MXU UW-ring Gold 520 chain, which is a step up from the generic stuff you often find supplied as stock. I haven’ t run many RK chains before, usually I’ m a Renthal guy, but in the deep, wet sand we get here in Canterbury, the RK chain hasn’ t loved life. It clogs up fast and, worse than that, it can bind to the point where I’ ve had to stop mid-ride and hose it off just to keep things moving. I’ m not sure if it’ s the type of sand, the sealing design, or something else, but it’ s happened more than once, and it’ s worth being aware of if you ride in similar conditions.
DESIGN WOES While we’ re in the chain area, the swingarm chain adjusters deserve a mention. Stark’ s design is clever. Instead of a traditional lock nut setup, it uses a ball-bearing detent system that lets you adjust tension quickly with a Torx driver( which comes in the toolkit). It’ s slick when new, you can tweak the chain in seconds without busting out a spanner. But after a few muddy rides, that little ball bearing can seize up with grit and, once that happens, you’ re pulling the axle and breaking the whole unit down just to make an adjustment. It’ s one of those things
that sounds awesome in theory, but out in realworld winter muck, it’ s a bit of a pain compared to the old locknut-and-spanner method. To make things trickier, the threads on the chain adjuster bolt are also fairly soft— so if the adjusters are even slightly seized and you try to wind it in, it’ s easy to damage them. There is a small Allen-head bolt hidden on the outer edge of the adjuster block which you can back off to reduce the tension on the mechanism, which helps free things up but you can’ t access it while the block is installed, so the axle has to come out first. The good news? The VARG doesn’ t need constant chain adjustment. For most riders, this won’ t be a frequent job. But when it does come up, it’ s worth knowing the quirks ahead of time.
SO FAR All up, the VARG continues to prove itself as a seriously practical bike for real-world riding, even in the depths of a Kiwi winter. It’ s not perfect, and some of the high-end hardware reveals a few quirks once it’ s caked in sand and slop, but the overall ease of maintenance and ownership still stands out.
26 KIWI RIDER