Test of children's cross-country electric motorcycle KTM SX-E 5 2022

KTM SX-E 5 2020

KTM is known for its unusual approach to ordinary things. From the linkless rear suspension that marred KTM motocross bikes in the '90s and early 2000s, to 13mm bolt-ons and single-sided airboxes, the Austrian brand has become a model for innovative technical solutions.

And innovations like electric start, hydraulic clutches and quick-release grips have made orange off-road motorcycles so different from others that it is impossible to be indifferent to them: you either love them or hate them. And this is not to mention the fact that the company is still, in 2019-20, producing two-stroke off-road motorcycles, when some other companies have given up both two-stroke and cross/enduro equipment at once.

Electric motorcycle KTM SX-E 5 2022

And so the company’s “own path” led it to the release of the KTM SX-E 5 electric motorcycle. Relatively recently, Alta Motors made a splash by releasing the Redshift MX, but after some time it closed due to financial difficulties. Then Honda shocked motocross fans with a prototype electric crossover this year. And so - KTM, the trendsetter in the field of off-road motorcycles, unexpectedly entered the ring in a completely different weight category with the SX-E 5 - an electric motorcycle equivalent in power to a 50 cc minibike.

The KTM SX-E 5 kids electric motocross bike was announced at this year's Red Bull Straight Rhythm, with several riders even doing demo rides. Among them was Crew Morais, son of former Supercross racer and current KTM test rider Ryan Morais. Crewe Morais also took part in the development of the KTM SX-E 5, essentially becoming a template for the ergonomics of the motorcycle, and spent more time in the saddle of the new product than anyone else in the world.

He's actually a lot faster on it than on his gas-powered 50 SX,” said Ryan, the father of the little test driver. -And even though he did not achieve this immediately, but having learned to control the instantaneous craving, he began to use it to its full potential.

KTM SX-E 5 2020

The e-bike is highly customizable in every way, and KTM has designed it to stay in tune as the rider grows, both in terms of body size and skill. As I mentioned in passing, the motorcycle has traction modes - there are six of them - and in the first of them it barely moves, and in the sixth it tears in a way that not every adult petrol can match.

Thrust settings are switched by a button located in the place where the tank neck is usually located. The bright LED display is easy to read and is located in a convenient location. And to prevent the motorcycle from running away from the rider when falling, the kill switch pin is attached to the rider’s left hand. If the pin is pulled, the electric motorcycle is de-energized. There is a similar kill switch under the seat. For what? For parents who would like to protect untrained children: removing the check from it turns off the mode switch on the tank. Brilliant!

Another impressive feature of the KTM SX-E 5 electric motorcycle is how well it fits a variety of body sizes. Under the false tank there is a spacer that can be removed to lower the tank and cowl area by a few millimeters, and there is a similar design in the subframe mounting area. Adjusting the size of the motorcycle takes a couple of minutes, and allows it to literally grow with the rider.

Technical characteristics of KTM motorcycles 2011 model year

Model KTM 50 SX 2011.

KTM 50 SX Mini

KTM 50 SX

KTM 65 SX

Model KTM 65 SX 2011.

KTM 85 SX

Model KTM 85 SX 2011.

KTM 105 SX

Model KTM 105 SX 2011.

KTM 150 SX

Model KTM 150 SX 2011.

KTM 250 SX

Model KTM 250 SX 2011.

KTM 250 SX-F

Model KTM 250 SX-F 2011.

KTM 350 SX-F

Model KTM 350 SX-F 2011.

KTM 450 SX-F

Model KTM 450 SX-F 2011.

Test KTM SX-E 5 2022

KTM SX-E 5 2020

And so, I have a brand new KTM SX-E 5 and I began to think about who to put in the saddle. Immediately I thought of my little buddy, already quite experienced with 50cc cross bikes and practically invincible in the PW50 class.

The friend turned out to be too small for the motorcycle in its original state and could not reach the ground with his feet. A couple of minutes later, having lowered the height of the seat and tank, I told him to try again, and everything was perfect.

A couple of years ago, I had a hard time getting used to the instant thrust and quiet motor of the Alta Redshift, but kids learn quickly, and our tester instantly got used to the new projectile. There was half an hour left before the competition, and he went out onto the track and very seriously tumbled on it in the sixth traction mode.

Of all the bikes my friend rode this course, the KTM SX-E 5 electric bike had the best lap time, and what's especially impressive is that the rider didn't have to get used to it. The average lap time was still better on a more familiar motorcycle, but the fact that he completed a single lap the fastest on a KTM SX-E 5 suggests that the boy was happy to get a good spin on the throttle, even despite the quiet engine and lack of vibrations.

