Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

[ndinesh]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi guys,

Planning for a bigger cc bike and likes are mostly on the Dominar.
So started a lot of research on the mileage, spare part prices, maintenance, problems and experiences of the owners and gathered a lot of information.
I would like to share the service bills of the Dominar and i request you guys to correct me if i am wrong in any aspect.

Please do share your feedback on these and educate me and others about what the above spare parts are actually for.

Thanks...!

Man - that's really great effort you had put in compiling the spare parts prices. I am looking to book a Dominar and this certainly helps to know about servicing costs.

[Aniket_Apte]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

TL; DR: Got the Red Dominar ABS yesterday! Below is the story:

Background:
I'm 28 years old from Dombivli and I love to tour with my wife as pillion. I owned a Pulsar 150 since 2010(still have it today). In early 2015, I watched Mumbaikar Nikhils motovlogs and was inspired to do touring on motorcycle and was earning enough to get a decent bike. The RS 200 was launched in 2015 March end and I booked it immediately within 15 days of launch, from Salasar Bajaj Bhiwandi since they were promising the fastest delivery among all showrooms I visited. It was a fatal mistake which I committed due to my impatience. I did not do much research about things to remember while getting delivery of bike and was elegant about it. I later found out that the bike I got was definitely the one they used for test rides. It had no plastic wrappings at engine, leg guards etc., the speedometer was disconnected when I bought it etc. However, I did not pay much attention to it. The bike later gave me a lot of problems and I sold it after 2+ years and 27k kms in 2017 July.

I already had eyed Dominar, but we(me and my younger brother) decided to look at OLX if we can get any other interesting deal. My brother found a KTM Duke 250 for sale at just 1.5 lacs with only 2800 on odo, and we decided to pick it. The bike served us well and did not give us any serious issues in particular, I still felt bad for not getting a new bike, specifically dominar.

Finally, in 2018, we saw the new Dominar in red color and it was nail in the coffin for Duke. We decided to sell it since we could still get a good price for it and finally decided to get Dominar Red ABS version. We sold it on Monday, Feb 19th and started looking for new Dominar. We did not want to make same mistakes we made while buying RS200.

Options Considered:
Even though I had my mind made up for Dominar, we still were looking at options at hand when we decided to sell KTM. We came up with following options:

1. Dominar 400- The Best VFM. Slipper Clutch, ABS, Touring friendly.
2. Yamaha FZ 25 - I was considering this very seriously. The pros were that it had marginally better mileage than other options, touring friendly, slightly better fuel tank and the Japnese bike promise. but it had very less power and after reading xBhp thread for the bike, I found a lot of issues despte its "Japnese Bike" tag. The tappet noise, headlight, build quality, rusting. I dropped it reading the issues.
3. TVS Apache RR 310 - Although a superb bike, it costed 50k more than dominar and I did not found it worth the premium it was charging. Also, I was not sure if the parents would agree for me to spend 2lacs plus on a bike.

I was reading the xBhp forums Dominar thread since last many days to make sure that we are making the right decision. Me, my brother and Wife finally decided that it was Dominar we are going to get.

Dominar Buying Experience:

Tuesday, Feb 20th 2018
KTM was sold on Monday, and we started calling a few showrooms locally to check the final on-road price. We got 1.80Lacs minimum from a sub-dealer while The official Kanchan Bajaj showroom in Dombivli quoted us 1.82 lacs. Nobody, at all offered the test ride for the bike. I was not concerned about it though: My brother had ridden his friends dominar and he had liked the bikes performance and riding posture. His judgement was good enough for me. Also countless youtube reviews, dominar touring vlogs and this forum did help.

Wednesday, Feb 21st 2018
On Wednesday Morning we went to Kanchan Bajaj, and they dropped the price to 1.8 lacs since we were paying cash. My father after a long bargain with manager, managed to have him drop the price to 1.79 lacs. It was a compelling deal and we decided to go for it. We had put following conditions:

1. We MUST get to choose our bike ourselves
2. I will ride the bike from their godown to showroom after choosing.

We made the booking and asked for the procedure. They told us that they have 2 godowns: 1 in Kalyan(7-8KM from showroom) and other in Bhiwandi(20~km from showroom). Since I work in mid shift, I only could go to choose the bike on same day if they had it available in Kalyan. They said that If we choose bike on same day(Wed), we would get delivery on Saturday, since they will have the bike registered on Thursday. Else we will get the delivery on Monday since showroom is closed on Friday and RTO on Saturday and Sunday and they could only register the bike on Monday after that. They called the Kalyan godown and to our disappointment, it was not available there. We finally decided to go to godown on next day to choose the bike, bring it to showroom, pay the rest of money, and it will be sent to registration on Monday.

