Another update: I did go with stainless steel M6 nutserts in the frame to mount the rear license plate/tail light frame. For whatever reason the factory had drilled and tapped 3 holes instead of 4 in the seat subframe. None of the holes had adequate thread engagement and would have failed eventually. The SS M6 nutserts were cheap from Amazon and easy to install with a 12.9 M6*30 hex head bolt, two washers and a M6 nut. I had to buy a 9mm (23/64") drill bit but wish I had used 11/32" instead as the nutserts wanted to spin in the holes. I would suggest drilling the smaller 11/32 hole and pressing the nutserts in with vice grips or a C clamp. Since I needed another fastener I bought 4 new allen socket headed M6*20 stainless bolts. Sorry for the lack of photos.

Carb is re-jetted. 125 main, 42 pilot and 2 turns out on the idle mixture seems pretty close and so much better than oem.

While I had everything apart I oiled the air filter with Maxis air filter oil. I also adjusted the chain which was loose. I plan to clean it and give it a gear oil bath at the break-in oil change coming soon. I added several turns of preload to the rear shock spring which helped a lot. Lots of little tweaks here and there. Just need some warmer weather to finish breaking it in.

Freddy, it looks like you are the Templar authority so far on this forum. And Hancadam said he ordered one last month. I put a layaway deposit on one yesterday to lock in the $1399 price. Don't really want to get into building one until spring is here. Thank you to you and Thumper for the response in the Templar X thread. I was asking if I should go with the standard or the X version. Question: What hand guards did you put on and would you recommend them?

Scary ain't it? The blind leading the blind for us base Templar owners. At least the X owners told me what size jets to try first. I'm looking forward to having some more Templar owners on here.

I highly recommend these handguards for the price. They fit very well and are dirt cheap. I'd rather have Acerbis guards but doubt that they're worth more than twice the cost.

Lift strap
 

The only good spot to lift the rear of the Templar is directly above the muffler and eventually you will get burned. It needs a lift strap and I found the perfect strap at Amazon. You'll need longer bolts (M6x25) to attach it. I chose allen head ss with ss M6 washers.

New pics!
 

I finally took some pics of my Templar outside of the garage. Unfortunately the light today was shitty but the background scenery is better than my crowded garage.

Attachment 28652

Attachment 28653

Attachment 28654

Attachment 28655

I paid the balance on my base Templar yesterday. I put a $100 layaway deposit in January. Should be here in a week or two. I was bummed when I saw it go off the website a while back. I emailed Zora at Powersports Max and she said they actually reserved one for me in my first color choice, green. I was shocked but now excited to start working on it.

Freddy, what elevation are you at?? I'll be riding 250 to 600 feet. Just trying to get an idea of where to start with the carb re-jetting.

Congrats on the new Templar! I live and ride between 200'-1000' ASL and so far the 125/42 is working well. If I change anything it will be a step richer on the main jet. GL

Freddy, did you stick with the 2 washers on the needle? I'm about to take my carb out and rejet.

Yes, 2 M3 washers (1mm).

How do you adjust the preload on the rear shock? There is not much room to get any tool in there to spin the collar.

It ain't easy! AFAIK the only good options are as follow:

Spanner method: Lift bike to take weight off rear shock. Remove seat, left side cover, airbox, rear fender and rear subframe. You now have room to use a spanner wrench.

Drift method: Lift bike to take weight off rear shock. You can use a long standard screwdriver but you risk damaging the preload rings and/or shock threads. Better to buy a special tool for the job.

The OEM spring is heavy duty (350lb/inch). If you try to turn the preload collar with a tool, it will probably damage the aluminum threads on the shock body, and definitely damage the indents on the collar made for the spanner.

It is easy to remove the shock.
https://www.chinariders.net/showpost...1&postcount=22

And especially posts 12-14 here
https://www.chinariders.net/showthread.php?t=31860

If you compress the spring with a coil spring compression tool, you can easily move the preload collar to any place you need to. Then release the spirng, done.

Even if you don't lower the bike, this might actually be easier, and do less damage to the shock.

Thanks. I read those posts. I was hoping for a simpler way. I thought Fast Freddy posted he used some car suspension tool and didn’t need to remove the shock.
Taking it on and off multiple times to get the adjustment right seems like a pain. I’m only 150 lbs so it may be ok where it is for now. I’ll have to put some miles on it on the trails first. I only have 2 miles around a grass field so far.

Removing the shock is actually easy, but you have to remove the exhaust, and then remove the lower and upper shock mount bolts. The shock will slip through the upper gap on the right side.

But once you have it out, you need to compress the spring to tighten the collar.

FYI, removing the seat, and battery tray, the air filter ass'y, and the rear frame is a monumental amount of work (I've done it!).

I thought you need a hook wrench to tighten that collar like the one below (shock spanner). I wouldn't know how to use the straight tool. But once you have the shock off, you could not use this tool.

Attachment 29056

Nothing easy about this! I was afraid of damaging the threads of that aluminum shock body, so I made a coil spring compressor from a car oriented compressor.

I fixed your post based on first hand experience. I added 3/4" of preload to my shock using a large screwdriver and a rubber hammer without damaging anything. You just have to know what you're doing and not beat the crap out of it. I stopped when the resistance became sufficient that the collar indents might begin to deform from the impact of a steel screwdriver. The reason why shock tools use brass.

Another option here is to compress the spring in situ.

OK. So it won't damage the threads. The KKE rear shock is built tougher than I thought.

As far as compressing the shock while still mounted, I could not find any tool that fit in there.

I took mine off and backed it off from more than an inch to closer to 3/4". It certainly is a stiff spring.
A ratcheting hook wrench could work if someone would invent and make one!

I think the most important thing is to get all the weight off the rear wheel before adjusting the shock preload. Also, there is probably a limit to how much preload can be added with the shock mounted. I stopped before I did any damage.

Do you have any info on the shorter 450mm Templar shock? I suspect it may have a softer spring since it's rated for a single rider only and the seat subframe doesn't look like it could carry a passenger.

Do you think this tool might work?

I was thinking that one side of a spring compressor might be used to take a lot of tension off the rings.I have one like this.

3/8" drive spanner "wrench"! This looks promising for mounted access, because you can use a ratchet. Worth a try. It will still require continuous micro movements and resetting, but maybe...

Maybe btr22 will test it out and let us know how it works?

Took the Templar out on the streets and dirt roads for 20 miles today. Stoped at the motorcycle shop to get an inspection sticker. Required her in NH. The guy said “what is this”, so I explained and he said “that’s a hell of a deal”. Then he asked if all the lights worked I said yes and he slapped the sticker on. Didn’t even verify one light! When I went to start it back up, the engine kept cranking and cranking, but wouldn’t start. After panicking for a while, I pushed the killswitch to run, and she fired up. On my snowmobiles nothing happens if the kill switch is off. Overall very happy with the whole bike. I’m not sure what a suspension is supposed to feel like so no much I can say to that and the rear shock preload. I did notice on some rocks and bumps the front suspension rebounded with a thunk if the wheel went off the ground. Like the opposite of bottoming out if that’s such a thing. Will need more seat time to tell what I need to adjust or modify.

That happened to me a couple of times. It's a relief when it instantly fires up once the kill switch is turned on!!!!:grr:

JTR897.44 on top of JTR210.46 for visual comparison. So close yet so far away.

Attachment 29219

I finally installed my new JTR897.44 today, it fits perfectly and I love the new drive ratio. Exactly what I was hoping for. The oem 47 tooth was great for off road but terrible on road. This is a much better compromise. I can enjoy 45mph roads and still have decent gearing for off road.

I'm still trying to aim my crappy headlight. I used all the available adjustment and it's still shining in the trees. The beam pattern is horrible. I think I should just get a new headlight.

Replacement headlamp for Templar
 

The stock headlamp on the Templar is worthless. It's a reflector housing which only works well with incandescent bulbs but it is fitted with a very cheap, low output LED bulb. The only incandescent bulbs that fit the BA-20D base are low wattage and useless for a headlight. I tried installing a better LED but although much brighter, it had a terrible beam pattern (as expected). It was blinding to on-coming traffic with a weak, scattered pattern extending from roadway to sky.

LED headlights require a projector housing to work properly so I decided to test this dual projector replacement headlamp assembly from Amazon.

Attachment 29443

https://www.chinariders.net/attachme...chmentid=29443

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BRQ1ZZL3...roduct_details

Watch for coupons on this item. I got 40% off and today it's 20% off. The same headlamp is also available with a plastic number plate and mounting straps on Amazon for ~$60.

Installation was a breeze. The light assembly is a direct fit replacement for the oem unit. The new light includes a separate pigtail connector to allow you to change the wiring pinout to match the oem 4-pin male harness plug. The oem wire color assignments are listed below:

Green - ground
White - low beam/running light*
Brown - running light/low beam*
Blue - high beam

* Interchangeable. Both are +12v when headlamp switch is 'on'

I wired mine:

OEM - New
Green - black (gnd)
white - white (RL)
blue - brown (HB)
brown - blue (LB)

The results are amazing! The beam pattern is near perfect, the cut-off is clean and well defined and the light output is very impressive. I would definitely buy it again. It is the single biggest improvement to my Templar yet. I don't plan to ride a lot at night but at least now I can and with confidence.

Note: I have no idea if this fits the Templar X or M number plate but the version with a new plate should fit without issue.

Attachment 29463 Off

Attachment 29464 On

Attachment 29465 low beam

Attachment 29466 high beam

Attachment 29467 cut-off

New pics^^^

So I tore the front off. When I am going over a bump or driving around at my house I am hearing a creaking sound. From where I can hear it is the lower steerhead bracket. I took it all apart the bearing is well packed with grease and so is the upper. Put all back together and still hearing this sound. Does anyone know what size bearings these are? Only thing I can think is to replace bearing and seals and see if that fixes my problem but I have no clue how big the bearings are other than top is smaller than the bottom one.