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[Fran K]

Alta had their owner's manual online and I have it saved somewhere.  Wandering around the Stark site I found a link to their owner's manual.   https://s3-stark-prod-public.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/manuals/varg_owners_manual.pdf  The part about storage is hard to believe for someone that has used Makita batteries and stored them in unheated places, they can be depleted in under 10 minutes on a leaf blower or chain saw, get real hot as only cooling is on the charger.

At any rate there is no Stark section on here.  I doubt Damon or Lightning have put out their owner's manual.  I don't really want to play put a deposit and then they can come out heavier than expected as is the case here.  If they make a model that is DOT approved, I guess I will be willing to go heavier than my ktm freeride but 240  pouinds is about all I want to go for a strictly dirt motorcycle.  These electric bikes have no neutral and getting unstuck pushing backwards is unlike an ice one with neutral.

[MVetter]

The part about storage is hard to believe for someone that has used Makita batteries and stored them in unheated places, they can be depleted in under 10 minutes on a leaf blower or chain saw, get real hot as only cooling is on the charger.

Well let me take a look and see if anything seems amiss...

Make sure the storage temperature is
between 0 and 30 ºC, with a preferred
storage temperature of 10 ºC.
• Make sure the motorcycle is clean, see
§§Cleaning the Stark VARG after useCleaning the Stark VARG after use
• Make sure that the battery charge
is between 30% and 50%.
• Check the charge of the battery
regularly. If the charge drops below
30%, recharge the battery to 50%.
• Store the bike in a dry
area free from frost.

That all looks exactly as expected. What is throwing you off? Also would you like a copy of a Lightning Strike manual? There's some interesting clauses.

[TheRan]

Anyone know what they mean by a "technical life span"? They say 500 running hours, so even at the 68mph top speed that's only 34k miles. I can't imagine a single non-consumable component of that bike wouldn't last well past that.

I actually thought it would be faster than that too, they bill it as a competition bike that's more powerful than a 450 but those will do well over 90mph. Not on a track perhaps, I've never been on a dirt track but still 68mph seems a little low.

[Fran K]

The part about storage is hard to believe for someone that has used Makita batteries and stored them in unheated places, they can be depleted in under 10 minutes on a leaf blower or chain saw, get real hot as only cooling is on the charger.

Well let me take a look and see if anything seems amiss...

Make sure the storage temperature is
between 0 and 30 ºC, with a preferred
storage temperature of 10 ºC.
• Make sure the motorcycle is clean, see
§§Cleaning the Stark VARG after useCleaning the Stark VARG after use
• Make sure that the battery charge
is between 30% and 50%.
• Check the charge of the battery
regularly. If the charge drops below
30%, recharge the battery to 50%.
• Store the bike in a dry
area free from frost.

That all looks exactly as expected. What is throwing you off? Also would you like a copy of a Lightning Strike manual? There's some interesting clauses.

What is throwing me off is the check it every two weeks to make sure that it has not gone below 30% on a different page.  Does cold below 0 Celsius really do harm if it is just stored like that at night  in the a cold place where frost does not stick to anything due to humidity?

[Fran K]

Anyone know what they mean by a "technical life span"? They say 500 running hours, so even at the 68mph top speed that's only 34k miles. I can't imagine a single non-consumable component of that bike wouldn't last well past that.

I actually thought it would be faster than that too, they bill it as a competition bike that's more powerful than a 450 but those will do well over 90mph. Not on a track perhaps, I've never been on a dirt track but still 68mph seems a little low.

They have a youtube video on their site and it's internet address if it won't play, like for me.     If it makes 80hp then it is most efficient at 40 hp and that is where it is going to be used most.see second 55 to 60.  I am sure it will go more than 68 mph with different sprockets and tires appropriate for the terrain. 

Electric bikes don't really have an answer in a sense to 5th and 6th gear on an ice bike at least on the small end like my bike vs a 125 2 stroke or an Alta supermoto vs a 650ktm single supermoto.

My guess on the first part is that when you use aluminum there is a cycles to failure design consideration.  The linkage  puts stresses on it's attachment point to the frame and the swingarm pivot.  500 hours might be too much at the top level of competition.  Then the magnesium honeycomb the cells are in is stressed not sure how much compared to the linkage stresses.

found this a couple of days ago   
minutes 9 and 20 for the charts

[TheRan]

Of course, with a gearing change it could go a lot faster (it's got plenty of power for it). It's just I imagined they would have geared it from the factory to go faster. Perhaps I am wrong and 68mph is enough for racing and the gearing is ideal. Makes me wonder though why a racing gas dirt bike would be geared to go so fast, it's not like they'd have a need to be cruising on the highway at low revs in the top gear.

Regarding the life span, I had a little look at what's typical for gas bikes and got numbers in the 300-500 hour range and the determining factor seems to be the engine, so stuff like the frame, swingarm, suspension, etc. on the Stark should be good for more than those 500 hours. So that would suggest that it's something in the powertrain that they're expecting to give out, either the motor/gearbox or the battery. That really surprises me. Also a lot of Stark's spiel is focussed on the eco aspect and how it's not polluting like a gas bike, yet they're also saying you should expect to be dumping the battery into a landfill in 5 to 10 years.

[HoodRichOG]

The part about storage is hard to believe for someone that has used Makita batteries and stored them in unheated places, they can be depleted in under 10 minutes on a leaf blower or chain saw, get real hot as only cooling is on the charger.

Well let me take a look and see if anything seems amiss...

Make sure the storage temperature is
between 0 and 30 ºC, with a preferred
storage temperature of 10 ºC.
• Make sure the motorcycle is clean, see
§§Cleaning the Stark VARG after useCleaning the Stark VARG after use
• Make sure that the battery charge
is between 30% and 50%.
• Check the charge of the battery
regularly. If the charge drops below
30%, recharge the battery to 50%.
• Store the bike in a dry
area free from frost.

That all looks exactly as expected. What is throwing you off? Also would you like a copy of a Lightning Strike manual? There's some interesting clauses.

This is ridiculous. Do they ship it with a refrigerator to store it in?