Thursday, Feb 22nd 2018
The next day, we(me, brother and father) picked a showroom person and went to Bhiwandi showroom in our car at 10.30AM. We reached there at 11.40~. It was a big godown and had at least 1000+ KTMs and Bajajs. We saw the new Avenger 180, Duke 390s and many Dominars. The guy at godown took us to location where there were Dominars. There were many rows filled with Blue, Black and red dominars. The godown was very dusty all the bikes were filthy with a lot of dirt. The godown was literally on dirt, there was no flooring of any type. Most of the bikes were dirty due to dust. However, the last row of dominars did have very less dirt on them. The godown guy told us that it was the newest lot. We chose 1 from the lot and he brought the bike forward and asked us to inspect. While inspecting, we found that the back seat was not in proper alignment, i.e. from right side, you could see inside the seat, the gap was that huge between seat and where its fitted on bike. Godown guy said its normal and said its due to wiring; he opened the seat and pushed a few wires inside and applied the seat back again. The gap was reduced. However, then my brother noticed that the seat was not firm. It wobbled a lot. He looked at other dominar and the seat was good. We completed rest of our inspection and decided to take that one.

The guy we brought from showroom then open the front seat and started the battery. We then started the bike and were happy to see that it only had 2km on odo. It was wrapped in plastic at most of the parts and it was proper unboxing kind of experience. He then applied mirrors, inserted toolbox and medical kit, inserted around 2 liters of petrol and said we are good to go. However, he was persistent on riding the bike himself saying that "Sir, its my responsibility to take bike to showroom." He offered me to sit behind him though. I asked him to do the reverse, and he happily agreed.

We left the godown at 12.00PM approximately. I got to home at 12.45, asked the showroom guy to take the bike to showroom because I wanted to go home and get ready for work. Meanwhile, brother and father came home. At 1.20PM me and brother left for showroom. At showroom, we made the payment and then they asked, "Do you want to take delivery now?" We were more than happy to do that! They asked us to only ride under 60km odo and drop the bike at showroom for registration on Monday. It had already crossed 22km so we had 35~km to ride. They completed the insurance registration and gave us a cheap helmet and a parking cover (which is probably thinner than paper :P). The bike was ready and we were finally ready to go home. They also had me sign a undertaking stating that I take full responsibility of bike for taking it without the registration. Another guy at showroom explained us the rest of features, which now I knew by heart from watching a lot of Youtube videos. I asked if they completed PDI and the manager said that its completed at godown -_-. I was not interested in the showrooms PDI either since they anyways do not complete it. We finally headed home happily with bike.

About bike:
The riding experience from godown to home was pleasant for me. I noticed following:
- Amazing looks, big bike feel.
- feels agile. Is not as heavy while riding
- Riding position was more comfortable than duke 250.
- Gave confidence to dip in corners
- The bike gave a vibrations on mirror, under seat and on footpegs. from 4k-5k rpm. Although from the forum posts, I know that they should be reduced after 1st servicing/couple of thousand kms. Hoping for the best.
- Power does not come as early as Duke but is much powerful from 2k to 5k rpm.
- Horn is.. lets say weakest of all bikes I have owned. Not a complain.
- Headlight is powerful although did not get to use it at night.
- Love the exhaust Note. Sounds very digital-ish. Gets very bassy at high RPM.
- Somehow, we managed to get 46km on bike already -_-
- Most Important: Approved by all family members, specifically father who can now ride my bike unlike my previous ones [emoji14]


Thanks to xBhp forum and this thread specifically for the huge research material. Hoping to keep it much longer than my previous bikes. Will post the pics later. Chao!

Congratulations !

[ndinesh]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi,
I knew that speedometer cable of lesser cc bikes can be disconnected and used for test rides by dealers. Can it happen in Dominar's case as well? I think higher cc modern bikes has sensors which will not allow engine to start if such acts are attempted. Is my assumption correct? Are there any ways for dealers to use Dominar for test rides without reflecting it in the odometer?

