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How’s it feel in race conditions when you know people can’t hear you coming?
Well, if that was a KTM, Honda, Kawi, etc with a crankshaft issue (or anything else) after 15 hours you would be buying an engine since they have no warranty. At least Stark stood behind their product.
I did make a few stealthy passes.
I was a big Austin Squires fan out of RI.
The Shop
Thanks buddy! 👊🏻
Looks like you beat Matt’s dad. How many rides did it take to dial in the power and are local top shops now experts with the tech there like HOH was in the 90’s and 00’s?
Saw today that one of the biggest clubs in the south of the UK, Sidcup & DMCC who traditionally ran the first round of the British Championship, have banned Electric MX bikes at their races, due to not being able to deal with the safety/ environmental implications of the charger units of the Stark.
Interestingly, this does not affect electric trials bikes, and KTM freerides etc, as they use different charge methods.
But... they don't use different charge methods... going to their site it's any 'Electric MX bike', rather than Varg in particular. 'Enduro and Trials' are not impacted. So I don't think it's got anything to do with the charging method and more to do with which track/areas are in use as they've got different areas for each discipline?
Ah, found a bit more info, still smells like BS: https://www.facebook.com/CanadaHeightsMX
Quote: "Sidcup MCC do not have not the safety equipment, Marshal training or paddock space to accommodate Electric Motocross Bikes at Canada Heights, this will affect the June 9th race meeting and following MX meetings until further updates, this will not affect Electric Enduro or Trials Bikes that use a different battery source. Apologies for any inconvenience, Sidcup MCC committee."
So... you have that training and equipment for the other areas, but not the motocross area. And no space for what... people to have small generators that they often bring anyways even when campaigning gassers (at least based on observation here in Maine)?
What safety and environmental implications?
Are they seriously trying to say that charging a Varg off of a generator is more dangerous than the hundreds of full race gas cans sitting around in the pits? What different charging methods are the trials bikes and freerides using if not a charger and generator?
Edit: Just saw the reply above and ya, this sounds like complete bullshit just like most of the other "reasons" I've heard for banning them. Give me a break.
I was off the bike for a few years so I had to ease back into the power. I ran 42hp for 6 weeks, then 47 for a few, then rounded it up to 50. Been at 50 for a while now. Tried 60hp on a practice day at 3 Palms. Went back to 50 after that. It’s possible that I move to 55 soon, I’m getting better on it.
The last couple weekends I've raced against a Stark and talked to the guy riding it.
First up, it's not the holeshot machine I thought it would be. In the Vet expert/pro class on a dirt start the stark didn't holeshot once. I think his best would have been around 5th or so. On a concrete start he seemed to do a lot better. Once I figured out 3rd gear start on the 450 on concrete I could beat it to the first corner.
2nd. You cannot hear them. Only reason i knew the stark was being me was i could hear the guys behind him and when i turned to check where they were i saw him there. My son even said that i cut the stark off going into a corner causing him to fall, I had no idea he was there. Talking to the guy he said he had to be very cautious around other bikes and had to plan his passes very carefully. It's not such an issue when he was a lot faster than the riders he was passing but on riders close to his speed he had to be careful.
I know fmf did an April fools with the speaker on the stark but it's actually a good idea for racing.
All in all the performance is very comparable. In the first moto he had the motor tuned to make less power and my 450 would gap him on the straights. He turned it up for the second moto and we were pretty even as far as speed on the straights.
They are a viable option for moto where battery life isn't an issue and they don't leave an ICE bike behind in performance
Sidcup / Canada Heights track is in Kent , the same county, and not very far from a Race circuit called Lydden Hill.
Last year at Lydden there was a massive fire involving 2 electric Rallycross cars being charged.
Before you criticise the club, perhaps the Kent fire brigade or some other local authority have imposed rules out of being overcautious regarding EV fires
There are safety guidelines adopted by various national federations (marshalls equipped with gloves, helmet, and trained, lithium fire extinguisher). It's nothing fancy, I guess marshall training could be the only hurdle for an organizer willing to let electrics race.
See for instance here for Motorcycle Australia: https://www.ma.org.au/licences-rules/rules/electric-machine-information/
The biggest hazard is indeed charging, however there is no need for a separate charging area to plug your bike to a standard outlet.
Some organizers and federations are willing to let electrics race, some are not, that's fine, that's up to them. And sure if you want to do it, you got to do it right.
But the number of championships letting electrics race show it's perfectly doable. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Maybe the same OEM political thugs that got to the FIM are getting to the local organizations. Or maybe folks have RW concerns the E-tard will never admit.
Earth leakage breakers are required on all Australian AC outlets, but they are not always fitted to portable generators, the ones that do have a grounding stake, but most people don't hammer them into the ground!
Does the narrow shape of the Stark Varg bike remind riders of the old 90’s Hondas?
GM paid back government.... Ford refused the lifeline funds.
Bogle in here with his Stark
Pit Row
Who's the f***ing idiot who parks their bike next to the track, inline with a jump landing?
...but it does look like one of those bikes that you ride with sneakers and usually in large groups doing wheelies, maybe some got lost from the inner city
It looks like a Sur-Ron...
Most likely one of the guys spectating on the side of the track, they could have parked it behind them.
Nothing against the bike, ride whatever you want, but don't be an idiot, don't park it next to the track, inline with a jump landing.
Could it have something to do with the tracks insurance provider? And the reason is provided by the insurance company. Insurance companies can have some strange stipulations.
Could it have something to do with there being more people that race the MX races and the pits would be tighter, with more people being closer?
I'm juts trying to make sense of the rule.
Is there a link to a clear definition of what is not allowed? It has a photo of a Varg and bans bikes with batteries unless they come from a different source. Do they mean no lithium? No batteries assembled by Stark? No cells the brand that Stark uses? Don't all electric motorcycles use lithium cells ?
And people complain about the AMA rules being vague.
Imagine the AMA just showing a photo of Jett jumping the finish with a red cross and saying. You can not do this... And not saying exactly what it was that was not allowed.
What if somebody shows up with a Varg to race an enduro? Has an 18" rear tire, light, handguards and setup as an enduro style bike. If it is not giving a certain battery size limit, or banning a certain brand. It should be fine to race it in an enduro right? If so, it looks like they either did not try to make it work for MX, or did not want to.
But how would those same things not be an issue for enduro or trials bikes??? They are all using lithium cells . And would charge them the same way.
Yeah, a friend was there when that happened an it was fucking scary, and they could do nothing about it.
They had a race there a few weeks after , and i heard the stuff was all still there waiting Hazmat removal.
I went to a race meeting at Lydden months after the EV RallyCross fire and the scene was still untouched, and may even still be as it was.
As you say, they were waiting for HazMat removal, and I believe trying to work out who has to pay for the very expensive clean up.
What about the lithium batteries that are in all the gas bikes?
They are much smaller , for a start.
Secondly, there is no need to fast charge them, which is often when a lithium battery turns into a firework
Good point, which is also applicable to the comparison made here between the Varg and rallycross cars
The Varg battery is much smaller (52 kWh 330 kg VS 6.5 kWh 32 kg) and it does not need fast charging.
In fact standard 220 V household outlet gets about 1% charge per min (slower towards the end), about 2 h to fully charge.
Charging at .5C is a fairly conservative rate for lithium ion batteries.
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