Savana Green Bajaj Dominar (D373): Ownership Review


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Holy Moly was my expression when finally that day arrived to get my new machine home.Lot many questions and lot many arguments at home, with friends that after this long years of giving up on bike why again onto it.
My TVS jupiter is serving me superbly but nothing exiting when it comes to going on long rides cross cities,long runs then on a bike.Having owned soo much of bikes before and getting onto a gearless scooter was a hard decision but that was the need for time and was bought. All these years my wish of owning a proper crusier bike never left me, more then the 150-200CC segment and below 600CC cause that's what i find ideal power to travel any long distance on our condition and roads across country.

Having good friends around and some amazing bikes to ride the itch would never leave you to get one for yourself.Tough part was to decide on the budget first and stick to it along with the segment of bike.So my hunt started with Honda to Bajaj to KTM to royal enfield to kawasaki to harleys. The more you look into brands and variants more you keep getting confused.One fine day stopped looking at bikes at the showrooms and decided to try and ride the ones available with friends and to find out which one i want.

Started up with royal family as its the common ones to find and lot many in group, classic,thunderbird and thunderbirdX and rejected all of them for their own set of issues, nothing new to buy one again and neither i was exiting for me to own and ride one.Drove friends interceptor and believe me its a beautiful machine RE got but the small niggles RE gives you their machine along with uneasy riding posture for me with heavy body and height did not worked.Next came Duke390 and boy what torque the engine produces is once to feel it.Right from the word go its a mad bull ready to fire and fly out the road.It is a superb bike from duke and one of the best selling in this segment for them but those fancy colour with not so comfortable seat for rear passenger was a bit let down for me.

Then came down to CBR250-300 as well as TVS RR310.I loved both the bikes for the way their engines are mated with right balance specially honda which never fails to impress but fairing body all around is a big no for me.Naked versions is what i was looking for and if any of these machines were available without the plastics around i would have picked them eyes closed.

Brand new Kawasaki ninja was costly and a rarely used one was available with a friend who was shifting to USA for further studies.Loved the engines kawasaki makes but again the same issue with fairing style along with uncomfortable rear seat and very and i mean very costly affair to maintain these machines was a downer for me, else for someone who can afford these their ninja series are beautiful machines to ride around.I had driven a friend's Versys650 extensively and believe me these machines are made to crunch miles without putting your body to feel tiredness.

I was not sure which one to look for that can make me happy of owning the machine and can enjoy this mid life crisis of biking when a friend told me to check out bajaj dominar which somehow was completely missed by me, twin brother of duke390. New launch had just happened across India for 2019 versions and somehow i don't see much of this bike running around city.Went to check this bike at the showroom but none of the city showrooms had the new launched version but 2017 and 2018 variants at display.Checked them, had short test drives and came back with waiting to see, ride the new launched version before putting yes or no to this bike.

One of the showrooms near my factory had just received the new lot bikes along with this new shade for 2019, Savaana green. Bajaj surely misses its kawasaki tie up:-). Nonetheless once i received the call from them went on the lunch hours to check the bike, green surely looks good and different from all other shades launched now and 2019 was launched with only 2 shades, green and matt black.Matt was strictly no for me as our cities are neither non polluted not dust free and matt ones are magnets to maintain.Plus i really liked the new green shade.Asked the SA if test drive was possible to which first he was no to it as they had not received their test vehicles and all those talks but looking at how serious i was he made one of the new batch bike from display available to test drive and in front of all clearly instructed their staff that only this bike is supposed to be given for test drives, impressed with his way of not giving TD and selling same bike to another fellow.Took more then 7 to 8 kms of test drive of this bike and boy i was impressed, the way power was linear, comfortable seats with pillion, enough torque distributed with right gears and not that insane power like duke with few changes to the older versions made me like this bike for sure.Came back kept the bike took the pricelist along with quotation and came back with giving a final day to think about it.
 
