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-   -   Ridden: Bajaj Dominar 400 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/motorbikes/183778-ridden-bajaj-dominar-400-a-12.html)

I badly wanted a similar sticker as LTD for bikes, which reads as LTR (Live to Ride). Just today when I was seeing my stock of Team BHP stickers I got a LTD sticker and suddenly an idea struck me. Please see the resultant pics. So, my Dominar is now Team BHP ready.











KK

Had a TD of the bike today. Quite satisfying on most parameters but the vibes after 4.5 rpm were a bit much for my riding requirements viz. Long touring rides of 6-8 hrs. Impressed with the light slipper clutch, great brakes, comfortable ergos, crisp gear changes and in city maneuverability. Unfortunately had a salesman as pillion in a city ride so that's a limitation.

FZ-25 too has that hump and it has a center stand. Maybe, the reason is something else...maybe that it is a sports bike and sports bikes don't have one...?

The centre stand on the FZ-25 is not the conventional centre stand that we see on similar bikes. It has two individual spring-loaded arms that bolt on to the chassis and connect at the bottom. Basically, the stand goes around the cat-con box in the FZ-25.


PC: Yamaha-Motor India

In Dominar's case, there is not such attachment made available wherein such a centre stand could attach to the chassis. Besides, the cat-con box in the Dominar is larger than that of the FZ-25 (depth and width) if I recall correctly, making it seemingly unwise to stick a centre stand in there.


That being said, it could have been for the simplest reasons, as you've mentioned :)

Hola guys!!

Hope you all are having good time dominating the nights!! I've been riding my bike in and out of city and have clocked 1500 kms in a month.

Eventually I had to go back to Gurgaon for the first service which gave me a few nervy moments. Majorly I was worried about crossing the 700km mark for the first service by a big margin. Thankful to the service manager for taking care of that!

But the good part is that the oil & filter change has brought about a smoothness in the motor. Had a couple of bursts of 99k's while returning and it was effortless(just to give a taste to the engine of what its capable of)!!

With 3 runs of 300kms+ each in 2 weeks, I'm confident about its touring capabilities. It is planted, extremely stable and has a comfortable stance perfect enough for riding whole day. I did not feel any discomfort after reaching home. On a taller windshield is required for sure. The Sahyadari one looks great if it doesnt require drilling additional holes.

On the other hand, city riding is not so great. Its heavy and not too flickable and requires constant gear shifting.


First service tit-bits:

GSM Bajaj had a dedicated bay for the service of Dominar and only one mechanic has been trained for its service. Few points worth noting:

1) during Wash, what they called diesel (which almost looked like used and black engine oil)*was used to wash the chain. Poor stuff.

2) The coolant filled shows above the max mark. Could that be bad? Shall I remove the excess from the reservoir?*

Coolant pic:


3) Bajaj fully synthetic oil was used as they said that Motul may affect warranty claims. Any suggestions on how to deal with that?

4) overall experience was just satisfactory.

The horn was always a blight on its personality so got it changed as well. Bought a pair of Lucas-TVS pressure horns.





I must admit they sound better than the ones from Bosch (that I fitted on my FzS). They aren't much loud but just soft sounding and bassy like the Hella ones used on Wolksvagen

So i have fitted just a single horn instead of a pair for two reasons. First, two horns are too loud for my liking. Second, I don't wanna fiddle with the stock wiring as that would require fitting a relay and extension wires as well.

A single piece was easy to fit as I took out the stock horn and put the new one. Yes it faces downwards but it works just fine!!


Matte plastic parts concerns:

Plastic parts all over the bike in matte finish look not so good and are difficult to maintain. The matte cladding around the tail already looks a bit faded.

While the guy was removing the nozzle after refueling, a couple of drops of petrol dropped on the plastic cladding around the fuel cap. I wiped it by my hands at once but still it left a whitish mark on it.



This is disappointing as petrol drops will always land on it. I now cover it by my hands.


ABS kicks in over potholes:

I've had 3-4 scary moments of abs releasing brakes over potholes. I often go through those bad backstreets and now I'm afraid of speeding there. Shall I turn off the abs? I read I can take off the ABS fuse from under the rider seat. Will the heavy weight of the bike make it skid under harsh yet controlled braking on good speeds without the abs??

Please help!!


