[yesyeswe]

I had a pulsar 180 ug4 for 10 years and when the dominar 2019 was launched i was sold on the green shade, sadly the showrooms didn't had a test ride bike and their response was lackluster as well, somehow i came across RE Continental gt 650 review and and the folks at the showroom were amazing, at the end of the story i got that bike.

Good detailed review and nice pictures, happy riding and stay safe

[aswin ajith]

Originally Posted by yesyeswe

I had a pulsar 180 ug4 for 10 years and when the dominar 2019 was launched i was sold on the green shade, sadly the showrooms didn't had a test ride bike and their response was lackluster as well, somehow i came across RE Continental gt 650 review and and the folks at the showroom were amazing, at the end of the story i got that bike.

Good detailed review and nice pictures, happy riding and stay safe

Thank you so much yesyeswe.

Actually, I wouldn't blame you at all. I did not get a test ride of the 2019 version either. Only the display bike was available which was later converted into the test ride bike, but that happened many days after I took delivery. Multiple test rides on the 2018 had me sold on it anyway which is why I went ahead.

Congrats on the GT.

Keep riding and stay safe !!

[bigron]

Congratulations. Always happy to see a biker get his ride.

I am really impressed with the 400 as a package and have been told Bajaj has done a great job with this updated model.

Almost a perfect commuter as well as a highway cruiser. I am sure it ll have its share of niggles and quirks here and there but over all I fell this is a solid bike.

Have fun with it.

[Speed.Demon]

Aha, so finally the review is up!!

Congrats on the green mean machine mate, looks really awesome!

I knew on that day when we went to ride it that you were completely sold! You could barely contain your excitement.

I'm glad you utilized the lockdown time well, it is a very good read from start to finish. Contrary to what you said, those pictures are real eye candy material. Guess we have modern smartphone cameras and their software tricks to thank.

Keep munching those miles, and keep the thread updated!

[aswin ajith]

Originally Posted by bigron

Congratulations. Always happy to see a biker get his ride.

I am really impressed with the 400 as a package and have been told Bajaj has done a great job with this updated model.

Almost a perfect commuter as well as a highway cruiser. I am sure it ll have its share of niggles and quirks here and there but over all I fell this is a solid bike.

Have fun with it.

Thank you so much Bigron.

Yes the overall package is such a big improvement. Can't agree more. What was already a brilliant package became simply outstanding with this major update.

Originally Posted by Speed.Demon

Aha, so finally the review is up!!

Congrats on the green mean machine mate, looks really awesome!

I knew on that day when we went to ride it that you were completely sold! You could barely contain your excitement.

I'm glad you utilized the lockdown time well, it is a very good read from start to finish. Contrary to what you said, those pictures are real eye candy material. Guess we have modern smartphone cameras and their software tricks to thank.

Keep munching those miles, and keep the thread updated!

Thanks a lot man.

Yes, our test ride that day kinda sealed it for me even before we saw the actual bike. One look at the new one and I had made up my mind.

Glad you enjoyed going through. Yes both the Samsung and One plus do extremely well while clicking. No doubts there

[BigBrad]

Hey man, congrats on the bike. D400 like all other Bajaj products is extremely VFM for what it offers. And the mini Diavel suits your riding requirements very well. Great choice.

Good to know about the 5 year standard warranty. I hope other manufacturers take note and it becomes an industry standard.

Coming to the bike itself, I really like the switchgear illumination, makes it usable on our barely lit roads at night and adds to the cool quotient as well. You have added some really nice accessories too.

Would like to know couple of things. The cost of aftermarket Rolon chain and the tyre pressure that you maintain.

Lastly, do keep the thread updated and I guess it's time to update your Team-bhp signature.

[Horizon85]

Congratulations! Ride safe and responsibly. The Dominar is a powerful machine.

On your point about reliability of Bajaj products:

"There is this notion that Bajaj bikes don't really age well back from the Pulsar days. I have a feeling this one wont either. That doesn't stop me from giving it my everything when it comes to upkeep. I'd be glad if proved wrong."

Let me assure you that if taken proper care, Pulsars last long, real long. I bought my Pulsar 150 in 2006 and it is still my daily commute to work and errands. It has done 90,000 kms till date and is as reliable as any other bike.

Yes, I have spent good time and taken care of it meticulously. Another positive, spares are widely available and priced fairly.

[aswin ajith]

Originally Posted by BigBrad

Hey man, congrats on the bike. D400 like all other Bajaj products is extremely VFM for what it offers. And the mini Diavel suits your riding requirements very well. Great choice.

Good to know about the 5 year standard warranty. I hope other manufacturers take note and it becomes an industry standard.