Thread Starter #2
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Finally after thinking and making a decision which took 3 to 4 days, with lot of brainwashing from wife of no need for the bike, decided to go ahead with my purchaseYou live once and only once for this very life,full on mid life crisis was happening.Next day called up the SA from the dealership near my factory who let me test drive the new bike for booking the green shade and for final offer to which he said that both the piece of green were sold out and they are waiting for next shipment, this was on thursday morning talk.Asked him to let me know about the shipment when arrives.Thought to try my luck with the oldest bajaj dealer in the city Amin Bajaj. Called them and told them intrested in new green shade dominar 2019, confirm the availability.They asked me to come over to their showroom for further discussion.

After the working hours at factory went to visit them and met the SA Ms Hamina,Told my requirement and for the new shade availability.As every SA does i thought they too wanted the booking amount with the way they were forcing me to make the booking amount.I was admant that without looking at the bike i am not going to make any payment and before that also the negotiation part was left aside.Sat down with them with a cup of tea and started the conversation.On road price for 2019 dominar was 212850/- with additional 2100/- for 0 dept insurance.My first bajaj sunny was bought from them so there went down the story with them and finally came down to the price of 203000/- with 0 dept insurance and third party insurance for 5 years which is mandatory now.Their shipment was arriving on friday, the next day and asked them to inform me when it does.Took the quotation from them to confirm the loan process with my bank.Friday morning gave my bank the quotation and all the process was finished and they were waiting for me to give the confirmation to get the DD ready.

Meanwhile received the call from SA about the shipment truck arrival at their dealership and asked me to comeover to confirm the bike.Reached there within one hour and went to their stock hall which is behind their showroom to checkout the bikes.Green bike came in 2 nos and matt black came in 3.Checked both of the bike and felt better with one bike with complete bubble wrap as another one did not had wraps and looked too much dusty.Clicked the chasis number picture and gave the confirmation to proceed with getting that bike ready for morrow delivery.

Called up bank and asked them to proceed with the DD and it was duly ready by evening 4pm of which the screeenshot was sent to me by bank and was forwarded to the dealer as well.Here i really appreciated the dealer who did not asked me to give any booking amount.All done and dusted and what was left was to wait for the next day.In all this while i had not informed my kids about the bike purchase and wanted them to get surprised specially my son he too is a auto freak and i know the joy on his face looking at the new bike.

Went to factory on my jupiter asking wife to get ready by 3.30 pm and booked the cab accordingly for them to reach the dealership for our delivery without letting kids know about it.I reached there around 3 to give the DD to them, sign all the documents, check the bike before delivery along with a small test drive and make it ready for delivery when the family arrives.Completed all these formalities reaching there an hour earlier and that time of waiting for getting my hands on my ride was really making me impatient.Checked out few bikes at the display of Pulsar series RS and NS series parked there along with new avenger series in white and grey combination.Had a nice cup of tea offered and a small test drive before final delivery time and thats when the family arrived there.

The shock and surprise on the faces of my kids was awesome to see when they were being told of why are they there.Though my son did asked me are we here to check and see some bikes dad to which when i gave them the surprise of not checking out but taking the delivery of our new bike was the expression every father would love to see on their kids face, lovely.

He straight went inside running and asked the service guy outside to where is the delivery place and rushed inside to see which bike is being bought and straight away got hold of the guy making the dominar ready with last ribbon work left for them to deliver.Wow day what a super bike this is are his exact words.Came out the SA who greeted my family and congratulated us and handed over the bike to us with service advisor explaining all the necessary details of bike to me.Took the keys and asked my daughter and wife to start the bike.They are always going to be my lucky ladies.Some customary images while taking the delivery.Went straight to the temple with wife took the jupiter with both kids fighting to who would sit behind and make them ready for one trip till temple and second from there to home which they agreed themselves who would hop in on bike.
LIKES:
Brilliant power delivery with detuned to 40ps
Pricing at which this machine is available.
Easily spares and services compared to other bikes
USD forks
Twin barrel exhaust looks hot
Seat comfort for both rider and pillion
40kmpl mileage for this heavy engine.

DISLIKES:
Heavy front weightage
USD forks makes city maneuver tough and heavy
Small tank for a tourer bike
Quality issue with bolts and fitments
Bajaj dealers useless attitude to sell this bike
Unavailable trained staff at service units of bajaj

Every bike,car has its own pros and cons and its upto the owner to know how to deal with it.Learn to get it fixed or to live with it.Dominar is a beautiful machine properly tuned for my needs with some here and there issues tobe handled.Loving every moment to enjoy my riding.