I'm also looking forward to vinyl wrapping options.. probably in carbon fibre black. Where shall i get the 3M wrap from. I'd like to do it myself.


Thats much about it. I've clicked a few nice pictures by my dslr. Will post it shortly after syncing!!


Waiting for your valuable inputs..

Cheers!!
Akshat.

Ask them to clean the chain the with a brush and apply the chain lube (3M or Motul C2 or something similar). By the way, you can clean and lube the chain yourself at home if you're not satisfied by what the service centre has done.

Also, before taking delivery of the bike, please make sure that the rotor is wiped clean else you might not get any braking performance (I think they use a diesel mix to give that shine while delivering the bike).

Yes please.

As a thumb rule, always make sure the coolant level is between (or little above the middle) the Min and the Max marks. Never overfill the coolant reservoir.

Same grade of oil from a different brand shouldn't void warranty. That being said, using a different grade oil than what is recommended by the manufacturer during warranty period, will certainly void warranty.

For Kawasaki, if you even change the squeaky horn on the bike during warranty period, it will void the warranty. Couple of hundred kilometres and I can change the horn stupid:

I had these kind of horns (Bosch) on my CBZ and they get damaged when water gets into them. It is inevitable when riding rains or splashing through puddles of water.

I would strongly recommend you get it checked at the service centre and DO NOT mess with the ABS system by yourself. This will certainly void the warranty, but more importantly, it will compromise your safety.

I know a ownership review is long due, but let me start to make some ammends and start by a video review (i know its the easy way out)

https://youtu.be/6g3CQPlFKNQ


Buddy - I just addressed that concern of yours, did a Blr>Hyd>Blr on my still new (less than 2.5K) kms bike, and i realized as the kms started climbing up the vibes started to go down. Now the highest vibes are at 4k RPM, after which they drop off.

That is not a pressure horn. It is just a regular electromagnetic trumpet horn and such horns consume a lot of power. A single horn draws 5-6 amps and if the stock horn is anything like that on the old Dukes, then you are drawing almost 3 times the current on the circuit.


This is normal behaviour. ABS is an excellent safety feature most of the time but when a wheel is suspended in the air or you ride over ice, gravel or slippery dust, the system will kill the brakes. It is just a limitation of ABS.

Loved your video review. Cheers

What is the fuel efficiency that you are getting with the Dominar?

Excellent review I must say. You brought out all the points for and against the motorcycle quite clearly and without bias. Yes you have addressed my concern, but need to confirm this. What saddle bags are you using? And don't they rub against the plastic fairing at the side of pillion seat? A close up pic or two would be nice. Also one of the windscreen. Thanks

From what I could make out from the video, it's the ViaTerra Claw

Yes I got the Motul chain lube and have been doing it myself now. Every 400kms or so. And needless to say, am much satisfied now!agree:


As suggested, Removed extra coolant from the reservoir!!



Oh I didnt realise that. Could that be bad for the battery or the electrical circuit in anyway? I dont feel any difference in headlight intensity though(while using the horn).


Even I think its normal ABS behaviour. Think I'll keep it like this for now. Its not much a trouble if I hit the potholes easy.

Am eagerly waiting for a planned short trip to the hills of Nainital next week!!
That would be a hell of a story to sing about this 'Dom' on the ghats! Or so I hope!!

These are the claw mini from viaterra. And boy it took me quite sometime to figure out how to mount them properly. Its only yesterday while coming back from Malvan to BLR, i figured out how to mount this one properly on the D400. Will do a quick video of it shortly.

- Thank you Sir :) will try to improve the next ones!!
FE is hovering around 28-32 on highway with constant 110+ speeds. I am sure i can get almost 40, if i bring the speeds down to 90 (this is when RPM is at 5000).

Powerdrift has come out with a video highlighting the good and bad things about Dominar. It is a very nicely shot conceptualized video.
They conclude:

Long Rides : Mahindra Mojo
Off Road : RE Himalayan
For everything else : Dominar :D

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

Sorry for the late response. Haven't logged in lately.

Well, it may or may not cause an issue. Depends on the margin the engineers kept in mind when selecting the thickness of the wire on the horn circuit. One could assume that if no fuse blows out, the horn can be used as such.

Yes, just keep in mind how the ABS can behave and ride accordingly. Good luck for your ride.