2026 Stark Varg SM (80hp)

A Race Bike Somebody Forgot to Keep Off the Street

Electric motorcycles are heavy. Everybody knows this. They're whales with batteries, and you buy one knowing you're trading weight for torque.

The Stark Varg SM weighs 274 pounds.

That's lighter than the WR250 supermoto I used to own. It makes 80 horsepower, it has no clutch and no gears, and it barely makes a sound. Every tech at WOW Motorcycles told me to be careful before I rolled out of the lot. I thought they were being dramatic. They were not.

Here's the thing. This is a motocross race bike that Stark bolted 17 inch wheels and a license plate onto. It doesn't care about comfort. It doesn't care about range. It cares about being light and being fast, and it is ridiculously good at both of those things and almost nothing else.

Performance Highlights

Start in mode 1 and it's friendly. Lots of regen, soft power, very manageable. Mode 3 is 50 horsepower, and that's where the front wheel starts coming up on its own whether you asked for it or not. Mode 5 is the full 80. I tried the 40-80 in mode 5, the front lifted on launch, and I backed out like a coward. No time. It's a lot faster than I let it be.

What makes that survivable is the throttle. It's the most precise one I've ridden. The tiniest twist comes through exactly as much as you asked for, and the more you ask the more it gives. Be smooth and it glides you through a corner. Get greedy and it will remind you who's in charge.

Then there's the weight, or the lack of it. My brain kept waiting for mass to shift around in a turn and it never did. You think about a lane and you're in it. On the camera car run Pat said they were pushing the car to keep up through the big turn, and I felt like I was barely leaned over. The KYB suspension is phenomenal leaned over and stiff everywhere else, so on the highway you feel every seam.

The Brembo Stylema up front plus max regen stops hard. Regen on its own is the strongest engine braking I've ever felt, to the point you barely need the lever. But there's no ABS, and on the first real stop I locked the rear tire up. On a bike this light with this much power, that's a big miss.

Rider Experience & Tech

The seat is a rock. I've sat on softer ones in a parking lot. You're upright with wide bars and a skinny tank, full supermoto posture, and after about an hour my butt was finished. On the highway there's no wind protection at all, so you get thrown around like a doll. That's where the range goes too. I wanted to leave the highway with 30% and left with 23%. I nursed it home in mode 1, then turtle mode, drafting behind the camera car, and rolled in on 1%.

The dash is a rugged Android phone that pops out of the bike. Wild. Through it you build every mode yourself, power, regen and traction, which is genuinely cool. The aluminum switchgear feels great. The tiny unlabeled blinker button does not. And with no ABS on a bike that begs for it, the tech score can only go so high.

No clutch and no shifting sounds easy, and it even drops itself into neutral when you stop. Easy isn't the problem. The power is. On the Beginner Bike Tier List I put it in Z tier, below F, on purpose. If you're new, please start somewhere else.

The Chase Score & Final Thoughts

The 2026 Stark Varg SM gets a Chase Score of 63/100, which lands it in the Good tier, tied with the Ninja 500. That sounds insane for 80 horsepower until you see the split. The ride score is 44 out of 50, top ten on the whole leaderboard. The usability score is 19, the lowest I've ever given.

At $13,900 it's the most thrilling toy I've ridden and a hard sell as a motorcycle.

Who's it for? The experienced rider who wants to be the biggest hooligan in their city, or who'll trailer it to the mountains and hammer back roads all day. Skip it if you need range, highway miles, or your first bike. This one bites.