Coming to the bike itself, I really like the switchgear illumination, makes it usable on our barely lit roads at night and adds to the cool quotient as well. You have added some really nice accessories too.

Would like to know couple of things. The cost of aftermarket Rolon chain and the tyre pressure that you maintain.

Lastly, do keep the thread updated and I guess it's time to update your Team-bhp signature.

Hey BigBrad,

Thanks man.

The Rolon BPR kit costed me about 4200/- INR. I maintain 24 front and 32 rear nitrogen on the Pirellis always and keep a tab on them every 2 weeks religiously.

And yes, I will try my best to have this thread updated always. Noted on the signature part as well.

Originally Posted by Horizon85

Congratulations! Ride safe and responsibly. The Dominar is a powerful machine.

On your point about reliability of Bajaj products:

"There is this notion that Bajaj bikes don't really age well back from the Pulsar days. I have a feeling this one wont either. That doesn't stop me from giving it my everything when it comes to upkeep. I'd be glad if proved wrong."

Let me assure you that if taken proper care, Pulsars last long, real long. I bought my Pulsar 150 in 2006 and it is still my daily commute to work and errands. It has done 90,000 kms till date and is as reliable as any other bike.

Yes, I have spent good time and taken care of it meticulously. Another positive, spares are widely available and priced fairly.

Hey Horizon85,

Thanks a lot.

By 'ageing well', I did not really mean reliable. I know decade old Pulsars that are still running absolutely fine and are bullet proof reliable. What I meant to say was about how these look and feel after say 10 years of rigorous usage. For example, ze Germans when it comes to 4 wheels and Hondas among 2 wheels age really well after years of usage because of the build quality. They feel fresh inside out especially if taken care of very well.

Good to know your steed is doing great. And yes totally agree with you on the spares and service part which is a favourite part of Bajaj when it comes to ownership.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by aswin ajith

The Review

...

On the whole, the Bajaj Dominar completely fits my requirements of being a comfortable, powerful and reliable highway tourer or as Bajaj likes to call it, a sports tourer. And it does those things flawlessly. There are a few short comings, something that I can and will have to live with. Being the first bike I own, it completely meets and sometimes even exceeds all my expectations from it. Being a noob at riding, I look forward to clock more miles and make full use of the bike. Make no mistake, I am still learning and hope to keep doing it. Its been almost a year since I have started riding and I hope to keep the momentum going. Currently, as we all know, there has been a pause because of a stupid virus that is now making us sit at home.
...

Great review Aswin. Thoroughly enjoyed reading through this one. Please keep updating this thread as you ride more.

I just booked the Dominar 400 yesterday in matt black and should get the delivery in a week or so. Your thread is very helpful in deciding to buy some accessories. I am planning to pick up the crash guard from Hyper Rider. I did have a question for you regarding the exhaust design. Does water get into the exhaust from falling rain? The mouth of the dual exhaust is open to the sky. If the engine is running hot, probably the water would get vaporized, but if it is parked in rain, I definitely think water can get into the exhaust leading to rust and corrosion. This issue was there in their first generation Pulsar 180 (which I still have).


The dual exhaust


From the side profile


How water would fall and enter the exhaust pipes.

[aswin ajith]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

Great review Aswin. Thoroughly enjoyed reading through this one. Please keep updating this thread as you ride more.

I just booked the Dominar 400 yesterday in matt black and should get the delivery in a week or so. Your thread is very helpful in deciding to buy some accessories. I am planning to pick up the crash guard from Hyper Rider. I did have a question for you regarding the exhaust design. Does water get into the exhaust from falling rain? The mouth of the dual exhaust is open to the sky. If the engine is running hot, probably the water would get vaporized, but if it is parked in rain, I definitely think water can get into the exhaust leading to rust and corrosion. This issue was there in their first generation Pulsar 180 (which I still have).

Attachment 2075051
The dual exhaust

Attachment 2075050
From the side profile

Attachment 2075053
How water would fall and enter the exhaust pipes.

Hey there,

Sorry for the late reply. Great to know my review helped you in making a decision. Big congrats on your new ride as well.

Regarding your question about the exhaust design, even I too had the same concern during my purchase as well. However later on I found out that rains do not pose a threat to the exhaust but what does is water wash. Water does go into the exhaust during pressure washed but that's bound to happen. What I do is, immediately after the wash, I let the bike idle for few minutes so it evaporates within minutes. Idea is to not the let the water stay there. During riding and while parked in rains, I can indeed confirm that water does not seep in to the exhaust.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by aswin ajith

Hey there,

Sorry for the late reply. Great to know my review helped you in making a decision. Big congrats on your new ride as well.

