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-   -   Ridden: Bajaj Dominar 400 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/183778-ridden-bajaj-dominar-400-a-17.html)

Congrats Adi Bhai clap:. Waiting to ride with you.

KK

Thanks IronH4WK your review and others who contributed to this thread which helped me a lot for my decision. I had booked one D400. Just waiting for the Matte black to arrive so that I can see the white and the Matte black side by side to take a final call on the color.

I have limited experience in riding bikes and have ridden a Yamaha Rx-100 owned by my cousin and nothing was comparable to the same in those days. In 2012 I decide to add some excitement to my otherwise boring corporate life by renting bullets from a company called Enfield Riders in Mumbai. The experience of touring with them in and around Mumbai was awesome. Always wanted to own a Bullet 500 booked one in 2015 but never had the time and patience to maintain so never took the delivery.

I recently moved back to Gurgaon and had some time in hand so decided to get my Bullet 500 booking transferred from Mumbai to Gurgaon. On 29th July I visited Manzil motors in Gurgaon to pick a Bullet 500. Test drove the Thunderbird 500, appeared great for cruising but navigating through traffic was a tough one. Then came the classic 500 but the nervous handling and bone jarring vibrations over 80 were bothering me :Frustrati. They were ready to give me the delivery of squadron blue 500 on 30th July itself.


I left the showroom to check out KTM, liked the KTM 250 but no ABS and no test ride vehicle was a deal breaker. I felt disheartened as my dream of owning a Bike was shattered once again. I just couldn’t sleep and was browsing through the net and came across Dominor 400, looked good on papers saw some reviews on Youtube and started leaning towards checking out the bike.

On 30th July I visited Krishna Bajaj in Gurgaon at around 2pm to check out the bike, they had a matt black parked as a Test Ride vehicle. They gave me a test ride and my initial impression based on limited riding experience was that this was a big bike with a lot of power. I was unable to move beyond the 1st gear due to traffic and the bike was stalling on every turn but I was determined to have a good test ride of the vehicle. The riding posture was aggressive for my liking given that I was coming from a Bullet but the bike appeared to be stable at high speeds.

Once I came back the customary question from the showroom in-charge how was the ride and when do plan to buy the bike. The bike was ticking all my priorities like power, stability, safety (ABS), long range tourer at a descent price point so I told him that I really like the bike and enquired on the delivery timeline. He gave me a commitment of 10 days to deliver the bike if I give him the advance on the same day.

I was in too minds, called up my spouse to seek permission. Apparently it was a Sunday afternoon and she was sleeping so I got fired. I thought of leaving the showroom as I just couldn’t make up my mind and gave an excuse to the showroom incharge that I wanted to buy the bike today but they don’t have anything to offer so will have to give it a pass. The showroom incharge took this personally and said I will give you a bike today if you want to buy, I was like what happened to your 10 day delivery timeline. He was like I have another vehicle at my Old Gurgaon showroom and I can offer you that as I am expecting a new lot in the next 3 days.

The situation became really tough for me, I called my spouse again and seems like she was tired of my calls and said if you like the bike please go ahead and close it. I told the showroom incharge that I want to see the bike before closing the deal. The bike was there in 20mins and had 4kms on the ODO. I checked the bike for scratches, everything appeared good to me so went ahead with the purchase.


Now the best part was payment for the bike so I asked them that I am not carrying cash but can pay the entire amount from Card, is that acceptable? And they were cool with it. Swiped my card for 1.74 and including some additional money on account of card charges. The bike was mine, I just said thanks to almighty for helping me fulfil my childhood dream of owning a bike. So within 4hrs on 30th July I became a proud owner of a Dominor 400 Matt Black.



First impressions of the bike, feels heavy to me but love the straight line stability. I am running-in the engine so top speed is limited to 80kmph only but it appears the bike has a lot of power. The presence of ABS gives me confidence but I will not be able to do any nit picking at this stage as I am new to the biking fraternity with only 70km on the ODO.

Have a few questions and need help:

1. Is there a different technique to change gears on a slipper clutch?
2. As directed by Bajaj technician do I need to keep a minimum of 3.5 litres in fuel tank?
3. Recommendations for mobile charger and guidance on accessory/riding gear stores in Gurgaon?

Congrats.. looks cool in Matt Black color

Congrats! :)

1. No, it is the same way you use the regular clutch. One advantage is you can downshift without worry of rear wheel locking up with slipper clutch.

