Lol. Ride it back to back and you'd see why the Duke costs more than the dominar. They are not the same thing, especially the Dom v1. The UG gets a little closer but still way different.

The feel, ride, fueling , power delivery and handling of the duke is much more entertaining. Responses are much quicker and is more tossable owning to its much more aggressive geometry.

The duke is the athletic cousin to the couch potato dominar.

Taken in isolation, the dominar is a decent bike, handles quite well for what it is, cheap..but a Duke 390 (or z250, mt25...etc) it is not.

If u have a B full, just get the 400. The 250 is just to cater for those without B full. The price difference isn't worth it.

180kg for a 250 is still a relatively top heavy bike. Weight difference only 6kg to the 400 I think.

Owners long term review.

Dominar D400 V1 "Facelift". Matte black, gold wheels. late 2019 model. Bought in March 2021 (used).

Reason for bike.
I decided to get back to biking after more than 20 years off it. Had to get one as a practice bike for my B Full test and wanted something that I can commute for work as well as do my bi-monthly trips back to Ipoh hometown. Being a beater/high use bike, I needed something cheap, cheap to maintain, repair and run and easy to source parts. This bike would also double as my primary recreation transport for my camping trips, both on and off road. Made a few trips up Thailand, solo.

Main reason is for cost savings, both for Toll/petrol and Time. My estimated ROI for the bike was 3 years. But it has ROI in 2 years, so the bike is essentially "free". