Need feedback. EE-5 vs. 50SX

Do you want him to grow up to be a red blooded American man or a pinko hippie commie?!?!?!

/sarcasm

EE-5 holds up well so far from all the ones we have sold, low maintenance and really nice for kids learning the local tracks on a simple machine. Have not heard of issues with kids moving up to 65s off of them either. 

Id say the only downside is old kooks saying your kid is riding an ebike is bad for the development. I would go for a ee5 if the wallet can take it.  

My son is two and is on a Stacyc. We plan to get him an EE-2 when he's older then the EE-3 and so on. Why? He can ride in the neighborhood whenever he wants. No maintenance and not dealing with finicky carbs is also a plus. Also they have learning modes. 

I'd go the electric route unless your son is going to be full-on racing. 

My 8yo son has a ktm 50sx. Prior we had the ktm 50 mini. Both have treated us great but require some frequent maintenance. I have thought about the e5 plenty of times, but I don’t think it would work as his only bike due to battery life. We found balance in the 50sx and stacyc’s. I will say the local Mx/ax scene has plenty of e5’s racing and if your boy decides to race I’m sure you’ll fit right in. 
E5 Pros: 

- very minimal maintance. No oil change after every ride. No jetting, no top ends. No clutch changes. could ride in neighborhood or yard without major disruption, has classes to race in. 
E5 cons:

Battery life! may need to purchase generator to drag along with bike to ride days/races. 
 

just my .02

I’ve had both, still have the electric for my daughter. The electric is so much better, battery life is not ok if your kid gets fast though. Mode 6 with a reasonably fast kid gets about 15-17 min battery life. My daughter can get about 1-1.5 hours on mode 4, but she’s just on a trail ride. The electric has more torque, but less top end speed. I’ve had it about a year and haven’t had to do one thing to it. 

EE-5 has treated us well. Dielectric grease every connection, and don't be stupid pressure washing certain areas like the sprocket shaft, and electrical connectors. It should be pretty reliable. Ours was one of the very first ones picked it up the end of 2019.

I have an EE5…with the exception of range, it is infinitely better than the 50sx….way better power/power delivery…way less maintenance.

But we ride off road…at a moto track the range issue goes way..

So I have 4 kids and we are covered up in bikes. The only down side to my sons e5 is ride time. So I have a few batteries but also I have a 110 just in case. The 50sx is so much work I couldn’t stand it. My 10 year old moved up from the e5 and is riding a gas gas 65 now and is doing great. My 6 year old is on the e5 and my 3 year old is on the mx10 oset. Can’t beat the electric for the youngsters. I think it helps them all around. 

It all depends on you and your sons goals. You can’t race the e5 beyond 8 yrs old. I bought my son at 6 the e5 and he loved and still loves it here nearly a year later. He also races a cobra fwe 50. I literally today just bought a 24 ktm 65 that he’ll get for Christmas and race next year. 

So, at 8 yrs old id probably buy the ktm 65 but if he’s a total beginner and no plans to race then the e5 is probably a great path. The cobras as very fast but also vibrate a lot so for play riding maybe not the best, for racing though it’s the best path.

The whole idea is seat time with racing the e bike class, gas 50 7 to 8, 50 open, and 65 junior. It’s a slippery slope lol! Good luck.

Ebike class is 4-8 everywhere except lorettas. You can race the bike at 9 (ama 8)

My son is 9 now and riding a KTM 65sx and picked up on everything (fuel petcock, shifting, clutch operation, kickstarting) quickly. But he started on a Oset12.5r at 2 years old, then we attempted to go to KTM 50sx, he did fine on it, but it was a maintenance nightmare. It always wanted to get hot too unless we just kept him moving. So we switched to the KTM SX-E5 and it was fantastic, virtually no maintenance, can ride and have fun and learn. Then he switched to his current 65, and it’s a great bike. 
 

I would suggest against a 50sx.

Electric is superior but only works as a 2nd bike because itll run out of juice quick. The SX is way to go if you can only afford one bike. 

This is the only question you need to be asking yourself 

So  the E's are way more efficient in mode 5 than 6. Not a big difference in speed.

It doesn’t run out, believe me. Plug it in between motos, or each time you take a break trail riding and it just keeps going. Quite impressive.

Plug it in to what when trail riding? Serious question because I’m going to be in the market soon, too.

I just use a 1000 watt Honda generator. Or I use my bed plug in my Ram 2500 has.

The best thing about the 50sx is when they outgrow it and you can put them on a 65. If your riding style can accommodate the charger / battery limitations get the EE. I say this as an owner of a TC50. 

Gotcha, I was thinking maybe you had some way of charging it out on the trail.

My son is beginner level (maybe a fast beginner)...on mode 5 he'll get 30-40 minutes. 

That's the one thing I don't like about the bike, is the range is just too short...drive 30-60 minutes to ride...and only get 30-40 minutes of ride time before we have to load back up. 

But...i hated the maintenance on the 50sx SO bad, and the performance of the ee5 is so much better, that its worth it for me.  I honestly wish there was a 65 sized one to move him too...I'd go that route over the ice 65.  

E-5 is way under powered compared to a modern 50. Its great on hard pack and tight technical stuff but on a prepped track they leave a lot to be desired. Swapping batteries isn't a fast thing and they need more then just the battery to charge off the bike I believe. Some dad made a post on the E-5 group about his off bike charging setup if you want to go down that route. If you don't have a noise issue where you want to ride, I would get the 50 over an E-5. Ride time is 100% dependent on the kid and the track. We sometimes don't get 15 minutes on a full charge if its prepped deep. 

It definitely does run out. I know because ive had to push other kids bikes back to their Dads. Ill trust you on the recharge.  All I know is that around here all the kids that ride them also have a ICE 50.