Post here your Stark Varg issues (or not!)

[Jocke_D]

I'm in Sweden. Got my late 400 VIN delivered mid september of 2023. Have raced Supermoto and Enduro. Tested it on ice and also did a flat track session.

One of the tubes got a flat. Changed both.
There have been a couple of times when I did not understand what was happening with the up/down switches (did not respond as I expected) but that worked itself out.
A couple of times I've seen a message something like "Close throttle fully before starting". Did not find anything wrong and bike worked fine without me doing anything.
Got "waterpump failure" or something like that early on. They sent a new one almost before I got my question sent to support.
Think that's it.

 

[Beagle]

I'm in Sweden. Got my late 400 VIN delivered mid september of 2023. Have raced Supermoto and Enduro. Tested it on ice and also did a flat track session.

One of the tubes got a flat. Changed both.
There have been a couple of times when I did not understand what was happening with the up/down switches (did not respond as I expected) but that worked itself out.
A couple of times I've seen a message something like "Close throttle fully before starting". Did not find anything wrong and bike worked fine without me doing anything.
Got "waterpump failure" or something like that early on. They sent a new one almost before I got my question sent to support.
Think that's it.

Thanks, do you know how many hours you have on it now and maybe when the water pump failure happened?

 

[Jocke_D]

Thanks, do you know how many hours you have on it now and maybe when the water pump failure happened?

Unfortunately not that many hours, 30 perhaps.
That was late fall after I got it so not many hours at all. Did some top speed runs and the bike shut down (not locked up) due to the water pump issue.

Happened sunday, emailed monday morning asking what could be wrong. No more than an hour later I got the reply saying we have looked at your logs and a new pump is on the way. Excellent service

Remeber I have one of the first 500 bikes so some teething issues was expected. But also remember that in one of the range test videos the are using like VIN 8 (which probably has had some upgrades)

 

[Chaconne]

MX Gen1 / 2XXX I got it in Feb 2024 it was an early dealer delivery so it was likely an 'A' that didn't deliver on an early deposit pre-order.

My bike has been pretty much trouble free. I use my Gen 1 for enduro and it has been dropped a lot so most of the "issues" I have seen are user induced.

Tubes (sucked) surprisingly though the Pirellis were not nearly as bad as I thought they would be I run them at low pressure (IRC heavy duty tubes) which they don't like but side bite is pretty good in the muddy gnarl. When the Pirellis are done I will likely go with an IRC JX8 gummy.

Power/Control Switch I have been through two power switches and will likely go through a few more. They are not well sealed from dirt and other nasty --also it is worthwhile to seal up the wire junction box under the number plate too. One drop of the bars into deeper mud, water, or sand can cause probs on the trail. When debris invades the switch, behavior becomes weird e.g. bike won't come out of neutral, bike continues to cycle to firmware update mode back to neutral, bike cycles between reverse locking slow and run, won't come out of neutral.

Grips and Throttle Tube drops and get offs have damaged both sides. I have replaced the grips and throttle tube. I love the Stark throttle so simple, easy, and good it doesn't like to get smashed in a rock garden but it is such an easy fix and replacing it in a few minutes makes it great to have an E-bike.

Battery Fins I have broken some of the battery fins on the lower side near the pegs --the stock bash/skid plate is probably ok for moto but is not enough coverage for the rocky gnarl. I have just replaced the stock with the AXP and the coverage would have prevented the damage. The AXP also has a linkage guard.

 

[Voozee]

MX Gen2 / 9XXX received the bike in late December 2024. Bike has 2 hours on it. Had no issues first time out, but on the second track day the bike hard shutdown after 1.5 laps with approx. 90% battery. Here is what I sent to stark. Still waiting to hear back, but wanted to see if anybody else had experienced anything similar?

------------------------------------------
Friday 1/10/2025
I took the bike to the track. Paid the 50$ fee to ride. I did 1.5 laps around the small track and the bike died in a corner. Complete shutdown with no flashing lights at all, and no errors on the stark phone. I walked the bike back to my truck and it would refuse to power on. when i hit the power button it would go red then shut right back off. I tried to reset the bike but nothing worked. I took the bike home, cleaned it up, and tried to power it on again. This time the bike turned on went solid green and engaged, but as soon as i turned the throttle the bike shutdown fully again. no blinking lights. I waited a few more hours and tried to power the bike on and it powered on and acted normal on the stand ( engaged and let me turn the throttle) i took it off the stand and rode it around my neighborhood for about 5 min and everything seemed normal. I checked to make sure the battery was still accepting charge and the active cooling was still working and it was.

