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Powersports Business • August 2026 • 43

The feature integrates with the Varg’ s existing ride customization options, including power delivery and regenerative braking settings, giving riders additional control over the motorcycle’ s performance.

Over-the-air updates have become a growing trend among electric motorcycle manufacturers, enhancing vehicles with software after purchase and adding new capabilities without requiring model-year changes or dealership visits. Key features of the new system include:

• Free over-the-air delivery for Stark Varg Alpha models

• Adjustable traction control intervention levels

• Integration with existing ride modes

• Improved grip in slippery conditions

• Enhanced control on technical terrain

X GAMES GOLD MEDAL The announcement came just days after Stark Future celebrated another milestone at X Games Sacramento. Factory rider Patrick Evans earned the Moto X Best Trick gold medal, adding to the Best Whip title he captured aboard the Stark VARG in 2024. According to the company, Evans secured the victory with his opening run

Stark Future announced that its new traction control system is now available for all Stark Varg Alpha models through a free over-the-air software update.( Photo: Stark Future)

before using his second run to throw one of the biggest whips of the competition despite not being eligible to defend his Best Whip championship.

“ Winning another X Games gold means everything, especially in Best Trick against this level of riders,” Evans comments.“ Once I’ d landed the run I wanted, I could just enjoy the moment.”

The victory gives Evans X Games gold medals in two different Moto X disciplines and continues Stark Future’ s push to showcase the performance capabilities of its electric motorcycles in elite freestyle competition.

Yamaha Motor’ s futuristic MOTOROiD concept has captured another major design honor, earning the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2026.

The recognition marks Yamaha’ s sixth Red Dot award in the Design Concept category and continues the success of the company’ s MOTOROiD project, which explores the evolving relationship between humans and machines.

Unveiled in 2025, MOTOROiD is a proof-of-concept motorcycle designed to learn and evolve autonomously through AI-based reinforcement learning. Yamaha says the

MOTOROiD remains a concept model, but Yamaha says the project serves as a platform for exploring future technologies and new possibilities for human-machine interaction.( Photo: Yamaha Motor Corp.) concept is intended to demonstrate a future where people and machines grow together over time, creating a deeper connection between rider and vehicle.

According to Yamaha, the project is built around three key elements: AI-driven learning capabilities, a design philosophy that embraces both success and failure as part of the growth process, and an advanced chassis engineered to enable unexpected and imaginative movement.

The company says MOTOROiD challenges traditional views of vehicle ownership by proposing that products can gain value through long-term companionship and shared experiences.

Yamaha has a long track record in the Red Dot Design Awards’ Design Concept category. Previous winners include the original MOTOROiD in 2018, YNF−01 in 2019, e-plegona in 2024, and MOTOROiD2 in 2025. Yamaha also earned an award in 2017 for the & Y01 concept, developed in collaboration with Yamaha Corporation.

The Red Dot Design Awards are among the world’ s most respected design competitions, recognizing innovation across product design, branding and conceptual development.

MOTOROiD remains a concept model, and while not specifically targeted as an electric bike, we are placing it in the category anyway. Yamaha says the project serves as a platform for exploring future technologies and new possibilities for human-machine interaction.