Hard Enduro has always been a proving ground for machinery, and few stories are as compelling right now as the arrival of electric power at the sharp end of the sport. The Barcelona-based Stark Future has brought its VARG EX to the FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, and two riders, Sweden’s Eddie Karlsson and Britain’s Toby Martyn, are carrying the electric torch through the toughest terrain on the planet. This bike check looks at the machine, and at what its 2026 results are telling us.
The Machine: Stark VARG EX
On paper the VARG EX is a genuine game-changer. It weighs around 120 kg, yet delivers up to 80 horsepower with rider-selectable power maps, fed by a compact 7.2 kWh honeycomb magnesium battery pack. There is no clutch and no gearbox, just instant, controllable torque metered straight to the rear wheel, tunable through the bike’s handlebar-mounted controller. With enduro-specific suspension, disc protection and handguards, and the Factory-edition machine is priced from around US$16,990. The appeal for Hard Enduro is obvious: featherweight agility and seamless torque on steep, technical climbs. The challenge is equally clear, managing battery life and adapting to a clutchless riding style when the terrain turns brutal.
Proving It in the World Championship
The real test is on the results sheet, and the VARG EX is holding its own against factory petrol machinery. After three rounds of the 2026 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship, Eddie Karlsson sits seventh overall on 31 points, a hugely credible return for an electric bike in the sport’s premier series. At Round 3, the Silver Kings Hard Enduro in Idaho, Karlsson was classified eighth, the leading electric machine and just outside a fiercely competitive top group. Toby Martyn, also on Stark Future machinery, lies 13th on 16 points as the project continues to build. These are championship points, scored on merit, on the world stage.
Beyond the Championship
Away from the HEWC calendar, Stark’s electric charge has been even more eye-catching, though it’s important to be clear these events sit outside the World Championship. At the non-championship Erzbergrodeo, Karlsson finished ninth to become the first electric bike ever to complete the "Iron Giant," cracking the top ten and doing so remarkably without a rear brake, while Martyn brought his VARG home 12th after a crash and mid-race repairs. In the separate, indoor FIM SuperEnduro World Championship, Stark became the first electric manufacturer to win the Manufacturers’ title, with Karlsson fourth and Martyn fifth overall.
Next Test: A Home Round in Sweden
The VARG EX faces its next championship exam on home soil for Karlsson. Round 4, Forza Orza, runs 20–22 August in Orsa as Sweden hosts a HEWC round for the first time, a fitting stage for the country’s electric standard-bearer. At the top of the championship standings, Manuel Lettenbichler leads on 88 points from Mitch Brightmore (75) and Teodor Kabakchiev (68), with Karlsson seventh. Whether or not the electric era wins races just yet, the VARG EX has already made one thing certain: in Hard Enduro, the future is plugged in.