Post here your Stark Varg issues (or not!)

[Karinshi]

Took delivery of my EX in June 2025. It worked fine (except for the tubes) for the first 3 rides. Then it refused to take a charge. No falls, drops, water, hard hits.. nothing. Just a simple ride on some gravel roads and a mile of single track in the woods. Stark sent me a new charger to repair the issue after a couple of weeks of discussion. That didn't work. So after numerous emails and weeks of waiting, they finally assumed that the issue is the battery. They have agreed to send me a new battery, but require that I pay for the battery, shipping from the states to the Bahamas, cover the duty and VAT, and pay for returning the old battery to the states, then they'll refund me the purchase price of the battery. All in, that would cost me $4,500+ on top of the $3,000 battery cost that they'll eventually refund. And I'll have to do the repair myself.

Support has been extremely slow to respond, but courteous so far. I'm furious about what they expect me to pay to get this fixed though.

OMG that sounds terrible... im scared because my battery is starting the stop charging once it reaches like 78%... i cant charge it to a 100% anymore...
if i disconnect the cable and connect it again it continues charging and stops after 1 minute... repeat it again and maybe i can get it to 92/94% but i need to unplug/plug like 8 times... its the only way and is very time consuming

i send a ticket to Stark today, let see what they respond...

the APP that @brongle made can help me see if i have any bad cells... but in case i got them bad i dont know how to tell Stark that i know this, i am not supposed to know it. They can cancel my warranty for installing an external APP

Lets pray...

 

[Motosupa]

OMG that sounds terrible... im scared because my battery is starting the stop charging once it reaches like 78%... i cant charge it to a 100% anymore...
if i disconnect the cable and connect it again it continues charging and stops after 1 minute... repeat it again and maybe i can get it to 92/94% but i need to unplug/plug like 8 times... its the only way and is very time consuming

i send a ticket to Stark today, let see what they respond...

the APP that @brongle made can help me see if i have any bad cells... but in case i got them bad i dont know how to tell Stark that i know this, i am not supposed to know it. They can cancel my warranty for installing an external APP

Lets pray...

Hopefully you don't have the same issue, but it seems to be a more common problem lately. I wouldn't do any 3rd party apps. I'm avoiding any alterations at all because of the warranty.. but then again, if this is how they handle warranty claims.

My big concern is.. if the battery ends up NOT being the actual issue. Then I'm out $4500 and STILL have a broken bike. Then what?

 

[Karinshi]

Hopefully you don't have the same issue, but it seems to be a more common problem lately. I wouldn't do any 3rd party apps. I'm avoiding any alterations at all because of the warranty.. but then again, if this is how they handle warranty claims.

My big concern is.. if the battery ends up NOT being the actual issue. Then I'm out $4500 and STILL have a broken bike. Then what?

thats very strange man... at least in my country (Spain) that's not legal, they are require to replace the battery for free, you dont even have to pay for the transport

 

[drehwurm68]

I wouldn't do any 3rd party apps.

This app doesn't write anything to the bike so Stark will never know, but it could give you some pointers - nothing to loose here.

AFAIK the Bahamas do have some special relations to the US regarding tax and immigration so couldn't you just take the broken battery as a "import item for repair, no tax/vat" on a plane and bring back the new one instead - should be way cheaper than the 4.500$ you quoted? Usually there are always options for importing/exporting goods for repair between "friendly" countries, so I hope the Bahamas are still on that list for the US?

Michael

 

[OpaTsupa]

Took delivery of my EX in June 2025. It worked fine (except for the tubes) for the first 3 rides. Then it refused to take a charge. No falls, drops, water, hard hits.. nothing. Just a simple ride on some gravel roads and a mile of single track in the woods. Stark sent me a new charger to repair the issue after a couple of weeks of discussion. That didn't work. So after numerous emails and weeks of waiting, they finally assumed that the issue is the battery. They have agreed to send me a new battery, but require that I pay for the battery, shipping from the states to the Bahamas, cover the duty and VAT, and pay for returning the old battery to the states, then they'll refund me the purchase price of the battery. All in, that would cost me $4,500+ on top of the $3,000 battery cost that they'll eventually refund. And I'll have to do the repair myself.

Support has been extremely slow to respond, but courteous so far. I'm furious about what they expect me to pay to get this fixed though.

That is very unfortunate.
I commiserate wholly. Especially as my bike is from the same batch, and I'm, in a manner of speaking, on an island without support and surrounded by taxes.

My impression based on recent reports is that the good will from Stark company has ended. There will never again be "no questions asked" replacements. Customer support and hand-holding has also diminished.
I only hoped it will last for another year.