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Thread Starter #3
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I got in touch with the dominar owners group in ahmedabad which has all india chapters of dominar owners also known as DOC(Dominar owners club) with different city.Met fellow riders and bike owners and it was fun to ride with them as well.First ride was planned for 100+ kms from ahmedabad near himmatnagar and also got to know few people better who are good friends now.During this time the whole group of DOC got a good deal to order some accessories as KTM knuckle guards and Pro windshield from Bandidos pitstop and it was getting in a very good price so ordered along with the gang for the same.

With getting the bike at home and going on the first ride with this DOC group was enough for my close buddies to get angry and annoyed on me as they were eagerly waiting for me to get the bike and get started on friends ride together but nothing was getting planned and i made my first ride with the DOC group.Finally one friday evening we thought whoever can join may join but we are going outside ahmedabad for sure and finally at midnight confirmed that Mount Abu is the destination which is some 200 kms from ahmedabad, hill to climb and would be fun to travel in this rain season.Before all this got planned same weekend a close friend who owns mahindra Mojo called me regarding the tyres he changed for his bike and asked me to come over and have a look at them and i too can exchange them for my bike, Ralco speedblasters amazing set of semi offroad tyres which provides good rubber, grip on all surface and mostly glides down easily on bad roads was no brainer and the price we were getting them from one of the distributors in exchange of my stock tyres was mouth watering.

Did a few change in the size of stock tyres and what we got was amazing choice to enjoy the ride.With new tyre the Abu trip was much more enjoyed and our final traveling was around 560kms in one and half days which we 3 friends enjoyed immensly with one Dominar and two Thunderbirds.

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Hi,
Congratulations on your new Bajaj Dominor. Wishes to clock many more miles without issues.
But it will be very tough to ride bikes in public after 35 (Age). Because due to this younger people doing the dont's in public roads, People starting to seeing us also in the same category.

When i riding my Duke 390, eventhough we havent done any mistakes, surely some people will start point out the finger even if opposite party ride bad in their scooters.
Due to this tension, i sold some of my bikes.
 
Thread Starter #6
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Hi,
Congratulations on your new Bajaj Dominor. Wishes to clock many more miles without issues.
But it will be very tough to ride bikes in public after 35 (Age). Because due to this younger people doing the dont's in public roads, People starting to seeing us also in the same category.

When i riding my Duke 390, eventhough we havent done any mistakes, surely some people will start point out the finger even if opposite party ride bad in their scooters.
Due to this tension, i sold some of my bikes.
Sir with due respect i do understand your concerns but for what people think i can not giveup on my passion to ride.Also i have my jupiter for day to day ride to office and back and dominar is purely for highway rides which not just me but my wife and kids too love it.Me and my wife enjoy long drives even for a cup of tea and with bike back in the parking lot its the first preference.Ignore what people thinks and points out sir its none of our concern and enjoy your rides be it on a scooter,bike car, jeep or any automobile that you love to drive.
With me joining the DOC group and few other riding groups here people are all the more looking forward to ride with me with my riding experience of soo many years now that they too can get to learn and experience and so do i get to do with the young riders too.
 
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With increasing of rides and one night trips around gujarat till my run in is over first thing i was looking for was to get the safety gears.No compromise on this aspect as i have been a part of many such accidents on my previous bikes that i very well know the need for it.First came in was hand gloves and that came from Rynox pro sheild sps series with knuckle,thumb and palm protectors.They were newly launched and came with a hint of green liners across the gloves which matched with my greeny[;)].Ordered directly from rynox site and were delivered in 24 hours time.
Second came in jacket which this time i was looking to have a complete protection one, the top of the line was going out of budget and was thinking if can get some deals somewhere for rynox and then came the news of their new launched Rynox Tornado 2 jacket with level 2 armours and this jacket came in with chest zippers as well so ordered chect protectors along with the jacket making it full protected one.For my size only black with white hints was available and duly ordered them from Wroom store and i must say they are superb with all your queries, doubts and order placements specially imran as well the owner Sachin who helped me with all my queries patiently and my jacket was with me in less then 12 hours time.
Third came in a proper helmet for touring purpose and i was looking at getting 4 star rated one which is very important on your crashes that your head remains safe.MT and SMK were the ones i was looking at with both having new 2019 launches and for my head size of L, MT helmet was not available in the shade i liked and the ones available i did not liked the prints on them.So went ahead with SMK helmet and while checking out the sizes at the store found out this new design which came in few days earlier with the dealer and loved it.So came in this helmet.
Some images from our last breakfast ride with fellow riders.
 

