Talaria Sting MX5 Pro — is it still the 72V bike to beat in 2026?

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Talaria Sting MX5 Pro — is it still the 72V bike to beat in 2026?

Been thinking about this one a lot lately. When the MX5 Pro landed it was the obvious answer: first proper 72V bike in the Sting line, 40Ah Samsung 50S pack, 13.4 kW peak, moto-spec brakes, TFT dash, around 59 mph. About a 45% bump over the 60V bikes. For the money, nothing else was really close.

Two years on I'm less sure. The price crept up — it's near $4,990 now, sitting above the MX4 after the July repricing — and the 72V class filled in around it. E Ride Pro SS and the Arctic Leopard both put up numbers that at least match it, and the Leopard's direct-drive motor and bigger pack make the value math genuinely close.

Where I think the MX5 Pro still wins is the boring stuff: dealer network, parts you can actually get, a bike that mostly doesn't need upgrades out of the crate. That's worth something if you'd rather ride than wait three weeks for a controller from overseas.

So, questions for anyone running one:

How's it held up past the first year? Anything failing that shouldn't?
Real-world range in rough terrain, not the brochure number?
If you were buying today at ~$5k, would you buy it again or go Leopard / E Ride?

Curious whether the people who own them still rate it, or whether it's coasting on being the recognizable name.