[Usual suspect]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi Guys,
Been a long time away from the forum..but a niggle got me back here
So, the niggle I'm facing is there since last 15 days..When I am trying to keep the bike at a steady speed for example, 55 in 4th gear, after holding onto the speed their is a slight but sudden dip that forces me to open the throttle again..that way, I'm unable to cruise at a steady speed for any stretch of time..due to this, I'm always in a constant acceleration or decelaration..please advise what to do..
Got the bike's last service also done in the meanwhile & it was fine for couple of days but now the niggle has crept back up..
FYI, I had installed the new highway flasher about 25 days back..followed the instructions provided in the tutorial video to the T..not sure if that could be a possible culprit..
Plz help

[B7ACKTHORN]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi Guys,
Been a long time away from the forum..but a niggle got me back here
So, the niggle I'm facing is there since last 15 days..When I am trying to keep the bike at a steady speed for example, 55 in 4th gear, after holding onto the speed their is a slight but sudden dip that forces me to open the throttle again..that way, I'm unable to cruise at a steady speed for any stretch of time..due to this, I'm always in a constant acceleration or decelaration..please advise what to do..
Got the bike's last service also done in the meanwhile & it was fine for couple of days but now the niggle has crept back up..
FYI, I had installed the new highway flasher about 25 days back..followed the instructions provided in the tutorial video to the T..not sure if that could be a possible culprit..
Plz help

The stuttering in your motorcycle at a certain RPM when the throttle is held steady can be due to fuel quality or engine lugging itself. Secondly, this has been reported by many folks around here, and an ECU update seems to have given satisfactory results. If you haven't done your ECU update, it would be a good time to do so. The flasher unit cannot be the culprit here. Try changing your fuel station first and observe if the issue remains the same. Secondly, if you haven't done your update, consider that a priority.

Cheers!
VJ

[AdvenTOURER Nikhil]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Guys need bit help.. bike has started heating a bit.. I don't know y ..also what's the cap besides coolant cap ?? It's in metal.. when I went to second service that guy topped up extra coolant (just for money )

[AdvenTOURER Nikhil]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NL5tG84EBhsFxNiG3

This...also the part seems to be wet al the time is it bcoz of extra coolant filled by that moron

[ashoka_bnglr]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hi, the pilion back rest is a must have if you are riding with a pillion. I have installed the pillion back rest from Lluvia industries. Installation is simple DIY. Just 5 minutes job. But so far i have not taken any pic. Anyways today afternoon i will try to upload a pic .

]

Thanks That looks very useful and utilitarian. Definitely will get that done. I hope it doesn't get in way while getting on the bike (for pillion)

P.S. Remove all pics before quoting posts with pictures.

[DJD]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Thanks That looks very useful and utilitarian. Definitely will get that done. I hope it doesn't get in way while getting on the bike (for pillion)

The pillion should be careful while getting on the bike. If the pillion is a short person then it will be slightly difficult.

[Aniket_Apte]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

The pillion should be careful while getting on the bike. If the pillion is a short person then it will be slightly difficult.

Is the height of Backrest is adjustable ?

[DJD]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Is the height of Backrest is adjustable ?

yes it is adjustable. The picture i have uploaded was with the minimum height.

[B7ACKTHORN]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Guys need bit help.. bike has started heating a bit.. I don't know y ..also what's the cap besides coolant cap ?? It's in metal.. when I went to second service that guy topped up extra coolant (just for money )

https://photos.app.goo.gl/NL5tG84EBhsFxNiG3

This...also the part seems to be wet al the time is it bcoz of extra coolant filled by that moron

That "metal" cap you are referring to is the radiator cap. The "coolant" that you see is the cap for the expansion tank. DO NOT open the metal radiator cap when the engine is hot, it can splash all over you and cause burns. Secondly, excess coolant will over flow through the drain tubes. Wash the bike and keep a tab on the coolant level, and observe if it's getting low. If it lowers below or nears the low level, within a week, it's imperative to get the bike checked for any coolant seepage inside the engine.

Cheers!
VJ

[jagaddjag]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hello guys, will RE himalayan handle bar end will direct fit to dominar 400? If any one tried that, please let me know the cost and feed back.

[404]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hello guys, will RE himalayan handle bar end will direct fit to dominar 400? If any one tried that, please let me know the cost and feed back.

It bends like cheese under the weight of the motorcycle. Since D400 and Himalayan weigh about the same, I would suggest looking into aftermarket options that are built better.

[jatinpatel8]

Re: Bajaj Dominar 400 Ownership Experience Thread

Hello Everyone,

New to xBhp. I am in market for an upgrade from my current bike, Hornet 160. I really love everything Dominar has to offer. Planning to buy one soon. Is this bike still relevant? Any other options do I need to consider?

My main commute is to work everyday and occasional weekend rides.

Please provide me your valuable suggestions.

Thanks,
Jatin