2. Any bike should have 3-4 liters of fuel, always. Low fuel level on a consistent basis can mess up the fuel pump.

Ride safe!

First of all let me congrats you on your new beast. I had almost booked the bike had the showroom not given me the 45 days waiting when new. But its okay, I have something good now.

For the questions that you have asked - slipper clutch and normal clutch operations is the same, you don't have to do anything else. Slipper clutch helps during fast downshifting.

I would suggest that you should always fill up when the bike reaches last 2 fuel bars. Never go till the end as it might be an issue due to dust or other stuff that might get settled in the petrol tank. Just a personal opinion

Use the bolt charger or use this charger from amazon.

Thank you buddy. Indeed Shell Advanced was one of the sponsors for this ride.

This was a Dominar Owners Club Bengaluru ride pic, just thought I will share it here. We had been to Krishnagiri dam and en route had breakfast at Chews n Cheers, Shoolagiri. It was a gang of 25 Dominars.

Last bike with Live to Ride sticker is my bike which is a jugaad sticker from our Live to Drive one :)







Pic credits to respective owners of the club.

KK

Great to hear that, we had a friendship day ride in NCR as well. Our ride was sponsored by Bajaj.

Seems like Bajaj is working really hard in building a DOC community so that their bikes are more visible on the road and they can steal some market share from there main competitor.

Good to hear from you. But one thing to highlight that Bajaj is in no way connected with DOC, which is an independent club.

At Bengaluru too Bajaj is organizing rides at regular intervals but personally I have stopped attending those rides (did only one ride with Bajaj) as they are more of promotional rides and more importantly they don't follow clear rules with respect to riding gears and allow people to ride even without gears, which is not fine with me. So I have been doing my rides with DOC Bengaluru.

KK

Any Dominar owner who has got an ECU update? How are the engine vibes post the ECU update?

Haathi Mat Palo..!!!

New Dominar TVC


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgLKLgHSdGc

I am planning to upgrade from a Pulsar 220 and being a Bajaj user, I am very sceptical to choose another Bajaj product. I would like to know from current owners about the Dominar 400. I've owned the UG3 P150 and at present ride a P220.

Every time I am about to upgrade, Bajaj comes with a product that is the best value in its segment. I want a comfortable yet powerful motorcycle but not at the cost of hassles. My P220 has been a problematic product ever since. From handle bar bolts breaking off to gear lever falling off to water seeping through petrol cap to CDI issues and much more.

These issues have made me sceptical on choosing another Bajaj product. But then as always, there is no other better value than this product in that segment. How has the motorcycle been for current users? What is the most common issue faced by many? How easy is it to install a larger windshield?

This is a funny take on my inability to ride on my Dominar during the long weekend last week.

A subconscious ride

I saw few people riding long from our DOCB (Dominar Owners Club Bengaluru) and felt pity for my bike, and said to myself, I should not let my bike down, after all, my bike is giving company whenever I feel low, bored and charges my energy. So, I thought I should do some good ride to start the weekend with a good note.

I fired the engine and listened to sweet tone of the exhaust and patted on the tank of the bike, in appreciation and ordered to zoom. In no time, I was doing a distance and crossed the limits of my locality. I felt good seeing less traffic on Bengaluru roads, which is hard to believe and soon I had reached Hosur road. In the signal I also met a Duke 200 rider with all possible luggage, possibly coming from Chennai to Bengaluru and wished him luck. Took a few mins break in the Hosur road signal and started my ride again.

I felt happy that I was doing some good speeds than what I had imagined to do in these roads and Aila, I soon encountered good corners along the lake side, the only reason I chose this road for the ride. You will not believe me, today I did my best cornering of my life and felt I have achieved what I wanted to…..!lol:

I passed by a small village and people were relaxing and enjoying lazy mornings. Soon, my ride was coming to an end I entered into a huge building manned with security guards opening the gate for me and within a few mins I found myself parking my bike in the basement of my office and ready to slog in office for the day :deadhorse.
This is the end of my short travel today and hope you enjoy this and don’t try to locate my office to kill me.

KK

Glossary

Cornering road – Bellandur lake road
Village – Yemaluru
Huge building manned with security guards – Jail – my office campus

Does the ABS light always glow when ignition is on. I'm asking since I was shown a vehicle and the light did not switch on when riding. Maybe I was shown a non-abs version.