Stark varg reliability?

wfopete
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Dover, AR, USA
10/13/2025 8:34am
avidchimp wrote:
As far as chain tension goes, I always do a swing test with the shock out. Find the tight spot in the arc, prop the wheel...

As far as chain tension goes, I always do a swing test with the shock out. Find the tight spot in the arc, prop the wheel up at that point, loosen the adjusters to where it has just a tiny amount of slack, let the wheel back down, then bolt it all back up and measure the slack at full extension. Then you know exactly where it should be without worry. 

Yes, generally I do that too but with Stark having people like Sébastien Tortelli on board I trusted the specs.  Shame on me! 

1
avidchimp
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EGL, MN, USA
10/13/2025 8:42am
avidchimp wrote:
As far as chain tension goes, I always do a swing test with the shock out. Find the tight spot in the arc, prop the wheel...

As far as chain tension goes, I always do a swing test with the shock out. Find the tight spot in the arc, prop the wheel up at that point, loosen the adjusters to where it has just a tiny amount of slack, let the wheel back down, then bolt it all back up and measure the slack at full extension. Then you know exactly where it should be without worry. 

wfopete wrote:

Yes, generally I do that too but with Stark having people like Sébastien Tortelli on board I trusted the specs.  Shame on me! 

I'm sure they did the work and it's close, but that doesn't account for variances in chain manufacturing, sprocket size variances, and even bearing tolerances to a certain degree. I do this with every new chain and sprocket no matter if it's the same brand or not.

Learned this from Goose a long time ago.

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FGR01
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10/13/2025 8:39pm
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scRider89
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greenville, SC, USA
10/14/2025 4:14am Edited Date/Time 10/14/2025 4:22am
FGR01 wrote:

The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with a new one.

 

There are ICE bikes that have gone up in flames too (especially during crashes)

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The Shop

MotoDad32
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Beverly Hills, CA, USA
10/14/2025 4:34pm
scRider89 wrote:
The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with...

The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with a new one.

 

There are ICE bikes that have gone up in flames too (especially during crashes)

Haha.  That is incorrect my friend.

429 Sterling
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Boston, MA, USA
10/14/2025 5:00pm
scRider89 wrote:
The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with...

The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with a new one.

 

There are ICE bikes that have gone up in flames too (especially during crashes)

MotoDad32 wrote:

Haha.  That is incorrect my friend.

Which part?

Titan1
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Lehi, UT, USA
10/14/2025 5:02pm
wfopete wrote:
18 month in on mine.  I'm on my third battery and second motor plus some connectivity issues.  I've missed some rides and races because of it...

18 month in on mine.  I'm on my third battery and second motor plus some connectivity issues.  I've missed some rides and races because of it. That said, I believe Stark is getting much better with the bike component reliability.  Their support has been very good and parts get to me within a few days.  Still I would not want to have a dealer perform the powertrain swap.  The whole bike needs to come apart (except for the front end) and I don't trust a dealer to take the care in getting the bike back together right.  If the dealer did the work I would go over every nut and bolt on the bike.

Would I get another one?  In a heartbeat!  

Third batter and second motor in 18 months?  Holy Smokes...that's awful...and is a terrible look for Stark...I'd never buy another one...

1
scRider89
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greenville, SC, USA
10/14/2025 5:03pm
scRider89 wrote:
The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with...

The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with a new one.

 

There are ICE bikes that have gone up in flames too (especially during crashes)

MotoDad32 wrote:

Haha.  That is incorrect my friend.

Which part?

I assumed that video was of the bike that caught fire because of the added relay the guy modded the bike with but apparently this was a different case. Not sure why bikes catching fire is funny though?

wfopete
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Dover, AR, USA
10/14/2025 6:57pm
wfopete wrote:
18 month in on mine.  I'm on my third battery and second motor plus some connectivity issues.  I've missed some rides and races because of it...

18 month in on mine.  I'm on my third battery and second motor plus some connectivity issues.  I've missed some rides and races because of it. That said, I believe Stark is getting much better with the bike component reliability.  Their support has been very good and parts get to me within a few days.  Still I would not want to have a dealer perform the powertrain swap.  The whole bike needs to come apart (except for the front end) and I don't trust a dealer to take the care in getting the bike back together right.  If the dealer did the work I would go over every nut and bolt on the bike.

Would I get another one?  In a heartbeat!  

Titan1 wrote:

Third batter and second motor in 18 months?  Holy Smokes...that's awful...and is a terrible look for Stark...I'd never buy another one...

Agreed. I thought about bailing on the bike and cutting my losses but after thinking about it I don't believe those issues will be reoccurring.  The good image part would be that everything was covered under warranty and Stark had the parts to me within 3-5 days. 

yak651
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Appleton, WI, USA
Fantasy
10/14/2025 7:05pm Edited Date/Time 10/14/2025 7:06pm
wfopete wrote:
18 month in on mine.  I'm on my third battery and second motor plus some connectivity issues.  I've missed some rides and races because of it...

18 month in on mine.  I'm on my third battery and second motor plus some connectivity issues.  I've missed some rides and races because of it. That said, I believe Stark is getting much better with the bike component reliability.  Their support has been very good and parts get to me within a few days.  Still I would not want to have a dealer perform the powertrain swap.  The whole bike needs to come apart (except for the front end) and I don't trust a dealer to take the care in getting the bike back together right.  If the dealer did the work I would go over every nut and bolt on the bike.

Would I get another one?  In a heartbeat!  

Titan1 wrote:

Third batter and second motor in 18 months?  Holy Smokes...that's awful...and is a terrible look for Stark...I'd never buy another one...

wfopete wrote:
Agreed. I thought about bailing on the bike and cutting my losses but after thinking about it I don't believe those issues will be reoccurring.  The...