What do you plan to do?
Can you put the bike on a ferry and take it to a dealer in Florida?

 

[Erwin P]

I had some starting small issues with the battery but everything was stil working. Contacted them the 6th (Saturday) got a reply the following Wednesday, wich i replied that evening. Friday i got a request to plan a video call. Wich i planned for this morning. We made the call, they downloaded some data from the bike and promised to get back to me. They did early this afternoon and told me to pick a dealer to replace the battery in warranty.

 

[Motosupa]

This app doesn't write anything to the bike so Stark will never know, but it could give you some pointers - nothing to loose here.

AFAIK the Bahamas do have some special relations to the US regarding tax and immigration so couldn't you just take the broken battery as a "import item for repair, no tax/vat" on a plane and bring back the new one instead - should be way cheaper than the 4.500$ you quoted? Usually there are always options for importing/exporting goods for repair between "friendly" countries, so I hope the Bahamas are still on that list for the US?

Michael

Good to know on the app.

As for the duty on warranty items.. I can't get a clear answer, online or even from my friends in customs. All of my connections in freight tell me the rules changed and that I'm looking at 60% duty with 10% VAT. Plus, freight coming in is $300-500 while the return freight is the killer at $2500-3000. Shipping out is insanely difficult from my island. I usually send everything out with friends traveling to the US if I need to send anything. It would be less expensive for me to pay for overweight baggage on a commercial airline. But it's a battery so I can't do that either. I do have a couple of boating friends who could help me out in transport, but only one plans on leaving soon and I don't know him that well.

That is very unfortunate.
I commiserate wholly. Especially as my bike is from the same batch, and I'm, in a manner of speaking, on an island without support and surrounded by taxes.

My impression based on recent reports is that the good will from Stark company has ended. There will never again be "no questions asked" replacements. Customer support and hand-holding has also diminished.
I only hoped it will last for another year.

What do you plan to do?
Can you put the bike on a ferry and take it to a dealer in Florida?

Definitely feels like support has tanked from what it once was. Very unfortunate.

There's no ferry I can use for transport for repair. I've looked into it. Also, if I were to import it again after repair, I would pay duty on the bike again as a whole. It's the one thing the Bahamas does well.. tax everyone and everything and collect duty no matter what. Even if I had documentation on it.

My plan is to continue fighting for them to cover the return freight while I cover the freight in, duty, and taxes. That puts it at a 50/50 split on the cost. If they refuse, then I'll have no choice but to pay. In that case I would ask my friend/acquaintance to help by carrying it back to the states for me on his boat. But that's a bit concerning since it's a large crated item coming from the Bahamas out of sailing season lol. Maybe a bit suspicious. It's the only option for me to cut costs though.

 

[kailua808]

Has anyone received the rear brake guards that you ordered with the EX? We got two bike that were ordered in December 2024 and delivered earlier this year. Both are missing the rear guards that were purchased as an option.

 

[Border Dave]

Has anyone received the rear brake guards that you ordered with the EX? We got two bike that were ordered in December 2024 and delivered earlier this year. Both are missing the rear guards that were purchased as an option.

How much extra did that cost? During NICECNC's Labor Day Sale they were only charging $84 for a rear 240mm oversize rotor that came with a rotor guard. Their Right Motor Cover Guard was only $88.



The disc brake kit isn't $84 anymore, but at $100 it's still a great deal: Oversized 240mm Rear Brake Rotor Kit For KTM Husqvarna GasGas

Edit: It looks like NICECNC has some discount codes on their homepage.

 

[drehwurm68]

If you ever wondered how strong the cradle and cradle/Arkenstone connection is, well, pretty strong. Definitely stronger than the Arkenstone itself. Had a little mishap today and wasn't able to engage crawl mode in time so the bike rolled backwards into some bushes - here is the result: a nice 300+ Euro bill! Something must have caught the edge of the phone, no other damage to the bike. Even though the display did not crack, it was dead; the phone still seemed to work though as it was reacting to the bike shifting into gear or being turned off/on. What a stupid design!

