to the number of pre-orders and enough of those were not fulfilled that there is a surplus of bikes in the warehouses. This price is to reduce inventory and the price is only on in- stock bikes. Once those are gone, so is the price break. The price for ordered bikes will be the same as it was before.

Not how it looks on their website, for Europe if you order now for a configuration not in stock, you get delivery for Christmas and the price is still 12 000 €.

 

[Chadx]

Not how it looks on their website, for Europe if you order now for a configuration not in stock, you get delivery for Christmas and the price is still 12 000 €.

Interesting! I found only one combination in the US that was not available immediately from the U.S. warehouse and that is any bike with a sidestand (every other combination is available in the warehouse and delivered in an estimated 10 days). The sidestand bike has an estimated delivery of Feb. 2025, but like you said, it's at the current discounted price. No idea how long that will last. You can not order a 60hp for an additional discount, unfortunately. So maybe the notion of a 60hp bike is gone forever. Also, I've no idea if the Feb 2025 estimate is because that is when they figure they will have a replacement/working sidestand or that is simply when they expect the next run to be built, shipped to the U.S. and ready for distribution.

 

[Aleksandar13]

I would have understood the concept of clearing stock for gen 1 bikes to make room for gen 2 quicker! But I bought a gen 2 bike. Anyways I am a few sleeps away from receiving so can't wait for it

 

[Beagle]

Interesting! I found only one combination in the US that was not available immediately from the U.S. warehouse and that is any bike with a sidestand (every other combination is available in the warehouse and delivered in an estimated 10 days). The sidestand bike has an estimated delivery of Feb. 2025, but like you said, it's at the current discounted price. No idea how long that will last. You can not order a 60hp for an additional discount, unfortunately. So maybe the notion of a 60hp bike is gone forever. Also, I've no idea if the Feb 2025 estimate is because that is when they figure they will have a replacement/working sidestand or that is simply when they expect the next run to be built, shipped to the U.S. and ready for distribution.

Don't think it has anything to do with side stand, I think it's just the current estimated time for any new orders, 2 months for Europe and 4 months for US.

As discussed in another thread, this delay used to be shorter so one hypothesis is that it could be because they're using some production slots to build some stock for incoming road models.

 

[Chaconne]

I have placed a deposit with a uk dealer for a gen 2 road legal one with side stand, hand brake, enduro wheel. Road legal with brake light and headlight, registration and delivery home for £10,499. That's free 80hp software, around 150 for delivery and 500 for road registration including lighting kit. I'm very happy with this deal as most dealers still sell them around £11,500 stock.

I guess they have to reduce the price to be closer to the Petrol engine bikes and get more people onboard to grow the brand and become successful, unfortunately for the early people who have bought that means a kick in the... But most companies and comercial setups work like this from a startup to becoming a full grown company. I appreciate every single one person who invests early and gives the opportunity to the company to sell and develop products that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

Think about the early days of tesla, how many people and businesses said he will fail, same thing will apply here but on a smaller scale I guess, unless they become engine and battery suppliers for larger brands which is possible.

Aleks

Tesla is large enough that they can lobby for a government bailout and cling on to some of their high prices. One thing that distinguished Stark was its ability to stay close to ICE competition on price/value. A smaller startup type of venture in a very limited market like Stark has to adjust to the market to compete and survive.

The market in the US for motorcycles is also much different than Europe and Asia and even South America (and this is even more so for E-Motorcycles) so I imagine Stark will need to adjust its pricing and sales for different geographies.

 

[Clutch]

I recommend changing out the stock inner tubes as well. First time riding/buying a dirt bike, took it to the MX track and just did 2 hours of the easiest/softest riding ever, rolled every jump, never left the ground then noticed both tires went flat just before I was about to wrap up for the day. Replaced both inner tubes with Dunlop Heavy tubes, did another track outing, no flats this time around. Was running 13-15 PSI both times.