Regarding your question about the exhaust design, even I too had the same concern during my purchase as well. However later on I found out that rains do not pose a threat to the exhaust but what does is water wash. Water does go into the exhaust during pressure washed but that's bound to happen. What I do is, immediately after the wash, I let the bike idle for few minutes so it evaporates within minutes. Idea is to not the let the water stay there. During riding and while parked in rains, I can indeed confirm that water does not seep in to the exhaust.

That is good to know. The owner's manual mentions exhaust drain hole cleaning as one of the routine things to be done during servicing. Let me try and see if I can locate where the drain hole is. I have bought the bike for my son. I had asked him to compare it with the Interceptor. He has had a soft corner for Dominar 400 from the time it was launched. The Interceptor was definitely more refined, the gear shift was more crisp etc. He felt it was way more powerful than Dominar 400. And I also felt that a facelift may be around the corner for the Interceptor.

May be my son will eventually put up an ownership review here later. We got the delivery of the bike yesterday.

[MadhavNarayanan]

Awesome write up Aswin, enjoyed reading it. Amazing how you decided to swap the tyres straight away. I just picked up my Dominar 400 and got the first service done. Waiting to do some long runs. My longest straight run so far has been 170 KMs only. I have picked up the Zana crash guard, need to get that fitted by some local mechanic. Also picked up the Bobo Mobile Holder, I dont want to connect it directly to the battery, but connecting them to any other point would mean removing the Headlight dome. I dont want to meddle with any of this at the moment. I was thinking if there is an option to add a RF\Bluetooth switch to the charging cable, so that would give us an option to turn on\off the charger through a remote\phone?

[aswin ajith]

Originally Posted by MadhavNarayanan

Awesome write up Aswin, enjoyed reading it. Amazing how you decided to swap the tyres straight away. I just picked up my Dominar 400 and got the first service done. Waiting to do some long runs. My longest straight run so far has been 170 KMs only. I have picked up the Zana crash guard, need to get that fitted by some local mechanic. Also picked up the Bobo Mobile Holder, I dont want to connect it directly to the battery, but connecting them to any other point would mean removing the Headlight dome. I dont want to meddle with any of this at the moment. I was thinking if there is an option to add a RF\Bluetooth switch to the charging cable, so that would give us an option to turn on\off the charger through a remote\phone?

Hi Madhav,

Congrats on your ride!!

Wishing you many many miles of happy ownership. If you have a phone with pretty good battery backup that gets you through the day, I would suggest you avoid setting up charging on the bike. I have done the same as well just for peace of mind. I tend to take my bike to the remotest of places and a drained battery due to a silly wire is the last thing I would want.

[aswin ajith]

Update : Back on the saddle after 8 months, 01 December 2020 !!!

I believe an update on this thread was long overdue but then, post service in April, the bike was largely sitting idle under covers in our garage. Hardly covered 200 kms in the last 7 months. I would just take the bike out once a week, ride it around my house for 4 or 5 kms, come back home and put it under covers again. A positive thing here was the fact that I managed to foreclose the entire loan on the bike and got hypothecation removed.

Also, I am pretty sure most of you know about the recent hoopla that was being created around car/bike modifications in the state, what with the police and MVD going all out to catch offenders and fine them like crazy. This didn't help matters either. With elections around the corner, things have settled down and thankfully, these guys have better things to worry about I guess.

And thus with no concrete plans, me and a friend decided to hit the roads yesterday. Its been 1.5 years with the bike and I was yet to explore Idukki and thus, after a lot of back and forth, Idukki was finally agreed upon.

Picked up a few cans of Redbull, enough water, biscuits, hooked up our bags and we left Cochin at 5:30 AM sharp and headed straight to Thodupuzha via Muvatupuzha. Beautifully laid wide roads along with minimal traffic ensured we made brisk progress.

Sunrise somewhere right after Thodupuzha enroute Muttom and Kanjar.

Kept riding and we reached Kanjar from where we decided to climb the mountains of Ilaveezhapoonchira !!!

A steep 9 kms climb from Kanjar, this is not really for the faint hearted. The tarmac starts slowly disappearing after about 4 kms, and stones start to appear, you would think that's not going to be an issue.

Beginning of a pretty adventurous and steep rock trail. Little did we know how treacherous it was going to be up ahead.

Midway through the climb. The FZ gave up after the first 200 metres. It didnt have the required ground clearance or the torque and we thought it was a pretty bad idea. Hence it was parked at the bottom. The D400 kept climbing like it was nothing though.

https://youtu.be/8vjBl2d5BDo

Here's a short clip I uploaded on YT which would give an idea how it looked like. Make no mistake I am a complete noob when it comes to trails and this was my first. Expert riders might call this a moderately easy trail I guess. Had a lot of fun doing this though.

