Minor Paladin Assembly issues

[Mumen Rider]

Originally Posted by Thumper

Oh. It certainly looks better. Does the mid section of the right side panel deform when you cinch down the tank? I was able to force the thing into place but not without severe force and those two forward mounting holes in the plastic might not hold up. How did the two mounts on the top of the tank line up. Did you pin those before doing the loose tank maneuver?

No panel deformation that I can tell. The first thing I got into place was the side panel stay that has to slot in, then the top two tank mounting bolts were screwed in but not tight, finally I manipulated(with my hand, not much force) the radiator and panels until they lined up. The final bolts to be tightened where the two on top of the tank once I got the radiator panels secured.

Originally Posted by LowBrewTow

I was under the impression that it was a KTM350 EXC-F clone (2020-2023)

I think you might be correct. The OEM panels for that model year resemble ours more so.

Kews K23 panels would also fit.

[Thumper]

It started right up. The exhaust is sealed and quiet at the header. That's a relief. 10 minute ride, gentle to modest throttle, kept it under 6000rpm. I never got it over 35mph. Just heating it up for oil change and first impressions.

0 km on the odometer when I turned it on. I will switch to mph/miles.

It is a very smooth engine and transmission. I dropped the oil as soon as I parked it. Looks like conventional yellow/green oil.

Magnetic oil drain plug.

First impressions are
-This is a larger bike than Templar. Longer wheelbase, feels bigger
-the engine is free revving and torque comes in early, even at 1/4 throttle

Notes: The copper exhaust gasket is 48mm O.D. and the headpipe diameter is ~41-42mm O.D. (Templar headpipe is 32mm O.D.). Cross sectional area difference on the exhaust system is 1385 square mm (Paladin), and 804 square mm (Templar). Also, When I had the header off, I could see the dual exhaust valve paths-lots of room for exhaust flow. The muffler has a removeable baffle too (perfect straight through path for a spark arrestor install).

-first gear is definitely low enough for off road fun
-the frame is taught, definitely tighter than the Templar, esp the rear end
-the swingarm has no perceptible play, also very taught
-the rear spring is dialed up pretty tight, probably too much for me
Rear shock is a KKE model 6 (there must be a longer model number on it somewhere). It is bigger than the KKE shock on the Templar X



I did not check what the suspension dampening is set to before the ride, but the thing feels way tighter/stiffer than the Templar X. This stiffness will translate into better control off road.

It did stall when I dropped the throttle once at a stop sign. When I got home, it settled into a perfect steady 1900rpm idle.

[bigdano711]

1900 rpm is a little high, no? I'm guessing you mentioned it before, but are you a beeffalo like some of us or a smaller, lighter guy? That's how I change my oil, too. I get the tools ready and when I hop off, dump that hot oil.

[Thumper]

Each block on the tach represents 500rpm. Not exaclty a fine indicator! I am just looking at the tachometer. Should connect a digital rpm tool. Forum member readout mentioned ~the same (2000rpm). Could be more like 1600-1700rpm. It doesn't sound high.

I am North of 190lbs, no ballerina. But the real problem is age, knees, etc. I will never push the Palatin anywhere close to it's limits

[Mumen Rider]

I experienced a random shut off while idling it in my garage, no idea why. The bike wasn't hot and the radiator fan wasn't on, it had been running for 3-4 minutes prior.



My rear tire was inflated to 42 psi, yikes.


The muffler leaks water out of the seams that connect the two end cans, not a real problem but it is annoying.



Bleeding my front brake improved the feel, probably had some air in the line from the factory. The rear brake was good but I changed the fluid anyway. It is a KTM style rear master cylinder but the top caps are different so you can't change it out for a different color. The rear brake and support bracket are a clone of the KTM parts, you can probably swap them for the factory KTM brembo brakes.

[Thumper]

Short night ride to check the headlight strength. It seems brighter than I expected, but it is aimed low and is cut off by the front fender. I will look for a height adjustment screw tomorrow when I can see in there.

Oh, there is a superfluous zip tip anchor in front of the radiator cap in the headset housing. I wish I could pinch the retainer inside and retreive it for something useful

[Mumen Rider]

You might find the horn in the way of the adjuster to aim it up and down, I ended up relocating the horn behind the headlight with zip ties to give me easier access for aiming.


I ordered an OEM Kawasaki exhaust gasket. I think I will end up using that instead of the copper washer. I may also seal the mid-pipe slip joint with some exhaust RTV and reassemble the muffler so it doesn't leak at the seams.

[TominMO]

Wow, reading all this, it looks like they rushed this thing out of the factory. Not just a simple assembly job. I wonder how the X-Pro assemblers would have handled all this if a customer paid for pre-assembly?

[Mumen Rider]

It wasn't rushed, the platform is a couple of years old now. This is just how inexpensive Chinese dirt bikes are. It IS just a simple assembly job, the majority of people ARE NOT going to go to the length that some of us on this forum go through when assembling to get everything where we think it should be. You are paying a fraction of the price to have just as much fun as the $12k+ dirt bike at the cost of a lower fit and finish which will cause you a longer assembly time if you care about that. I could have slapped this bike together in two hours out of the crate but I like to know for sure things were done up to my standard before throwing a leg over and taking off down the road.

[Thumper]

Originally Posted by Mumen Rider

Both sides of mine went together without the need for spacers. If you keep the top two screws on the tank loose, then grab the radiator firmly while manipulating the panel you can get it to line up.

Thanks!
I got my cowling wings straight and assembled without my oak block and nylon post...
I should have applied the standard old rule, loosen everything, align things and then begin to tighten nuts and bolts. Yes, it works.

There is still some tension on the mounts, but this actually provides stiffness.

Also-I could have realigned the battery tray for the tail section upper mounts to line up better, but the snorkel fits SO easily on the intake throttle body, I decided to let it stay there and just grind the rear frame where the bolts go through instead. It was actually easier.

The extra length on the exhaust system was easy to fix once I figured out it was simply too long. Now it fits and I can seal up the header on the exhaust port.

If you have not found at least one cross threaded bolt on your Chinese bike, you are unusually lucky. But easy to fix anyway.

These ARE minor assembly issues for an amazing 34hp water cooled enduro compete with street legal lights and an excellent frame/swingarm with fully adjustable heady duty (but lightweight) suspension with EFI, all for under $3000, delivered. I never thought THIS would happen! How much did you pay for a 20hp dual sport?

If your bike came preassembled, you paid for it, and maybe more depending on the bike you got. I know this bike now, and I will be learning more and more over time. I get to do the maintenance and repairs. It saves me time, and money. Others here will benefit from our attention to detail.

[Thumper]

I removed the lower kickstand mounting "plate" and put it in a vice so I could drill another hole close to the mounting bolt. Then I used a broad punch and hammer to bend it so the spring is held off (to avoid the "kickstand up stop" when moving). Then I cut off the excess and ground it to round. Reinstalled, loctite

Oh!! It took some effort to pull the spring onto the upper position even with the kickstand up. PERFECT. It is NOT moving while riding stowed away now.

[Mumen Rider]

Originally Posted by Thumper

If you have not found at least one cross threaded bolt on your Chinese bike, you are unusually lucky. But easy to fix anyway.

The lower bolt for the gauge bracket was torqued so tight it ripped some threads out on mine. I don't think I would ever want to pay extra for an assembled xpro, workers probably over torque and or strip bolts. Watching the assembly video is bad enough.

[Thumper]

Like most assemblers, they use cordless drivers on everything. They do not bother to hand start/thread. So some go cross threaded fron the start on perfectly good threads. Shame they can't see this is a problem.

My lower gauge bracket mounting bolt was mis threaded as well (alone, the bolt was there as a place holder!). I managed to rescue the threads in the upper triple clamp by gently removing it. Replaced with a good bolt and it is OK.

[onthefly]

Have you guys had any further stalling issues at idle? Or figured out what caused that?

[XLsior]

perhaps due to it being a Ruski Gopnik market machine it's built to vodka goggle standards...