Re: Ridden: Bajaj Dominar 400 Long time lurker first time poster here. I wanted to get started on my teamBHP forum journey by recounting how I ended up selecting and purchasing the D400.
Purchasing a new bike:
I’ve been driving the OG Bajaj Pulsar 180 for about 17 years now. It’s a great bike, but it was time for me to upgrade. The Pulsar wasn’t able to do much except for short commutes or trips inside the city.
I started out with a budget and things that were important to me, in order of priority:
1. Budget 2.5L onroad (including everything)
2. Fun to drive (hard to quantify)
3. Go anywhere type, a comfortable riding position for long drives
4. Comfortable for pillion
5. Good service/repair network
I made a spreadsheet of candidates, first by eliminating all bikes above my budget and then reading up all bikes that piqued my interest. Interestingly, the Dominar 400 was not in my initial shortlist (more on this later). After a several of test drives of many bikes, I finally settled on the RE Himalayan. It seemed to cover all my requirements.
The first test drive I did on the Himalayan was a huge disappointment. The showroom, though highly rated on Google Maps, was awful. The salesman just opened up an iPad and showed me the specs on the RE website. He seemed uninterested and had no knowledge about the Himalayan’s previous versions’ problems. They also did not have the 2021 available for test drive. They had the 2020 version, which has the same bs6 engine. I had no complaints about the engine, but the bike itself was more jangly than a government state transport bus. The salesman said this was because the test drive bike was heavily used.
I went to a different RE showroom a few days later. They had the 2021 version available to test drive. It felt like a great bike. No strange shaking or noises. Unfortunately the wait time for the Himalayan was 4 months! I decided to pay the 10K refundable deposit. I had already finalised the Himalayan, so it made sense to put down the deposit. If, for whatever reason, a dealbreaker came up, I had about 4 months to cancel.
I was a bit tentative about a few things:
1. the tubed tyres - I’ve had enough bad experiences with punctures that tubed tyres were something I wanted (but not a dealbreaker)
2. The tripper module is a terrible addition when compared to just adding a mobile phone holder. The screen is small - the actual display is just the top 3/4th hemisphere of the circular dial. The red arrows don’t give enough context for the directions. Indian roads and crossroads are complicated, its easier to navigate with the Google maps screen which shows the bike location overlaid on a map. This gives context on what’s coming up and which turns to take. The red arrows of the tripper module were not precise enough for me.
4. The overall 10K increase in price from the 2020 BS6 version didn’t sit right with me, especially with the the tripper module being the most visible “upgrade”.
Fast-forward a few weeks and I was passively reading about the Himalayan when I came across the Dominar 400. A lot of people seem to like comparing them. Although they are not in the exact same segment, they’re both tourers and cost almost the same amount, so the comparison is inevitable. I checked why I had originally eliminated the D400 from my shortlist - since it shares the same engine as the the KTM 390, I had assumed it would too excitable for me (even with the de-tuning), and with the association with KTM I assumed the riding position would be too aggressive for me.
The argument I was seeing a lot was that while the Himalayan is a great bike overall, the D400 would be a better choice when considering the fact that I will be spending most of my time in the city.
Although I wanted a go anywhere type of bike, the reality is that I will spending most of my time in the city (driving the bike everyday in the city, but not necessarily going long distances), and most of my mileage on the highway (long highway rides, maybe a few times a month).
Even discounting the fact that Indian roads are bad, I would be doing almost no off-roading, thereby eliminating the relevance of the Himalayan’s main strong point.
I don’t mind off-roading but I don’t see myself doing too much of it regularly.
Arguably the D400 is better in the city and for touring.
Given that I had missed the D400 in my initial shortlist, I revisited my shortlist with much more vigour and attention to detail. I didn’t find another bike that could potentially dethrone the Himalayan except for the D400.
I test drove a D400 a few times. It was within budget, much more fun to drive, it has a comfortable riding position and pillion seat (though not as comfortable as a Himalayan). With relatively few modification, I’ve seen people make it a fantastic tourer and also usable off-road (mostly just changing the tyres).
My first hand experience owning a Bajaj Pulsar for 17 years has been quite good, so I was reasonably comfortable purchasing the D400, despite the “advanced” electronics and more moving parts (liquid cooling etc.). Also the D400 had a wait time of only 8 days.
After thinking about it a bit, I decided to go ahead with the D400. So far its been a lot of fun driving the bike. I do have a few small complaints:
1. The running-in speed limits mentioned in the owner’s manual basically keep the bike under 3K rpm. The bike seems “uncomfortable” under 3K rpm. It feels like the engine is just about to lug, so I have to keep changing gears. The bike is much more comfortable to drive above 3k rpm.
2. I don’t like digital displays. At the very least the tachometer needs to be analogue. The on-tank display is useless while driving, thankfully the gear position indicator can be moved to the main display.
3. I wish the bike was available in more colours. I would have loved it in white.
Do I regret not getting the Himalayan?
I don’t know. Its a great bike and I’m sure I would have enjoyed driving it too, but I think the D400 is better suited for me and my use case. I think the Himalayan is a beautiful bike that is immediately noticed on the road. The D400 doesn’t stand out in a crowd of vehicles, but when you do take it all in I think it looks great too. Most people don’t give it a second look until they hear the exhaust sound, after which they look at the bike very curiously - this happens a lot at red-lights. For me the bike is about driving not looking, so I don’t mind if the D400 has forgettable looks.
My immediate next step is get my refundable deposit back from the RE showroom, which is turning out to be difficult during this lockdown.
I'd love to connect with Dominar owners in Pune, so please reach out. |