KTM SX-E 5 2020

Battery for electric motorcycle KTM SX-E 5

KTM claims the battery goes from empty to full in 70 minutes, but in reality it took two to two and a half hours when we recharged it from the alternator. It would probably be faster from a permanent source. How long does the battery last? In the sixth traction mode, the KTM SX-E 5 electric motorcycle lasted the entire 15-minute ride without any problems, but after that the battery almost died during a 10-minute ride on another track.

Hello again! At the end of last season, a new muffler was made for my motorbike, after which I realized that the gear ratio of the main gear could easily be changed, and without much loss of traction. The speed would have to increase quite significantly. However, all this was postponed until the new season, because... already sub-zero temperatures and snow would not have allowed us to test either the maximum speed or evaluate what was left of the traction on the ground. But now the 2021 motorcycle season has arrived. I opened it back in April, and in early May we had the official opening of the motorcycle season. And even then I remembered that I wanted to increase the maximum speed - I could ride in a convoy at the opening, but as soon as someone accelerated sharply, I could no longer catch up with him. Although, “what are you even talking about here,” you ask, because I don’t have a motorcycle, but a moped of less than 50 cubic meters, which does not have to accelerate like a motorcycle. That's how it is, but in fact, not quite. Looking ahead, I haven’t used half the power of this engine before. Its resonant characteristic, as it turned out, was resonant throughout. But then I only guessed about it, because as we remember, this pepelats was originally created as a kind of “off-road motorbike”, as a quick replacement for the main, cheap motorbike (which has now been disassembled, and the parts of which will be used for a new project). But before that, I lightened the bike itself as best I could. I couldn’t do something with a heavy steel frame even if I wanted to. But replacing parts that are overweight but do not carry any load is easy. The first part made from scratch is the external diffuser (pipe) of the carburetor. On the left is a new part made of magnesium alloy, and on the right is a steel part that weighs three times as much. The weight of the magnesium diffuser was no more than 50g, and in reality I think it was less. But I had no intention of engaging in petty struggles...

The following parts are the fittings from which the cooling system pipeline was assembled. Yes, there used to be steel fittings there. And they also became magnesium. Saved another half a kilo. And finally, I lightened the heavy seatpost, which originally had 8mm walls - now there are two or three millimeters left. In total, I lost at least 1.5 kg of the total weight of the moped.

But let's return to the gear ratio. The simplest thing I could do then was to buy the largest possible drive sprocket for this motor that exists. And it was a 12 tooth sprocket.

Here she is on the far left. In general, the photo shows all possible sprockets for this motor, from 9 to 12 teeth. All of them are for 415 chain and were easily sharpened to fit the Soviet moped chain for Riga and Karpaty mopeds, which I used on this motorbike from the very beginning.

With a driven star it is more difficult. By installing a 12-tooth sprocket on the motor, and leaving the driven “sprocket” with 77 teeth, and without changing the tires, I immediately got a top speed of 79 km/h. And yet I did not notice any loss of traction at all! But this was not enough for me! I immediately realized that the true element of this device is well-paved asphalt roads. And I bought pure “slick” Maxxis Hookworm tires, and installed my old 60-tooth driven sprocket.

Having decided to act in stages, I first installed the drive with 11 teeth. This corresponded to a gear ratio of 5.45. A simple calculation showed that with this attitude I would immediately get a top speed of more than 90 km per hour. In reality it turned out a little worse.

Yes, I got a top speed of 87 km/h. It was lower than calculated for a simple reason. No, it wasn't air resistance. The fact was that the new slick tires, especially when not inflated to the limit, had a smaller profile in height (their width was 2.5 inches, unlike the mud ones with their 2.7 inches). This turned out to be enough. At this time, new stars came to me. Initially, I ordered a 66-tooth sprocket, and damn it, I couldn’t even think then that I would already have that much. Therefore, already during the production of the first star, a second one was ordered, with 59 teeth. Why not 60? I decided to make the most of the space I could use at all. The fact is that my rear brake rotor is located next to the sprocket. This was done due to the fact that on the other side there are the sprockets of the bicycle transmission (this is still a motorcycle, don’t forget!) and it is simply impossible to place the rotor there. And if you made the star even smaller, the chain would already cling to the rear brake caliper. In general, I made an ersatz trip and began to put a new star.

By the way, here are the stars. The smaller one, with 59 teeth, lies on a sprocket with 66 teeth.

And here she is in her place. You can see how close it goes next to the rear brake bleeder fitting - in reality, there is no more than 2-3mm left to the edge of the chain. If I want to install a star with an even smaller diameter, I will inevitably have to change the rear brake rotor to 180mm (currently it is 203mm), and along with it, change the adapter of the caliper itself so that it stays in its place.

