Stark no go, Nothing!

[UKLee]

Gets the stark out to put it on charge and no flashing light, pressed buttons but still no life, tried putting it on charge but still nothing. I think it had about 30% charge in it when I put it away 2 weeks ago, pulled all the electrical plugs out and put them back in making sure they are all in correctly still nothing.

Got on to stark and supposedly "SAM" replies to issues but sam is either clueless or is automated not a lot of use, Wasted weekend see if stark get back to me today. Still got over a years warranty but how will we go on after that?

 

[Erwin P]

In my experience the Service center is quick to answer with actual good advise and technical people at the desk.

Lets hope after 2 years of riding you found most issues.

My bike had plenty of flaws, but all just 1 time issues that have not come back after an updated warranty part.

 

[UKLee]

Yes I also have had decent response in the past but now getting replies back asking me to confirm I have had a new drivetrain, They know from there records I have all be it the Gen 1 version which there are clearly issues with or they would not of come up with the steel topped gen 2.
Also asking me for a video of the problem.... For gods sake a video of nothing! Sounds like they are just stalling, concerns me this will just get worse until the warranty is up.

Any one had a look at the plug under the carbon fiber cowling that plugs in to the vcu, looks like a proper rats nest of about 30 to 40 wires and a not very well supported loom that partly pushes and pulls around the steering head, add to that moisture will sit in the back of the plug. Not difficult to see this becoming an issue.

 

[Erwin P]

Sounds to me like a VCU problem.
Give them a few days/e-mails.

They are getting a tad slower to react, but i can imagine with more bikes out there (wich are all first models) there a quite some problems too trouble shoot.
A conventional brand doesn't have this problem since they don't do warranty and leave work up for the dealers.
At first you could tell all guys at the service booth were profecionals. Now you start to see normal service centre operators taking the first line of complains so less thorough trouble shooting at the first line. This will cost us some extra days waiting when stuff gets more complex.

 

[UKLee]

Yes they say it is the vcu that is the problem sending me one. All well and good replacing parts but are these parts improved or just the same just to get us the other side of the warranty.
After the warranty is up If I have to pay out for a drivetrain every year at £3100 plus a vcu at whatever price them are, power button, there seem to be a lot of battery issues at £2700 I might as well just run a 2 stroke or even a 4 stroke and not have the range issues.

 

[Erwin P]

So far i've gotten impoved parts.
- A drivetrain for having a little crack in the cover wich if warranty didn't excist i would have plastic welded or repaired with epoxy. The new one has a thicker plastic cover wich you can clearly hear tapping on it.
- Lefthand button wich was prone to get sand in between and lock. Was in the first few rides. Over 50 hours later no problems. It was said to have a thicker membrane.
- Footpegs as my right one cracked. I'm very sure those are updated versions, was a bit hard to see/compare since the old ones changed colour over time, but the new ones were 200gr and old ones 170gr. So clearly different material or thicker.

What they didn't improve was the sidestand bracket wich i've broken twice. They did promise me as soon as the update it i will get a new one. Even if it takes them 2 years since the issue was well within the first few months.

A local rider had the VCU broken and het did at least see the brackets changed so they did something to it.
Most of the people i spoke to that had any issue just had it one time. Although a few bikes did seem to have all of them. Especially the older ones. Mine with frame number just under 1200 is one of the older ones.

 

[Wools]

Yes they say it is the vcu that is the problem sending me one. All well and good replacing parts but are these parts improved or just the same just to get us the other side of the warranty.
After the warranty is up If I have to pay out for a drivetrain every year at £3100 plus a vcu at whatever price them are, power button, there seem to be a lot of battery issues at £2700 I might as well just run a 2 stroke or even a 4 stroke and not have the range issues.

I had a VCU replaced under warranty earlier this summer and can say at minimum the case and mounting (rubber mounts) have been changed between my two versions. I did not open to inspect the electronics for changes.

You seem rather down/negative about the bike and warranty, which is understandable given that you can't ride your bike, but I would say I am satisfied with how quickly they are addressing known issues and implementing changes. Sure it would be great if there were no issues but it's a brand new bike from a brand new company so we have to expect issues - they certainly did with offering a 2 year warranty.

 

[Beagle]

First year, first model, new brand. Teething problems and growing pains were to be expected.
The good thing is that Stark anticipated that and offered a 2 years warranty, unheard of for a MX bike.
Imagine if they hadn't, they would have had terrible reputation by now so kudos to them.
Customer service seems pretty good, apparently they've sent quite some batteries, VCUs and motors, along with smaller stuff, but most customers seem ok with it.

Now hopefully for their next model they've learned from this because I doubt customers would be so lenient, especially for road homologated bikes.

 

[Theo]

Yes they say it is the vcu that is the problem sending me one. All well and good replacing parts but are these parts improved or just the same just to get us the other side of the warranty.
After the warranty is up If I have to pay out for a drivetrain every year at £3100 plus a vcu at whatever price them are, power button, there seem to be a lot of battery issues at £2700 I might as well just run a 2 stroke or even a 4 stroke and not have the range issues.

I suppose that in some cases Stark can repair power units and batteries for a price much lower than a replacement and that so far they have shipped new ones, often without asking to send the used malfunctioning ones back, because:
1) Being all Vargs still under warranty to date, in each case they are supposed to reduce the downtime of the bikes as much as possible: shipping a new component immediately will reduce the customer's frustration for a brand new, awesome bike which doesn't work.
2) The company would have a responsibility reusing those defective parts. I mean, if someone sends them a defective battery which gets readily replaced with a new one, they can't just repair the faulty one so that it works and then sell it as a new component; it's been worn, maybe even visibly with scratches and stains, and they should inspect it and test it thoroughly to make sure that the previous customer hasn't done anything unsafe like cracking the cases or compromasing their waterproof level. If a customer sends them a defective battery after the warranty has expired, they can just repair it taking the amount of time they need and send it back with the same amount of wear and the same scratches and stains.

 

[Erwin P]

They do however want the old battery/powertrain back if that's the defective part.

I'm quite sure we will see refurbished stuff in the future. Maybe for a lower retail price.
Also it's a great way of fault finding and improving your product.

My replaced powertrain just had a micro crack in the inverter cover. I ca see them replace that and sell it for €2000 instead of €3500.
Having nothing, or replacing an inverter cover, some oil and a few hours of labour and €2000 seems like a very good opportunity.

 

[Theo]

I'm quite sure we will see refurbished stuff in the future.

The first Varg was deleivered in the spring of 2023, so up to spring of 2025 they will all be covered by warranty. I think that then refurbished stuff will start making more sense and people will be more likely to be asked to ship back defective parts under warranty.

 

[UKLee]

I would not be at all suprised to find changing the VCU makes no differance, it could well be a broken wire going in to the back of the VCU plug.


The thick grey cable pivots on the bolt as you turn the handlebars ( looks to be designed to do that ) from side to side but that flexis the thin wires where they go in to the back of the plug, also damp/water could well sit in the back of the plug not a good mix or design IMO. My stark is a high 700 serial no so a fairly early one has this design changed on later stark vargs ?

Even if not the problem now I can see this being a problem in the future.