Saturday 1/11/2025
Since the bike seemed to be fine... I took it back to the track, paid the 50$ once more, and was hoping it was just a software glitch. This time i only made it half a lap around the track before the bike died on the backside of jump going into a corner again. fully shutdown, no flashing lights at all. no warnings or errors on the stark phone. I once again walk it back to my truck and try to troubleshoot. I took off the body work, checked all the connections and thing seemed secure. then when i tried to power the bike on, i got a solid red light that would just stay on. i could hear the water pump come on but thats about it. after no luck I loaded up and took the bike home again. And just like the previous day, it decided to power back on after sitting for 3-4 hours but then shutdown as soon as you touch the throttle. again no lights or errors just full power off. I have videos of the solid red and the hard shut offs if you are interested.
----------------------------------------------

Any info is appreciated.

 

[Beagle]

MX Gen2 / 9XXX received the bike in late December 2024. Bike has 2 hours on it. Had no issues first time out, but on the second track day the bike hard shutdown after 1.5 laps with approx. 90% battery. Here is what I sent to stark. Still waiting to hear back, but wanted to see if anybody else had experienced anything similar?

------------------------------------------
Friday 1/10/2025
I took the bike to the track. Paid the 50$ fee to ride. I did 1.5 laps around the small track and the bike died in a corner. Complete shutdown with no flashing lights at all, and no errors on the stark phone. I walked the bike back to my truck and it would refuse to power on. when i hit the power button it would go red then shut right back off. I tried to reset the bike but nothing worked. I took the bike home, cleaned it up, and tried to power it on again. This time the bike turned on went solid green and engaged, but as soon as i turned the throttle the bike shutdown fully again. no blinking lights. I waited a few more hours and tried to power the bike on and it powered on and acted normal on the stand ( engaged and let me turn the throttle) i took it off the stand and rode it around my neighborhood for about 5 min and everything seemed normal. I checked to make sure the battery was still accepting charge and the active cooling was still working and it was.

Saturday 1/11/2025
Since the bike seemed to be fine... I took it back to the track, paid the 50$ once more, and was hoping it was just a software glitch. This time i only made it half a lap around the track before the bike died on the backside of jump going into a corner again. fully shutdown, no flashing lights at all. no warnings or errors on the stark phone. I once again walk it back to my truck and try to troubleshoot. I took off the body work, checked all the connections and thing seemed secure. then when i tried to power the bike on, i got a solid red light that would just stay on. i could hear the water pump come on but thats about it. after no luck I loaded up and took the bike home again. And just like the previous day, it decided to power back on after sitting for 3-4 hours but then shutdown as soon as you touch the throttle. again no lights or errors just full power off. I have videos of the solid red and the hard shut offs if you are interested.
----------------------------------------------

Any info is appreciated.

Sorry to hear that, sounds like powertain or battery failure, keep us posted when they get back to you.

 

[fred900]

Since they replaced my Battery and then my V1 with a V2, I haven't had any new problems. Bike is solid now.

 

[LTJ]

I'll also agree with crappy tubes. Checked tire pressure the night before. Drove out to my riding area an hour away, jumped on the trail and the front tube failed within 15 minutes of my ride. Went back to my truck to replace the tube (had a spare in my truck), and pinched it installing it. Murphy's law..

I've had a number of issues with loosing the blue tooth connection between the phone and bike. I think it has to do with either the phone battery dying while storing the bike between rides, and or shutting the bike completely down while storing the bike. Re-starting the bike and phone fixes the connectivity issue.

Other than that, flawless and super fun!!!

 

[Voozee]

MX Gen2 / 9XXX received the bike in late December 2024. Bike has 2 hours on it. Had no issues first time out, but on the second track day the bike hard shutdown after 1.5 laps with approx. 90% battery. Here is what I sent to stark. Still waiting to hear back, but wanted to see if anybody else had experienced anything similar?

------------------------------------------
Friday 1/10/2025
I took the bike to the track. Paid the 50$ fee to ride. I did 1.5 laps around the small track and the bike died in a corner. Complete shutdown with no flashing lights at all, and no errors on the stark phone. I walked the bike back to my truck and it would refuse to power on. when i hit the power button it would go red then shut right back off. I tried to reset the bike but nothing worked. I took the bike home, cleaned it up, and tried to power it on again. This time the bike turned on went solid green and engaged, but as soon as i turned the throttle the bike shutdown fully again. no blinking lights. I waited a few more hours and tried to power the bike on and it powered on and acted normal on the stand ( engaged and let me turn the throttle) i took it off the stand and rode it around my neighborhood for about 5 min and everything seemed normal. I checked to make sure the battery was still accepting charge and the active cooling was still working and it was.