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Thread Starter #9
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One evening received the message on my insta id that two riders, Dr Namrata singh and Ms Poonam Navale, two amazing riders doing a whole country ride covering 28 states, 9 UT's,150 cities,180 days of riding and covering more then 40000 kms on bikes for a social cause and awareness for Breast and Cervical cancer.How can i miss this chance of meeting, greeting and saluting such amazing ladies and their mission.A small metup with them on early morning on ahmedabad highways when they were leaving for Bhuj from ahmedabad,It was a lovely experience and such motivation hearing their story.
 

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Congrats Vijay sir on the bike! I really like this green color they have launched in the '19 model. Also I have heard that engine tuning is a little different in the '19 models. Is it true?
 
Thread Starter #12
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Congrats Vijay sir on the bike! I really like this green color they have launched in the '19 model. Also I have heard that engine tuning is a little different in the '19 models. Is it true?
Thankyou soo much buddy for your wishes, yes they have detuned the 2019 version to 40PS as compared to 35ps for earlier versions.Only two shades were available in 2019 variants and there was no brainer to go for this shade.
Age is never a limit for rides , maybe you might feel tiredness than young age , that isn't a big worry , take plenty of rest whenevr you feel so , just keep driving and riding safe sir.
Absolutely there is not any limit to ride till the passion inside you keeps alive and kicking.Absolutely agree on the rest part and though have not felt to do so in small 100-200kms ride till now but duly am aware of it will so as and how i would feel the need.Thankyou for your wishes and advices.

First service update:
Got the first service done around 640kms just before i went for Mt Abu trip, there was some vibrations coming around the tank right side which was the only issue i had.Reached the dealership at 8.45AM and mine was the first bike to get inside for servicing.SA came in by 9AM and shared the things tobe looked into.Also bajaj auto had adviced all the dealers to look into engine guard right side mount bolts which was seens broken in many 2019 bikes, though mine had not broken, but it was taken care while servicing with applying locktight to both the sides of the bolts.
For the vibration part upon opening the whole tankpad got to know that right side mounting bolt which holds onto the frame was missing.They got the new bolt and fitted on the mounts and refitted the tank back and that right side vibrations were gone.I had insisted on oil change so was done accordingly.Received the bike back at 11.20AM.

Many Many Congratulations Vijay Sahab, wish you plenty of safe kms!
Enjoy the "Yeh Jawani hai deewani" days again![:D]
Thankyou sarkar for your wishes, yeah with the way you keep on getting beauties at your parking, had to get inspired to buy something to ride on[;)].Yeah days are back again to the fullest.
 

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Akash1886

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Mubarak ho Vijay babu. A wonderful purchase and I am sure you are enjoying the ride to the core. Dominar in Green looks envious[cheers] Any plans for inter-state rides?

Regards

Akash
 
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Mubarak ho Vijay babu. A wonderful purchase and I am sure you are enjoying the ride to the core. Dominar in Green looks envious[cheers] Any plans for inter-state rides?

Regards

Akash
Thankyou Akash for your wishes.Yeah i love this machine and enjoying it to the core.Yes definately those plans are under way but waiting for some miles to clock first and then start the inter state tours soon.I even loved the white shade of earlier versions but savana is surely cool shade to own.

Crash guard bolts replaced:
Had received call from the dealer for a common complain of crash guard bolts getting broken pan india, company finally started recalling specific numbers 2019 dominars for the replacement of bolts.Went to the dealership service centre one afternoon and they rightly took the bike inside, replaced both upper side bolts to the newer ones along with applying loctite on them.As i know the SA since many years here, he got the bike cleaned up and gave me back in 15-20 mins.Though mines were not broken but it is mandatory for all who are recalled to get the bolts replaced.
 

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