Stark range video(s)

[Beagle]

This is the first of what is supposed to be a new series of videos, here are 2 "amateurs" Stark CEO and senior engineer, and 1 pro rider, official rider Eddie Karlsson, showing the range of the Stark Varg for hard enduro.

Technical hard enduro, with low average speed, is arguably the best setting to show high riding time. Nevertheless over 2.5 hours for the pro is what he gets when racing and winning so not much sandbagging going on.

Unsurprisingly the amateurs going much slower get over twice more riding time, that is over 5 h. They are of course much slower so range in kilometers might not differ too much.

It will be even more interesting to see what they show for future MX tests.

 

[Theo]

Unsurprisingly the amateurs going much slower get over twice more riding time, that is over 5 h.

Actually what I understand @ 15:16 is that after five laps the two riders were metaphorically "out of battery" while their bike still had a SOC of 30% and therefore they asked the pro to discharge it completely, reaching 0% in an overall time of 5 hours and Wass predicted that, had they had the strength to continue riding, the overall time would have been 7 hours.

One thing to consider is that, according to the manual, before and after every ride the battery status should be checked and the battery should be recharged if it's below 20% and in some videos people have reached something like 12% or 10% and have reported a power limit which apparently helps protecting the battery. Therefore, just like I don't get too close to a drained fuel tank on an ICE bike to prevent it from stalling airborne or from ending up on foot when at 200 m from the fuel tank in the parking lot of the track, when riding the Varg I personally exit the track as soon as I notice that the SOC indicator is red (i. e. SOC < 20%).
In that video I would have liked to hear some comments from them about the effects on the battery health of going from 100% to 0% sistematically.

 

[Beagle]

Agreed you should avoid going too low, definitely avoid going to 0, I guess they did it for demonstration purposes (also they should release raw vid which would give more info).

Not sure either at what SOC the "reduced power mode" kicks in?

 

[AL_V]

Not sure either at what SOC the "reduced power mode" kicks in?

I ran mine down to 5% trying to experience “limp mode,” but it never happened.
Still felt like full power (was set to 52hp).

 

[Jocke_D]

I ran mine down to 5% trying to experience “limp mode,” but it never happened.
Still felt like full power (was set to 52hp).

I have similar experience.
Did a 3-lap race where each lap ends in soft sand where you need more power than the rest of the track. I finished with 4% left and felt no power loss in the last section, where power was really needed. Used 30hp / 80%reg. Thought it was my low setting that made me feel no difference.

 

[Erwin P]

My own little range test. Everything is at the end off the video. 2 out of 13 laps i did. No pitstops, just 2:01 of riding Cross-Country competition.

 

[Beagle]

Here's the second video in the series, enduro with Stark CTO and co-founder, Stark top marketing guy and Taddy B.

Taddy 1h18 (42 km)
amateur 2h19 (53 km)
beginner 3h (50 km)

 

[Beagle]

Here is the raw vid for the 1st hard enduro 5 h test

and here is regular enduro with Taddy B. "how to drain a Varg battery in 1h18min" onboard video

 

[OpaTsupa]

"This race I ran lap 1 (8 miles) and came back with 61%.

• I pitted and charged to about 75% (probably about 20 minutes).

Went out for lap 2 (9 miles) and came back with 22%.

• I pitted and charged up to 70% (probably around 50 minutes).

Went out for lap 3 and noticed I was around 40% at check 2 so rode to check 3 were I was left with 35% and found a buddy who had a hole in his clutch cover so we rode back to the trucks from there. Overall the bike got about what I thought. Charging on Sunday Race 2 took up about 1hr and 20min total. A battery change is certainly more ideal for a race where I need to go from 20% to 70%. Live and learn."

I ran my usual maps (1 is 47hp and 58% engine braking - 2 is 34hp with 58% engine braking). Most the time I was in 34hp (map 2) and would only switch to my first map for one or two hills/the flat sections.
The first lap I finished with 48% battery. I charged up to 53% which took around 10 minutes to set up and charge and then take off. This was a mistake and I ended up running out of juice about 1/4 mile short of check point 4 on lap 2. Lucky for me, I have great friends and a buddy finished his race and brought my truck to me. I charged from 0% to 4% and made a little hill to where I ran out again so I pushed the bike the final few yards to make check 4 just before that closed out on time.
Overall, the race was great! The course is so fun and this bike is still my favorite bike that I own. I wanted to see how this would work in an actual hard enduro and it was just as I expected with battery life. I mismanaged and didn't charge enough which is my fault. I do believe that the fast charging mixed with the hot battery pack likely doesn't hold the same as a slow charge on a cold battery - live and learn.

Here's what I think: Good

• Great for Moto laps and hard enduro loops (If I push hard enduro I cannot out ride the range)
• Most comfortable bike I ever rode (chases wise)
• Instills much confidence
• Best designed bike (ergo wise and mechanical) (its the little things like being able to map the bike on the move and things like the chain adjustment tabs being right hand thread on both sides)
• Parts are so easy to get directly from the site and they ship next day from Texas (I am in Cali). Even the parts and packaging has so much attention to detail
• Support/Customer service is great!

Bad

• I would not get this for trail and desert ridding (range wise) (example: my bike drained 15% almost 3 miles at around 35hp on a flat transition)
• Throttle - plastic unit/housing and I have had it get stuck 2 times now when the bike laid over which is terrifying. The bike will shut off after a few seconds but that had made me look into a kill switch and some companies that make billet parts.

 

[OpaTsupa]