Service your linkage and swingarm bearings asap

[Duncan]

SERVICING YOUR LINKAGE:

1) Beware! the large bolt that passes through the knuckle and swingarm has a fixed nut on the right side, I believe it is swaged in place. Use your 17mm socket to remove the bolt from the LEFT side.
2) Bearings: One of my needle bearings had evidence of water intrusion with some rusting going on. Surprised because have only 30 hours, never use a pressure washer and I am careful when washing. Also, as seems to be the case with all bikes, the grease was scant. Glad I opted to service the bearings, easy job.
3) Shock removal, it lifts out from the top, easy breezy, see the Stark video.

Just got suspension back from Factory Connection, will report back after a ride, I did notice they upped the spring rates for me (210 lb dry, woods/enduro) to 61.8N/5.1N.

 

[Theo]

SERVICING YOUR LINKAGE:

1) Beware! the large bolt that passes through the knuckle and swingarm has a fixed nut on the right side, I believe it is swaged in place. Use your 17mm socket to remove the bolt from the LEFT side.

Are you talking about the reversed thread lock nut they show here?

2) Bearings: One of my needle bearings had evidence of water intrusion with some rusting going on. Surprised because have only 30 hours, never use a pressure washer and I am careful when washing.

Have you used the bike in wet conditions like heavy rain or crossing some creeks?

 

[Duncan]

Theo - good catch on the reverse nut. I did not seek the Stark rocker arm tutorial. Apparently the nut has left hand threads and it is captive and you snug it up to the bearing to provide proper fit.

Regarding the needle bearing I found with water intrusion - I have crossed small creeks, no heavy rain. The double lip seal and dowel look ok so I do not know why it passed water other than it had virtually no grease. I packed bearings and seals with Amsoil waterproof grease. Still need to do swingarm bearings.

 

[Duncan]

I know you don't want to hear this, but...
I recommend you disassemble your shock linkage and swingarm and lubricate all the needle bearings ASAP.
Removed my shock (it easily is removed from top per Stark video) and sent it and fork to Factory Connection.
While at it I dismantled the linkage.
Found one bearing with evidence of water intrusion and some rust.
Found all bearings with minimal grease, almost dry.
Why are manufacturers so skimpy with the grease?
I carefully packed all with Amsoil waterproof grease and reassembled.

Swingarm removal:

This is on Youtube but not Stark list of videos.

You do not need to remove bolt from chain slide.
You do not need to break the chain to remove swingarm.
In fact, you do not need to break the chain to remove the countershaft sprocket.
How nice is that?

Realize, when removing the big bolt for the rocker arm (bell crank) that passes through the swingarm, you must first loosen the left-hand thread captive nut on the right side of the swingarm, Just screw it clockwise (to loosen) about 90 or 180 degrees, then remove the bolt from the left side. When reinstalling do this in reverse. Just make the nut snug, not tight. The purpose of this nut is to squeeze the bearing dowel slightly so there is no lateral slop. Why left-hand thread? I dunno.

Totally happy with the Factory Connection suspension, much better than stock, yes I tried all clicker settings including Phil's.
I ride single track with rocks and roots.
I weigh 210lb dry.
Factory Connection installed stiffer springs front and rear. Works great.

 

[Theo]

You do not need to break the chain to remove swingarm.
In fact, you do not need to break the chain to remove the countershaft sprocket.

So, have you removed the sprocket to remove the swingarm? DId you use an impact wrench? I have a handlebar operated rear brake and, when checking the torque of the front sprocket bolt, I can't reach 80 Nm, I reach less than 70, because I can't hold the countershaft still even if I hold the rear brake lever squeezed hard. An impact wrench sounds like the only solution for when I will have to remove that bolt to change the sprocket...

 

[Duncan]

So, have you removed the sprocket to remove the swingarm? DId you use an impact wrench? I have a handlebar operated rear brake and, when checking the torque of the front sprocket bolt, I can't reach 80 Nm, I reach less than 70, because I can't hold the countershaft still even if I hold the rear brake lever squeezed hard. An impact wrench sounds like the only solution for when I will have to remove that bolt to change the sprocket...

Hello Theo,
You do not need to remove the countershaft sprocket to remove the swing arm.
I plan to remove the countershaft sprocket with an impact wrench and some heat with heat gun. I want to clean and grease the seal behind the counter shaft sprocket.

 

[fred900]

Please don't forget that the Nut in the swing arm on right side is reverse thread. The one inside the plastic cover for the rocker arm.

 

[Duncan]

Please don't forget that the Nut in the swing arm on right side is reverse thread. The one inside the plastic cover for the rocker arm.

