The Quickshift
- YouTuber Matt Spears has a simple question: Is a Hayabusa or a Stark Varg quicker up a hillclimb?
- Spears recruited friend and 2023 Great American Hillclimb national champion Payton Reimers to help put both bikes to the test
- They rode a series of more and more difficult hills to test the bikes, and recorded it all for posterity
When you think of ideal hillclimb bikes, a Hayabusa probably isn't right up at the top.
Maybe it should be, though; at least, depending on who's riding it. And if you're thinking we're about to talk about madman Matt Spears' hillclimb Hayabusa again, go get yourself a cookie. (Yeah, I know that I say that a lot, but I just think you really deserve a cookie, man.)
This time, Spears is back with his buddy Payton Reimers, who also happens to be the 2023 Great American Hillclimb champion. Reimers rode a built KTM 450 to win that title, and his championship-winning bike also makes an appearance at one point in this video, but not before we get to see the main competition: Hillclimb 'Busa vs. a stock Stark Varg Alpha, up a series of hillclimb challenges that go from relatively easy to hard AF.
For those unfamiliar with the Stark Varg, it's a stunningly capable electric dirtbike with ridiculous torque that's instantly available. There are also two settings, with one limiting equivalent horsepower to about 65, and peak power of about 80 if you change the settings. But since the torque is instantly available, it's easy to get into trouble at full power if you don't know what to expect about that power delivery when you twist the throttle.
Both Spears and Reimers take turns on both bikes. Well, mostly, but we'll get to that in a second. How do the bikes (and riders) fare sending it up those hills?
For those who've been watching Spears for a minute, you already know that he's kind of made taking bikes that most folks think have no business on dirt and showing off what they can do in the right hands. He set the internet on fire in 2023 with his Gold Wing enduro videos, making a bike that he aptly named Piggy fly across terrain not usually associated with Gold Wings.
The first hill in this video, in fact, is the hill that Piggy rolled down an almost physically sickening amount of times last year, getting bashed pretty badly before she was fully set up for off road. But it's also the easiest hill in this video, and as Spears reflects, part of the reason it was a problem the first time is that he didn't fully commit to sending it. You have to really open that throttle all the way if you're going to get that bike up the hill, and the same is true for the 'Busa.
Both the 'Busa and the Stark Varg get up this hill with no problem, but the Varg does it just a bit quicker thanks to all that instantly available torque. Well, that and the fact that championship-winning hillclimb rider Reimers is at the controls.
Ask Reimers, though, and he's quick to give credit to Spears for his command of the Hayabusa up that terrain. Granted, any bike is more difficult if you haven't spent much time with it, and until you get to know it through experience spent riding. But after he hustles the Hayabusa up the hill a couple of different times, Reimers decides on one of the later hill challenges that he's not feeling good about doing it, so he doesn't.
There's power in saying no to a challenge if either you or the vehicle are going to come to grief. Always remember that, and hopefully you'll have more fun and get less hurt along the way. Only bruises, no bone breaks or soft tissue damage.
Still, at the end of all five challenges, the Hayabusa acquits itself well, but the Varg does just that little bit better. Which would you rather ride in this situation? I think most people would probably choose the Varg, for a number of reasons.
This isn't the end of the challenges for these two bikes, by the way. Next up, they're apparently off to hit some sand dunes, so definitely keep an eye out for that.
