Just announced this morning by Luna Cycle in the US, the Talaria MX5 Sting Pro is the highest-performance electric trail bike yet to still offer an affordable entry price tag for enthusiasts. If you thought those youths cruising your neighborhood on their Sur Rons were rough enough, wait until they get their mitts on the new Talaria MX5. It’s the latest in the quickly growing market of easily obtainable off-road electric motorbikes, and this time the specs are finally pushing their way into true dirt bike territory.
That’s right, the newly announced Talaria Sting MX5 marks a major upgrade in several regards compared to previous offerings from Talaria or even other Sur Ron-style e-bike makers.
For starters, while the frame looks to be fairly similar in size to past Talaria bikes, the components have received significant enhancements.
The battery voltage has been increased to 72V with a higher capacity of 2.88 kWh, allowing for higher power at the same current level. But the current also seems to have received a major bump, opening the door to a higher-power motor now offering up to 13 kW (17 hp). While seventeen horses might not sound like much in the motorcycling world, electric motors dump all of that power in an instant with extreme torque, meaning they have the performance of significantly higher-power combustion engines. The motor features a redesigned rotor, stator, and air-cooled shell. It also offers multiple levels of regenerative braking operated via a manual switch on the handlebars.
The Talaria MX5 Sting Pro claims a rear-wheel torque of 500 Nm (368 lb-ft). Of course, how much torque gets transferred into the loose dirt is the real question, but it’s safe to assume that the bike is prepared to throw down significantly more torque than most riders will require. And while this is of course an off-road motorbike, there’s no telling how many riders will be throwing new tires on it and hitting the streets anyway, laws be damned.
The top speed of 95 km/h (59 mph) isn’t likely to be seen on the dirt very often, but that will definitely help encourage some riders to push the bike to max on the tarmac.
The bike boasts a maximum range per charge of 120 km (75 miles), though that’s at a constant speed of just 25 km/h (15.5 mph). Riders are likely to find a significantly lower range under real-world riding conditions. A claimed 3-hour recharge time should help get the bike rolling again quickly though, even once the charge meter dips into the red.
For its part, Talaria seems to understand that the new MX5 Sting Pro is no longer a powerful toy like most of the Sur-Ron-style motorbikes and even many of the smaller Talarias that have come before it. With highway speeds and power levels that can shred tires, this is a true light dirt bike in pretty much every regard. As the company explained (in slightly broken English), “Talaria is a professional electric bike manufacturer who will not only consider the weight to power ratio but more about safety strength and price value. STING PRO has much stronger power output. Talaria thought it’s necessary to improve the parts which are not strong enough to match the power, to suffer no safety issues. And with all these improvements, it’s true the weight also increased somewhat. Anyhow, Talaria engineers have been working day and night to tune STING PRO to have the outstanding performance. It’s more power, more fun, more durable, and more capable!”
Several of those structural improvements include improved brakes with larger calipers and upgraded pads as well as thicker brake rotors, more substantial wheels and hubs, a heavier-duty front fork with adjustments for compression, rebound, pre-load, and air-pressure, a reinforced handlebar, a thicker saddle, a stronger battery mount, an upgraded nitrogen rear shock absorber, reinforced rear swingarm, motocross-style foot pegs, heavier duty chain, and a redesigned gearbox.
Now available for pre-order from Luna Cycle at a price of just $4,800, the Talaria MX5 Sting Pro is priced at significantly lower than several comparably-spec’d electric trail bikes. It’s all but sure to become the new big boy on the block in the world of electric trail bikes.
