[Senotrius]

Yes,the underpowered Honda makes sense currently (only) due to the deep discounts offered. They're clearing stock. Wish the dominar had figured all these out even after years in the market.

[desideep]

I wish, Bajaj had their bikes in Australia. I would love to own Dominar 400.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by NSK123

Thanks mate.

Cold start, Engine stop, Chain loosening, False neutral, Gear position indicator issue - these issues would definitely annoy. Are other users also facing the same issue?

If that's the case, would it make sense for me to consider Honda CB 300 F even if it is under powered? (300R pillion seat is a joke, hence I cannot go for it). I am looking for touring purpose.

I have been using the Dominar UG Model for the past 4 years and have not experienced any of the mentioned issues. I am not sure which year model Senotrius is using. However, my friend and I both own Dominars and have taken them on several long trips without encountering any of the mentioned issues.

My friend follows a routine of adjusting and lubricating the chain every 2 months, which is recommended for higher cc engine bikes. In contrast, I only adjust the chain during service periods and clean and lubricate it once a month. In the past 4 years, my vehicle has only stopped twice - once due to a radiator issue caused by water wash (which you can read about here) and the other time a few months back due to a battery failure, which I believe is normal for 4 year old bike.

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by Senotrius

I can answer based on my experience -

1. cold start issues -fixed by changing engine oil to motul(or Castrol). Change the company oil at the first opportunity. Asc will keep on insisting there's no problem. Multiple ecu updates and reset from their side. The oil also fixed the bike shutting off after starting up when kept idle/ parked for a few hours.

I feel the cold start issue in high compression ratio engines is due to the low quality of the fuel used. This can be solved by throttle body cleaning, using fuel injection cleaner additive in the fuel, or always using high-quality fuel from a trusted petrol pump as even one full tank from a random fuel pump was enough to cause the issue to come back on my KTM ADV 250.

My experience with the same issue can be read in these posts:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5467987 (Ownership Review | KTM Adventure 250)
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5491932 (Ownership Review | KTM Adventure 250)

[NSK123]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

I have been using the Dominar UG Model for the past 4 years and have not experienced any of the mentioned issues. I am not sure which year model Senotrius is using. However, my friend and I both own Dominars and have taken them on several long trips without encountering any of the mentioned issues.

My friend follows a routine of adjusting and lubricating the chain every 2 months, which is recommended for higher cc engine bikes. In contrast, I only adjust the chain during service periods and clean and lubricate it once a month. In the past 4 years, my vehicle has only stopped twice - once due to a radiator issue caused by water wash (which you can read about here) and the other time a few months back due to a battery failure, which I believe is normal for 4 year old bike.

Thank you so much. It is giving me confidence to consider Dominar as one of the potential bikes. Since ODB II compliance is kicking in from April 1st, I am holding my booking/purchase till next month 1st week.

[NSK123]

Originally Posted by advstreak

I feel the cold start issue in high compression ratio engines is due to the low quality of the fuel used. This can be solved by throttle body cleaning, using fuel injection cleaner additive in the fuel, or always using high-quality fuel from a trusted petrol pump as even one full tank from a random fuel pump was enough to cause the issue to come back on my KTM ADV 250.

My experience with the same issue can be read in these posts:

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5467987 (Ownership Review | KTM Adventure 250)
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5491932 (Ownership Review | KTM Adventure 250)

Thanks for the these inputs. How often we should use fuel injector cleaner? I have never used it on my cars / bikes so far. Is the resulted performance visible while riding?

[NSK123]

Originally Posted by Senotrius

Yes,the underpowered Honda makes sense currently (only) due to the deep discounts offered. They're clearing stock. Wish the dominar had figured all these out even after years in the market.

I took a test ride of CB300R - the pillion seat is horrible, so that's totally ruled out.

CB 300F - Seems to be underpowered for highway rides, but could be practical in city. I doubt if it gives a feel of big bike

CB 350 Highness / RS - I heard they are good, and hit 100 / 110 KMPH but at that speed if we need sudden overtake, it takes time. My typical highway speeds are 100 only, but then if I want a sudden overtake, it should have some reserve power, based on what I heard, it is not there.

Correct me if I am wrong. I can take some more test rides accordingly.

[advstreak]

Originally Posted by NSK123

How often we should use fuel injector cleaner? I have never used it on my cars / bikes so far. Is the resulted performance visible while riding?

I have only used it two times on the KTM ADV 250 which has done 16K km till now. I would prefer sticking to the service schedule of the bike and using the fuel injector additive instead of the throttle body cleaning after long trips in which fuel quality cant be guaranteed.

Read through the instructions on the fuel to the cleaner ratio based on the manufacturer and take the bike for a long ride of 100-150 km in which you are able to use the higher RPMs. This will ensure that all the components of the fuel line are properly cleaned.

I would not say I have noticed significant performance differences as I was not actively looking for them. But it definitely solved the cold start issue.

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by NSK123

Thank you so much. It is giving me confidence to consider Dominar as one of the potential bikes. Since ODB II compliance is kicking in from April 1st, I am holding my booking/purchase till next month 1st week.

Great, congrats! Dominar has a lot of potential in it. If you are mainly looking for long rides on the highway, then this is the perfect bike with sufficient power. However, in my opinion, a 250cc engine might not be enough.

Originally Posted by NSK123

CB 350 Highness / RS - I heard they are good, and hit 100 / 110 KMPH but at that speed if we need sudden overtake, it takes time. My typical highway speeds are 100 only, but then if I want a sudden overtake, it should have some reserve power, based on what I heard, it is not there.