Agreed. I thought about bailing on the bike and cutting my losses but after thinking about it I don't believe those issues will be reoccurring.  The good image part would be that everything was covered under warranty and Stark had the parts to me within 3-5 days. 

Plenty of ice bikes have “expired” in 18 months and the OEM response is “too bad so sad”, unless it’s a Bets and then you will get a new crate engine 

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MotoDad32
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Beverly Hills, CA, USA
10/15/2025 5:51am
scRider89 wrote:
The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with...

The background to that video is the guy had tried to wire in his own kill switch which caused the fire. Stark replaced his bike with a new one.

 

There are ICE bikes that have gone up in flames too (especially during crashes)

MotoDad32 wrote:

Haha.  That is incorrect my friend.

Which part?

Sorry.  The part about rewiring the kill switch.  The other part (Stark replaced the bike) is accurate.

429 Sterling
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Boston, MA, USA
10/16/2025 10:33am
MotoDad32 wrote:

Haha.  That is incorrect my friend.

Which part?

MotoDad32 wrote:

Sorry.  The part about rewiring the kill switch.  The other part (Stark replaced the bike) is accurate.

Do they know what caused the fire? That seems like a big deal.

CE49
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8/14/2019
Location
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
1 day ago

Hello,

  We recently (May 2026) purchased a 2024 Stark MX 1.0 with less than 10 hours on it. The battery and controller were replaced in Oct 2025. The new battery had less than one hour on it since the replacement. After less than 45 days of owning it and riding it less than about 5 hours the battery died and the bike will not charge. Stark diagnosed it with a bad battery management system. Another issue is that the ecu is recording faulty hours on the bike. It added nine hours to the hour meter a few days ago when it was parked overnight in the garage turned off. Is this a common problem for the Stark? Now they want us to pay $3500 to have a dealer replace the battery. We just paid $10k for the bike. Is this a common issue? I can't believe we are the only one experiencing this. I believe this might be a legal issue. Any information is greatly appreciated.

3
1
1 day ago

On Facebook groups I’ve been seeing all kind of bikes being bricked because of a bad firmware update. 

Anyone have experience with this?


Also on Facebook group tons of people complaining about the terrible support from stark when something does fail. Most people saying it was much better support in the early days. 

3
CE49
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Location
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
1 day ago
M59 Front wrote:
On Facebook groups I’ve been seeing all kind of bikes being bricked because of a bad firmware update. Anyone have experience with this?Also on Facebook group tons...

On Facebook groups I’ve been seeing all kind of bikes being bricked because of a bad firmware update. 

Anyone have experience with this?


Also on Facebook group tons of people complaining about the terrible support from stark when something does fail. Most people saying it was much better support in the early days. 

Yeah, I really wish I would have known more before my purchase. when it runs, it's fun. However, since purchase the last week of May the bike has only been operational about 15 days. PATHETIC!

3
Mike_Royce
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45
Joined
1/29/2019
Location
Cornville, AZ, USA
1 day ago

I own a 2024. Just hitting the 2yr mark this month. I had a battery go bad after about a year. They replaced it under warranty with no issues. Bike has been perfect ever since and was perfect up until the battery failure. Now that my warranty is expired im for sure worried about another failure. Stark doesnt seem to be much help when your out of warranty. Which honestly I expected, most new jap bikes you have a 30 day warranty and thats it. But im still quite concerned if ill have another battery failure. Ive seen a handful of failures on the stark fb groups, but then theres also tons of postive reviews with 100s of hours and no issues. So its kinda the luck of the draw with the stark IMO. 

2
2
mxnick
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12/4/2007
Location
Nor Cal, CA, USA
1 day ago

had a brand new 2025 model. Used it once. It sat for about 7 months and the battery went bad and had to be replaced. Stark covered it, but it took a few weeks.

1
1
CE49
Posts
9
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8/14/2019
Location
Virginia Beach, VA, USA
23 hours ago
Mike_Royce wrote:
I own a 2024. Just hitting the 2yr mark this month. I had a battery go bad after about a year. They replaced it under warranty...

I own a 2024. Just hitting the 2yr mark this month. I had a battery go bad after about a year. They replaced it under warranty with no issues. Bike has been perfect ever since and was perfect up until the battery failure. Now that my warranty is expired im for sure worried about another failure. Stark doesnt seem to be much help when your out of warranty. Which honestly I expected, most new jap bikes you have a 30 day warranty and thats it. But im still quite concerned if ill have another battery failure. Ive seen a handful of failures on the stark fb groups, but then theres also tons of postive reviews with 100s of hours and no issues. So its kinda the luck of the draw with the stark IMO. 

Based on my experience and what I have been messaged from MANY others, sell it and buy a bike in warranty. That's just my opinion, but is becoming a common sentiment! IMO these bikes aren't worth anything out of warranty. It's fun to ride, but so was the titanic before it sank.

 

1
cadedutt
Posts
33
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2/24/2022
Location
Acton, CA, USA
14 hours ago

Ive got a pretty early model with a little over 250 hours on it and love it. Mostly all sand track hours.  Only issue i have had was a charging port plug that was covered under warranty. Highly recommend it depending on what you do. Bike is made insanely well and the cheapest bike to ride and maintain by far. 2-3 percent a minute on a brutal sand track, where a 20 minute moto is all i need. I mostly charge to 80 and get back with 20. I cant event ride my gas bikes in the sand wash in the summer without overheating it. 

Also the most recent update with traction control made the bike even better.

1

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