The big Stark Varg supermoto information topic

[rs911]

Yes, of course and you're right.

I initially considered this set because the wheels are exactly how I would spec them.

VMX 3.5/5.0 Supermoto Complete Wheels Rims Set Compatible with Stark Varg All Black

Items include:a 3.5*17" front wheela 5.0*17" rear wheela set of spacers & sealsa 320mm black front disca 220mm rear disca silver adapter

www.vmx-racing.com

But I want a 4.5 in the rear.

 

[Erwin P]

Can't say you're wrong either. I would have loved anything in the 4.00 to 4.50 range better.
But well, cheapness won and i figured i could always sell them. Since a beat up set of repainted and dented SM rims for a KTM go for nearly €1000 here in the Netherlands i guessed selling after it didn't fit wouldn't hurt too much. Offcourse i would have to wait until 24MX did away with the pricedrop.

I really like the front, but the rear is so wide you actually need to take the rear caliper of and fiddle around quite a lott to get it in there. Then there is the barelly fitting in between the swingarm and the chain. Didn't really expect that to be so tight.
There is no amount of extra grip a 5.00 160 can offer that offsets that for me.

 

[DaveAusNor]

I have a question about the front brake adapters for SM 320mm brake discs. A standard KTM EXC, or SX adapter work? The front brake caliper positioning is the same as modern EXC/SX models?

 

[Erwin P]

Yess they will. MotoMaster also lists the same items for Stark and KTM.

 

[ej22tgc8]

Here's my mid-season update from my dedicated race bike.

Brakes: Beringer axial 6 pot and master with cast iron rotor
The feel on these is amazing. They are pricey. They do bolt right on. If you have a 16in front then you won't have a quick change option. You've got to unbolt the rotor and then the caliper in order to take the wheel off.

Rear hand brake:
Absolute game changer having started the season with the foot brake. The brembo master still requires a huge amount of force. Basically max squeeze with one finger barely starts to lock the rear up.

Wheels:
Warp9 built them for me. I started with a 16.5 front and later dropped down to a 16. The 16 is miles ahead of the 16.5. If I could go back in time I would have started with that. But having the 16.5 gives me a rain tire option.

Tires:
First 2 races. Battleax. Not bad.
Current. Michelin. Chef's kiss. Great feel, great grip, great profile.

Suspension:
Bone stock: I bumped up the compression and rebound but I'm still undersprung.

General racing impression:
Unless there is another rider on a stark ahead of you in the grid you will always get the hole shot. Being a bit chonky the lighter bikes will punish you in tight sections, but they stand little chance on a straight. Lots of chatter on the stock suspension. There's a guy that migrated his suspension off of his KTM, sent it in to RG3 twice, and he still gets chatter. So perhaps it something to do with the frame... Our races are 7 laps. At 70hp I use about 35% of my battery in that time. I run zero regen to try and control battery temps as we've had some riders' bikes enter safety mode on hot days.

 

[Erwin P]

I'm an absolute beginner at this but i did it a couple of times now.

Only one time with my 17'-17' ContiAttack SM 2 set instead of 21'-19'. Installed a 320mm rotor with just an adapter for the OEM caliper. OEM suspension, but fork compression max stiff. So far i did not overheat the front brake yet. However this day was in the rain and had my first kneedown. Closely followed by a elbow, hip and shoulder down...

What i did however noticed was that the Stark was the way better wett track bike. From being at the rear of the field i soon was the fastest on track, even compared to more skilled riders with dedicaded rain tyres.
Being butterly smooth on the ''engine brake'' made it so much more predictable through the tight corners.
Also on this straight every bike tends to make a little ''tank slapper wobble''. I tested 3 ICE bikes there so far and they all did, asked around and all bikes do. Both SM builds and Enduro's on SM wheels. Except the Stark. We think it has something to do with shifting over that repaired tarmac.

You will probably think i'm slow as @#$% but i had enough fun to share it

 

[DaveAusNor]

i had enough fun to share it

Thanks for sharing mate. Great edit, I really enjoyed how you reversed the crash and then made the corner

I found that when I installed a 320 disc at the front my caliper began to rub because the new disc was 4.5mm compared to the stock 3.2mm. I ended up making my own 1mm spacer. This was with a KTM 320 caliper. Did you have any issue with yours?

 

[Erwin P]

I had roughly the same issue. However just with the bolts.
In my case it was rubbing against the adapter bracket wich was quite overengineered so i took 2mm of that.

And thanks! My editing skills are also still little, but growing over the past 1,5 season i've been filming.

 

[DaveAusNor]

yea the adapter bracket is quite thick. Removing material from that is probably the best way to do it to be honest, now my front wheel is 1mm off centre