Saturday 1/11/2025
Since the bike seemed to be fine... I took it back to the track, paid the 50$ once more, and was hoping it was just a software glitch. This time i only made it half a lap around the track before the bike died on the backside of jump going into a corner again. fully shutdown, no flashing lights at all. no warnings or errors on the stark phone. I once again walk it back to my truck and try to troubleshoot. I took off the body work, checked all the connections and thing seemed secure. then when i tried to power the bike on, i got a solid red light that would just stay on. i could hear the water pump come on but thats about it. after no luck I loaded up and took the bike home again. And just like the previous day, it decided to power back on after sitting for 3-4 hours but then shutdown as soon as you touch the throttle. again no lights or errors just full power off. I have videos of the solid red and the hard shut offs if you are interested.
----------------------------------------------

Any info is appreciated.

For anybody interested.

Stark did get back with me today. After sending them a couple videos of what was happening, they determined it was the powertrain. (not sure if they remoted into the bike or not). They are going to send out a new powertrain. Hopefully that sorts out the issue.

I did find another customer on youtube that had the exact same symptoms as me, but they said he had a bad battery not powertrain.

Here is the clip i found not what i sent stark : varg shutdown

Will update after I get the powertrain installed. Really not looking forward to tearing down a bike with only 2 hours on it but I don't want to wait around for the local dealer to get to it.

 

[UKLee]

For anybody interested.

Stark did get back with me today. After sending them a couple videos of what was happening, they determined it was the powertrain. (not sure if they remoted into the bike or not). They are going to send out a new powertrain. Hopefully that sorts out the issue.

I did find another customer on youtube that had the exact same symptoms as me, but they said he had a bad battery not powertrain.

Here is the clip i found not what i sent stark : varg shutdown

Will update after I get the powertrain installed. Really not looking forward to tearing down a bike with only 2 hours on it but I don't want to wait around for the local dealer to get to it.

Dealers do not want to do warranty work as stark will not pay them a decent rate so your bike will sit around for ages.
Not sure if the video to replace the powertrain has been updated but if it tells you to take the side plates off the main frame dont bother I am assured you can get the drivetrain out without removing them. They are difficult to remove but that said not so hard now I know they are on a taper.

"I did find another customer on youtube that had the exact same symptoms as me, but they said he had a bad battery not powertrain."
That is a concern for when we have this problem when the warranty is up, get a drivetrain at £3200 which does not fix it then pay £2700 for a battery. Over half the cost of a new bke

 

[Beagle]

That is a concern for when we have this problem when the warranty is up, get a drivetrain at £3200 which does not fix it then pay £2700 for a battery. Over half the cost of a new bke

Not when, if. You're still assuming your nightmare scenario will happen, at this point no one knows if powertrain or battery issues will be common or very rare after 2 years.

Only thing we know is that the problems with powertrains or battery seen so far appeared very early. The rider you're answering to had the issue in the first couple of hours of riding, IIRC the issues you've had yourself happened in your first couple months of riding (sorry I don't recall if you specified hours).

If we ever see such issues suddenly appearing on bikes over 50 h, this would be a worrying sign indeed. Then I'll ask you for a stick and I'll start banging the drum with you.

 

[Voozee]

Update - When they told me it was the powertrain, I asked how they knew it was the powertrain. I was just curious being as the only other user I found who posted that video had 2 bad cells in his battery. Stark replied with
"After some more investigation I believe it would be a battery sorry. I can see a there is an issue with the cell." So they are actually sending a battery instead. I'm glad i asked?.... much easier swap to be fair. Ill update after get the battery swapped.

 

[fsfs]

Update - When they told me it was the powertrain, I asked how they knew it was the powertrain. I was just curious being as the only other user I found who posted that video had 2 bad cells in his battery. Stark replied with
"After some more investigation I believe it would be a battery sorry. I can see a there is an issue with the cell." So they are actually sending a battery instead. I'm glad i asked?.... much easier swap to be fair. Ill update after get the battery swapped.

Interesting... thank you.

 

[AL_V]

Update - When they told me it was the powertrain, I asked how they knew it was the powertrain. I was just curious being as the only other user I found who posted that video had 2 bad cells in his battery. Stark replied with
"After some more investigation I believe it would be a battery sorry. I can see a there is an issue with the cell." So they are actually sending a battery instead. I'm glad i asked?.... much easier swap to be fair. Ill update after get the battery swapped.

Wow, that does not inspire confidence!

 

[UKLee]

Not when, if. You're still assuming your nightmare scenario will happen, at this point no one knows if powertrain or battery issues will be common or very rare after 2 years.

Only thing we know is that the problems with powertrains or battery seen so far appeared very early. The rider you're answering to had the issue in the first couple of hours of riding, IIRC the issues you've had yourself happened in your first couple months of riding (sorry I don't recall if you specified hours).

