The Stark Varg EX may have been banned from the top of the X Games podium, but Jiri Zak had his sights set much higher: the Andes. Together, they have tentatively set a new Guinness World Record, taking the electric enduro bike to 22,050 feet up Chile’s Los Ojos del Salado, according to RideApart. Official verification and record submission are still in progress, which usually takes some time to complete.
Zak is no stranger to high altitude record attempts on motorcycles. In 2020, he rode a KTM 450 EXC-F up to 21,476 feet at the same location, setting a new record at the time, according to ADVRider. That KTM, as well as Zak himself, had to contend with the severe lack of oxygen so high up, less than half as much as at sea level. The electric Stark had no such issues because it doesn’t need air for propulsion, generating its full power at any elevation, but Zak still had to breathe, as well as expertly ride where no rider had gone before, picking his way through steep, rocky terrain up the side of an active volcano. This isn’t Pikes Peak, but where they’re going, they don’t need roads.
Fulfilling its potential
Stark Future has made some rather bold claims about the Varg’s performance ever since its announcement in 2021. We had our doubts at first, but the bike has proven itself. Its 80 horsepower is more than other bikes of its size, its 264-pound weight is only slightly heavier, and its 764 pound-feet of torque puts the Ford F-150 Raptor R‘s 640 to shame. It was winning events at the X Games before it was banned without discussion or negotiation. Stark began competing in the FIA World Supercross Championship this year, and its results so far are comparable to any team in its first year of competition. The team is typically finishing lower in the order as it learns the ropes, but Michael Hicks finished just outside a podium position in fourth place in SX2 class in Sweden, perhaps showing a glimpse of what Stark is capable of in the future.
To me, the most amazing part of all this is that the Stark Varg EX that climbed the side of a volcano to set a new altitude record is the same street-legal dirt bike you and I can buy for ourselves. Its $12,990 price tag (no destination charge is mentioned on the website) isn’t chump change, but neither is $9,599 (including destination) for a Suzuki DR-Z4S with half the horsepower, a tiny fraction of the torque, and significantly less than that at 22,000 feet, if it can even get there.