At the same time I assembled and installed a new pump...

In any case, the departure was, one might say, triumphant in all respects. With a 12-tooth drive sprocket, the gear ratio was already 4.9. And I accelerated to 94 km/h.

True, one problem arose almost immediately - at speeds of more than 85 km/h, the balancing of the rear wheel (or rather, its absence) was already having a full effect - the ass began to “jump” quite noticeably. The problem was solved by positioning the rubber on the rim - being simply inflated, it simply did not stand up quite straight and a kind of “egg” was obtained, which was eliminated by rolling the moped on heavily deflated tires and after subsequent inflation the wheel was already relatively level, and you could ride without noticing any "bouncing". The color of the candle was really light...

I also had to drill out the jet! 1.2mm drill! In fact, with a richer mixture the maximum speed is slightly lower, but the engine does not “pour into pants”.

To celebrate, I rolled into a mini-long distance ride. Well, what a long distance, a total of 155 km. It turned out that I could drive in traffic on a local highway, maintaining a long-term speed of 90 km/h, although the speed was comfortable at 80-85...

From the hill we managed to reach as much as 97 km/h according to GPS. But this is no longer fair - the engine was twisting violently and was ready to jump out of the frame. But nevertheless, I recorded the number.

And of course, a video of how it drives along the highway.

But... “The music didn’t play for long, the guy didn’t dance for long.” Of course, something will inevitably fall off and die, well, you understand. This time, unable to withstand the vibration from the long-running engine (or the metal had already accumulated fatigue stress at that time), the resonator cracked, right near the junction with the cylinder. This was the second mini-long distance trip, and I really thought that the pipe would just fall off on the way home. Fortunately, I got home fine.

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As it turned out, my self-assembled muffler last year also cracked! Yes, how it cracked! There's a crack all over the body! Oh beauty!

Well, with a resonator it’s clear, but what the hell is a muffler? Well, everything is clear here - the crack came from the weld. I won’t blame my friend who cooked it, but the new clip was made differently. In fact, the front part of the resonator has been completely redesigned. The interface with the cylinder has been changed - the design of this unit from the latest generation Ktm Sx 50 was taken as a basis (though these rubber bands are on the pipe itself, while mine is on the cylinder). The work was also carried out by Nikolai Gruzdov from Pyatigorsk. It’s funny that he once made a resonator for the “Fastest Pitbike” project, and that project never went well (at least, there’s no word on that pitbike with a crossbike engine). Well, now - this is my project, which can already be safely called “The Fastest Motorcycle”. Well, in the Russian Federation it is definitely the fastest, and at the same time my engine is a legal 49.5 cubic meters. But let's get back to the topic. Here they are, the parts before installation on the bike.

And this is a new flange for the cylinder, with rubber rings for sealing. The resonator itself has a sleeve that fits onto this flange and is pressed against the cylinder by springs.

You can see it better here

If you are interested in the whole process, you can watch the video:

Due to the fact that the Rigov moped chain simply collapsed under these loads (on my chain the rollers simply burst), I decided to simply replace it with a 428. To do this, it was necessary to make both a new drive star and at the same time order a wider driven one. I started with the presenter.

It was made from two stars - I cut the stars off the original star I didn’t need, after which it was turned on a lathe. The resulting boss was pressed into a machined sprocket from some Honda for a 428 chain, and then scalded with argon.

New aluminum 59 tooth sprocket.

And the same after the first hundred kilometers

The appearance of the bike in its final “road” form.

And finally, I made a nameplate and installed it on the steering column

There is a video of this entire assembly (there is also how it drives - but it drives exactly the same, I just didn’t want to go out on the highway to test the maximum speed in the video) It
seems like everything. It looks like this bike will remain in this form from now on. Technically, you can install a 13-tooth sprocket (made using the same method), then the maximum speed in theory will be as much as 105 km/h. But I think this is already too much. Therefore, the likelihood that I will still check this is extremely small.

Rider's impressions. Questions and answers.

After all, we asked our test rider a couple of quick questions, and received the same short and sweet answers. As far as we know, he was the first rider to ride the KTM SX-E 5 against petrol 50cc dirt bikes at an official event.

KTM SX-E 5 2020

Q: Was it difficult for you to get used to the electric motor? A: No, because I have a STACYC (children's electric balance bike)

Q: Does the SX-E 5 jump as well as your gas bike? A: He accelerates faster, so he jumps higher and easier

Q: How does it steer? A: After adjusting the suspension it is better than petrol

Q: When its battery ran low, did it become slower? A: No, he was driving just as fast

Q: Is the SX-E 5 like a regular crossbike? A: It looks like a giant STACYC! He's very cool and I didn't want to get rid of him!