 

[Motosupa]

Quick update on the Bahamas bike with a (hopefully) dead battery:

I am currently 45 emails in and still waiting for a resolution. I have had the bike in my possession since June, it died in the beginning of July - not even 100 miles, it is now October and I'm still waiting for Stark to get me the parts I need. 3 weeks ago, they agreed to replace the battery, but I would have to pay for it, pay for the freight/duty/VAT, remove the old battery myself, install the new battery myself, send the old battery back to the dealer (again, at my cost), then they would refund me the cost of the battery. After getting multiple quotes, that would cost me just over $7k... $3k of that would be refunded upon Stark receiving the old battery back. So, naturally, I argued with them regarding the poor customer service and lack of professionalism to even meet me half way. They were content to just close my ticket and say good luck with your brick of a bike. While pleading my case, I was also exploring other options to reduce my cost - and found enough savings for me to justify moving forward (thanks to all my boating friends for agreeing to help me out). So, 10 days ago I informed Stark to proceed with the agreed arrangement (and asked for a refund on my trial run of PRO that I never used and they still charged me for - also couldn't cancel it on the app for some reason). They refunded me for PRO but didn't even comment on the battery. I followed up after 8 days only to get a response of "we're checking with the North America team, stand by." If/when I do receive a new battery, I'll update on whether or not that resolves the problem. In the meantime, enjoy seeing the bike completely stripped! And if anyone needs any tips on doing this kind of work, or where to route the left hand rear brake, or building out a portable charger - which was the only good thing to come out of this so far, I'm happy to answer questions on what I've experienced so far.

 

[OpaTsupa]

Glad to see some light smuggl... ahem.. boating is still the way to go in the Bahamas.

 

[AL_V]

Quick update on the Bahamas bike with a (hopefully) dead battery:

I am currently 45 emails in and still waiting for a resolution. I have had the bike in my possession since June, it died in the beginning of July - not even 100 miles, it is now October and I'm still waiting for Stark to get me the parts I need. 3 weeks ago, they agreed to replace the battery, but I would have to pay for it, pay for the freight/duty/VAT, remove the old battery myself, install the new battery myself, send the old battery back to the dealer (again, at my cost), then they would refund me the cost of the battery. After getting multiple quotes, that would cost me just over $7k... $3k of that would be refunded upon Stark receiving the old battery back. So, naturally, I argued with them regarding the poor customer service and lack of professionalism to even meet me half way. They were content to just close my ticket and say good luck with your brick of a bike. While pleading my case, I was also exploring other options to reduce my cost - and found enough savings for me to justify moving forward (thanks to all my boating friends for agreeing to help me out). So, 10 days ago I informed Stark to proceed with the agreed arrangement (and asked for a refund on my trial run of PRO that I never used and they still charged me for - also couldn't cancel it on the app for some reason). They refunded me for PRO but didn't even comment on the battery. I followed up after 8 days only to get a response of "we're checking with the North America team, stand by." If/when I do receive a new battery, I'll update on whether or not that resolves the problem. In the meantime, enjoy seeing the bike completely stripped! And if anyone needs any tips on doing this kind of work, or where to route the left hand rear brake, or building out a portable charger - which was the only good thing to come out of this so far, I'm happy to answer questions on what I've experienced so far.

View attachment 14845

Sounds like you have developed a portable charger? I’m all ears!

 

[Beatbox7]

Quick update on the Bahamas bike with a (hopefully) dead battery:

I am currently 45 emails in and still waiting for a resolution. I have had the bike in my possession since June, it died in the beginning of July - not even 100 miles, it is now October and I'm still waiting for Stark to get me the parts I need. 3 weeks ago, they agreed to replace the battery, but I would have to pay for it, pay for the freight/duty/VAT, remove the old battery myself, install the new battery myself, send the old battery back to the dealer (again, at my cost), then they would refund me the cost of the battery. After getting multiple quotes, that would cost me just over $7k... $3k of that would be refunded upon Stark receiving the old battery back. So, naturally, I argued with them regarding the poor customer service and lack of professionalism to even meet me half way. They were content to just close my ticket and say good luck with your brick of a bike. While pleading my case, I was also exploring other options to reduce my cost - and found enough savings for me to justify moving forward (thanks to all my boating friends for agreeing to help me out). So, 10 days ago I informed Stark to proceed with the agreed arrangement (and asked for a refund on my trial run of PRO that I never used and they still charged me for - also couldn't cancel it on the app for some reason). They refunded me for PRO but didn't even comment on the battery. I followed up after 8 days only to get a response of "we're checking with the North America team, stand by." If/when I do receive a new battery, I'll update on whether or not that resolves the problem. In the meantime, enjoy seeing the bike completely stripped! And if anyone needs any tips on doing this kind of work, or where to route the left hand rear brake, or building out a portable charger - which was the only good thing to come out of this so far, I'm happy to answer questions on what I've experienced so far.

View attachment 14845

I am so sorry to hear of your struggles....I wanted very much to believe in this entire project, but i have serious concerns of the long term viability of this ownership. I have both an MX and an EX am very deep in costs...both bikes have had issues and I,ve spent 3 times as many hours working on or communicating with Stark about them than I have riding them. I've only owned them for 3 or 4 months and believe long term ownership is going to be a major pain...it really depresses me to think about it when their was so much promise.