For overtaking at high speed, only these three bikes would be great: Dominar, ADV 390, and duke/RC 390. Dominar would have more power even if you ride it at 120 kmph, and if you want to overtake someone or need more power, you can easily access more power without any problem. The engine is much more sophisticated.

I have ridden it at various speeds, both within the city and on the highway, and the power is more than enough for this segment. Additionally, the pillion is comfortable. However, feel free to check out other vehicles with higher cc engines, such as interceptor 650 but as far as pillion comfort is concern my suggestion would be dominar.

Check out my Dominar's highway performance/Abuse in this travelogue

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/trave...t-dominar.html (An 800-KM journey for the best breakfast on a Dominar)

[NSK123]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Great, congrats! Dominar has a lot of potential in it. If you are mainly looking for long rides on the highway, then this is the perfect bike with sufficient power. However, in my opinion, a 250cc engine might not be enough.

I am looking for Dominar 400 only (not 250cc). Interceptor I am not too happy since heats up a lot & instrument cluster is very basic. I am short for KTMs.

My only question is how is the long term reliability of Dominar compared to Hondas? Your views please. Are there any repeat issues / niggles which makes us visiting service center often other than for regular services

[raptor_diwan]

Originally Posted by NSK123

My only question is how is the long term reliability of Dominar compared to Hondas? Your views please. Are there any repeat issues / niggles which makes us visiting service center often other than for regular services

Honestly, my Dominar and my friends' bikes have not experienced any repeated issues, except for a slight vibration or mild sound near the instrument cluster, which may be due to an additional windshield I added. However, this does not bother me. In the 5 years since I purchased my bike, I have only visited the service center for regular maintenance such as chain adjustment, ECU update, and chain sprocket change after 20,000 km. I have not encountered any major problems with my bike or my friends' bikes. `

To be fair, there is no guarantee that a newly purchased bike will not have any issues, as it is largely a matter of luck. Some bhpians above have mentioned issues like engine stop, cold start, and false neutral, but I have not experienced these problems myself, and the majority of Dominar customers have not reported any repeated issues. It is worth noting that most of the issues occurred in the old 2016 to 2018 models, and many of them have been resolved in the newer models.

[NSK123]

Originally Posted by raptor_diwan

Honestly, my Dominar and my friends' bikes have not experienced any repeated issues, except for a slight vibration or mild sound near the instrument cluster, which may be due to an additional windshield I added. However, this does not bother me. In the 5 years since I purchased my bike, I have only visited the service center for regular maintenance such as chain adjustment, ECU update, and chain sprocket change after 20,000 km. I have not encountered any major problems with my bike or my friends' bikes. `

To be fair, there is no guarantee that a newly purchased bike will not have any issues, as it is largely a matter of luck. Some bhpians above have mentioned issues like engine stop, cold start, and false neutral, but I have not experienced these problems myself, and the majority of Dominar customers have not reported any repeated issues. It is worth noting that most of the issues occurred in the old 2016 to 2018 models, and many of them have been resolved in the newer models.

Thanks for your honest feedback. I am inching closer to Dominar

[ShreyG]

Originally Posted by NSK123

Thanks for your honest feedback. I am inching closer to Dominar

Let me push you further.
I have one for >6 years now. Regular service and upkeep is all that has been needed for it so far. There were vibration issues during the initial periods and were quickly resolved by changing the engine oil to Motul. Other than that, the bike has been working perfectly fine.
I have further detailed down a long term review in this thread itself. Link below -
https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motor...ml#post5249851 (Ridden: Bajaj Dominar 400)

[windiesel]

Originally Posted by NSK123

Hi all,
Need advice from the community. I am looking for changing my bike. Have a Thunderbird 350, Yezdi Roadster. Planning to sell Yezdi and go for new one. I am posting this in Dominar community since this is one of the bike that ticks all the boxes for me. These are my requirements:

• Daily commute to office
• Long weekend rides - at least 1 or 2 in two months
• Willing to pay extra attention to bike, no breakdowns
• Fuss free maintenance (Honda, Suzuki tops the chart, but they don't have the bikes I am looking for - CB350 / RS not powerful enough)
• I am OK, if the bike is heavy
• Best seat height for me is 800mm

I tested

• Suzuki Vstrom 250 - good bike but even with low seat I cannot reach ground otherwise a great bike ticking everything for me
• CB 350 Highness / RS - Underpowered
• KTMs - Cannot reach ground
• Cruisers like Meteor, Super meteor - Not to my taste

I did not test ride Yamaha FZ 250 & Gixer 250

BTW, Interceptor 650 does have a slipper clutch.

[ShreyG]

So today I just sold off my 2017 Bajaj Dominar 400 ABS. A sad day indeed. Had lots of amazing memories with that little monster. It served me well through my MBA years all the way to yesterday.
Surprisingly, it was FB that generated the most reliable leads with very few low ballers and dealers. In the end, had a bit of an auction match between 2 buyers which was fun .
Overall, I had an amazing run with it, but now with a new member in my family, it was virtually unused with the odd early morning trip every couple of weeks I forced myself to go to just to keep the bike healthy.

Couple of learnings -
1. Never trust the first price of sale shared by the likes of BeepKart. These guys were selling a bike in a similar condition to mine for 1.50 lakhs and initially quoted me 85K
2. Avoid OLX at all costs. It is full of dealers (sometimes the same guy with a different ID) who will try to low ball it to maximum which leads to unnecessary stress