Reached the top of the mountain at last somehow !! My friend was still trekking his way up though. Jeep guys weren't a happy lot seeing us do this, what with angry stares and all. You are expected to park your bike/car at the bottom and hop on to one of those. Frankly, we weren't in the mood to.

We had to walk our way up to the topmost part which is a view point further 200 metres away.

Walked up to the edge and just stood there soaking in the views about 7000 metres above MSL. A good part of Idukki is visible from here. All that effort was worth it and how !!!.

My bike was shod with soft compound Pirelli Diablo Rosso II. Made exclusively for highway mile munching, it wasn't the right candidate for this kind of a job. This was definitely a calculated risk I took knowing the tyres could have easily given away. But it handled all the rocks like it was nothing at all. Absolutely no damages on the tyres or the rims too. I was elated since I was expecting bad news after the descent.

Going up I knew and had it in the back of my mind that coming down would be even harder and boy it was !!!. I had to use minimal brakes and the let the engine do the braking in first gear. This was the hardest part since the tendency to reach for the lever is very high. The bike went up and came down easily and more importantly, I managed to not drop the bike or fall from it. I was heavily relying on my crash guards for protection as well.

Another vantage point ...

We completed the descent and decided to head to Vagamon via Pullikanam, a route which I have only heard about.

Quite, calm and serene, this route to Vagamon from Kanjar via Pullikanam is very less frequented by travellers and has practically zero traffic making it ideal for riding.

Routine stop somewhere near Vagamon. Some of the most beautiful roads in the state take you through tea plantations and it is much better enjoyed on 2 wheels than 4. Apart from the climb, the FZ handled this entire trip seamlessly.

Reached Vagamon and stopped for a much needed break. Had brunch here as well.

From here, we decided to hit Kuttikkaanam via Elappara which is an hour's ride.

Reached Kuttikanam and we found ourselves in front of 'Ammachi Kottaram -
Palace of the Royal Consorts' or rather the ruins of it.


More than 200 years old, this placed earlier belonged to the Maharaja of Travancore who apparently used to come here just to chill out during summers. It is now in dilapidated condition obviously due to bad maintenance or a lack of it. Was also seen lately in the mallu movie 'Carbon' starring Fahadh. Do google for more if interested.


Walked around and explored a bit and we found this narrow stream running next to a secret passage which leads to this property. The water felt absolutely fresh and cold. Removed my riding boots and dipped our baked feet right in and the feeling was simply priceless !! My friend literally had to drag me away since I refused to budge and wanted to just sit there.

Our regular stops for coffee and refreshments at Kuttikkanam. Re-hydrated myself like crazy with lots of juice. My friend had an emergency as well since he suddenly needed to give an interview.

We finally decided to start our descent at 5 PM from Kuttikanam. We hit KK Road this time via Mundakkayam - Kanjirappally - Ponkunnam. From there on, Ponkunnam - Pala route as usual was amazing. Left my friend behind for a while, dropped 2 gears and opened throttle. Boy was it fun !! Reached Pala at dusk and from there decided to hit home via Ettumanur after a very short stop for tanking up on fuel for both bikes and for hydration too.

Some trip stats :

Route : Cochin - Thodupuzha - Nadukkandam - Muttom - Kanjar - Ilaveezhapoonchira - Pullikanam - Vagamon - Elappara - Kuttickanam - Mundackayam - Kanjirappilly - Ponkunnam - Pala - Ettumanur - Cochin.

Total distance covered : 290 kms
FE for this trip as per MFD : 32 kmpl
Total ride time: 470 mins
Odo reading post trip : 17,140 kms


I have been visiting Idukki since my childhood and I have done it countless number of times. Have to admit this is the most I have ever enjoyed !! Then the Dominar has its own short comings. Its heavy, it vibrates, its not really a corner carver but then what matters is the fact it plasters a huge smile on my face when I open throttle and also the fact that it munches miles like no man's business and finally, it takes me wherever I want it to, practically and then back home in absolute comfort and safety.

Cheers !!!

[MadhavNarayanan]

Beautiful locations! Good to see the bike doing well on the rocky climb. and it does need some skills to do that! Good job there! How do the suspensions feel after that? I get a squeaky sound from my front Suspensions, especially when I move the bike for the first time in the day, but seems to go away once I hold the front break and give it a nice full push down. Told the service center guy about this when I gave it for the first service, and he said he has fixed it, but clearly not.