Hello Fred, Realize, when removing the big bolt for the rocker arm (bell crank) that passes through the swingarm, you must first loosen the left-hand thread captive nut on the right side of the swingarm, Just screw it clockwise (to loosen) about 90 or 180 degrees, then remove the bolt from the left side. When reinstalling do this in reverse. Just make the nut snug, not tight. The purpose of this nut is to squeeze the bearing dowel slightly so there is no lateral slop. Why left-hand thread? I dunno.

 

[Philip]

I am not looking forward to taking apart a brand-new motorcycle just to add the missing grease that the assembly line workers didn't bother to add. What a mess!

It must be some new Euro eco anti-petroleum regulations where they are not allowed to add grease at the factory, or something? Or Stark is cutting corners trying to speed up the builds and delivery.

 

[MadpdXabbott]

I found this to be untrue, there was plenty of grease in my shock linkage components, its a light green grease that stinks just like lithium grease. so with that I'm not going into my swing arm. the grease I would have used for water intrusion is, MARINE GREASE 2.0: DeoxIT L27-MM-16, Mechanical Marine Lithium Grease with cleaner/deoxidizer, No Particles. and that is very close to what I found in the bike on inspection.

 

[Philip]

When did you get your bikes, @Duncan and @MadpdXabbott? Or what are your VINs? I wonder if Stark Future has changed their greasing procedures?

 

[Duncan]

My VIN is 002217.
I was hoping mine is the only Varg without grease.
I could not see any green grease nor smell any.
My new recommendation is:
Take your 13mm socket and remove the shock lower shackle bolt and inspect the needle bearings.
If they are well greased you are probably good all around.

 

[MadpdXabbott]

When did you get your bikes, @Duncan and @MadpdXabbott? Or what are your VINs? I wonder if Stark Future has changed their greasing procedures?

April 2024 03356

 

[Theo]

I am not looking forward to taking apart a brand-new motorcycle just to add the missing grease that the assembly line workers didn't bother to add. What a mess!

I agree; they also advertised the bike to be suitable for those people like me who are tired of playing the mechanic in order to be riders, so I feel disappointed to find out about this (although so far I still consider it way less time consuming than a gas bike, let's remember that).
I guess it's about time to check my bearings one of these days.

It must be some new Euro eco anti-petroleum regulations where they are not allowed to add grease at the factory, or something?

I work in the field of mechanics and I'm not aware of any such regulation; I think it's just a mistake, either intentional or not.

Honestly in the Varg's manual they have written that we are supposed to re-grease the shock and linkage bearings every 15 hours, which would make it sensible to have little grease from the factory then: who cares, you re-grease at 15 hours anyways. That sounds way too frequent to me, though; usually if you do that every 30 - 40 hours and you don't use pressurized water to clean the bike it should almost feel like a waste of time, right?. IMO the proper condition should be to have a decent amount of grease from the beginning and re-greasing every like 40 hours.

One thing that I wish they had done and that I would have preferred over our special chain adjusters for example is putting grease zerks in the linkage like in my '08 Husqvarna 610; it's so much faster to re-grease.

 

[Mike85]

Please don't forget that the Nut in the swing arm on right side is reverse thread. The one inside the plastic cover for the rocker arm.

If you're talking about the Stark, I just greased my Linkage and there are no reverse threads inside the Swingarm for the Linkage, everything is regular thread.

 

[blbills]

I'm glad someone started a thread dedicated to this topic! I made the decision last spring when my Varg showed up to fully disassemble the bike and re-grease. I'm sure glad I did as there was next to no grease across the board.
Based on what I found I highly recommend everyone check their bearings.
And before everyone gets mad at Stark, other manufacturers are no different. I've had to do the same thing on my Yamaha's and KTM's. It's a good habbit to get into.

 

[Theo]

@blbills: have you taken those pictures before or after having regreased the bearings? They don't look packed with grease but neither they look so dry.

 

[Theo]

If you're talking about the Stark, I just greased my Linkage and there are no reverse threads inside the Swingarm for the Linkage, everything is regular thread.

Some days ago I removed the rocker arm and I did find a reverse thread nut. This nut has two threads: the inner one is a regular thread which mates to the shaft and the outer is a reversed thread which mates to the swingarm.

At 25.5 hours, I found the bearings of the rocker arm having what I consider enough grease, even though there was room for some more. There was no water intrusion and the seals are IMO pretty good: they mate to both the counterbores in the rocker arm and the shafts.

Since I had uninstalled the rocker arm, I removed that grease and packed its bearings with new one anyways so that they should be fine for a while.

 

[mbrobich]

I'm at 30 hours and I find I have a bit of play in the entire linkage system. I will need to replace everything down there. Does anyone know if there are any compatible bearing sets from another manufacturer that fits? I hate waiting 2 weeks to get stuff from Stark to Canada.