If we ever see such issues suddenly appearing on bikes over 50 h, this would be a worrying sign indeed. Then I'll ask you for a stick and I'll start banging the drum with you.

Got no record of exactly but would guess around 30 hours (once the field dried up in april the stark got a lot of use) when our first drivetrain went bad, on 59 hours now and the replacment is making a lot more noise than it should which is how the first one started.
I have seen other reports of failed drivetrains with decent hours on them it is not just low hour bikes that have this issue.

Update - When they told me it was the powertrain, I asked how they knew it was the powertrain. I was just curious being as the only other user I found who posted that video had 2 bad cells in his battery. Stark replied with
"After some more investigation I believe it would be a battery sorry. I can see a there is an issue with the cell." So they are actually sending a battery instead. I'm glad i asked?.... much easier swap to be fair. Ill update after get the battery swapped.

What are we working with!

 

[RutsMonsterRaw]

Bikes been good since purchase (Less than a year ago), and only issue is as follows:

Bad Charging brick after 7 months:

My charger suddenly slowed down to around 1% every 2 minutes from 20% on (using 220V).
- After 7 months of usage at home, at track on 220V and using max charge setting.
- Charger showed green light (on charging brick) and fan did work (on charger).

Tried a different charger and was back to my normal fast speeds using 220V and at home on 120V (using max charging setting).
- Different charger used the same 220V connector and same 120v connector to isolate the charging brick or the cable that goes into the bike.


Recommend to folks is to note how long 20% - 30% takes (or some percentage range you charge through many times), and keep that as a data point.

Contact Stark for charging issues and they should be able to warranty the charger or provide guidance.

 

[jasonjm]

bike well looked after but ridden hard. zero actual wrecks. Battery appears to be dead after 3 months. Stark varg support is close to useless, basically blaming me and the dealer for not helping them diagnose the problem, but they have no phone number no online chat and respond to emails every 4 days. Very irritated with stark. not acceptable. bike sitting for 1 month so far. i have a long long email thread with their support cursing them out.

 

[F451]

bike well looked after but ridden hard. zero actual wrecks. Battery appears to be dead after 3 months. Stark varg support is close to useless, basically blaming me and the dealer for not helping them diagnose the problem, but they have no phone number no online chat and respond to emails every 4 days. Very irritated with stark. not acceptable. bike sitting for 1 month so far. i have a long long email thread with their support cursing them out.

I made a lengthy response to your other post, and I'm not sure if I'm understanding you correctly here, if I am misunderstanding, please disregard.

But you mention cursing them out. If you've been cursing them out, you need to stop regardless of how frustrated you are. I do think your frustration is understandable, we would all be beyond annoyed at your situation.

But in the support world if a customer is berating support staff, especially cursing people out, its very problematic for them. Many companies will draw the line there and refuse to help the customer out at all.

Regardless of how frustrated you are, you need to do your best to communicate in a calm and rational way.

I hope your situation gets resolved asap, good luck.

 

[jasonjm]

well technically i am not cursing them out, i have not said anything like "you guys are f-ing idiots", i would use a phrase like "this situation is bullshit" or "your support sucks" - maybe 2 or 3 things like that in 1 months communication.

grey area i guess.

i probably shouldn't have said those things, but im human and too frustrated. if i could have spoken to them on the phone nothing would escalate like this, but they hide behind their email support.

 

[Chaconne]

well technically i am not cursing them out, i have not said anything like "you guys are f-ing idiots", i would use a phrase like "this situation is bullshit" or "your support sucks" - maybe 2 or 3 things like that in 1 months communication.

grey area i guess.

i probably shouldn't have said those things, but im human and too frustrated. if i could have spoken to them on the phone nothing would escalate like this, but they hide behind their email support.

I agree with @F451. I too have had a few frustrating experiences with some of the online staff but most of them are really good in a thankless job. They are sensitive to harsh language for sure. Almost all my interactions have been with email and they have been ok.

Over all Stark as has been pretty good with support IMHO. Typically they can log into your bike diagnose the problem and generally they ship out new expensive parts seamlessly. TBH I have been pretty amazed at the ship outs of batteries, drivetrains, & etc. Having had years with ICE bikes there would be zero support, absolutely no warranty, nothing but money spent at dealerships often times for poor service (the KTM 790 cam issue is a good example of typical with ICE bikes).

Maybe try it again keep your cool, explain your problem ask if somebody could log in, and see what happens. If you bought you bike through a dealer they should help. The dealer I bought my bike from is great. I bought gas bikes from him in the past and he has been there to help with the Stark as well.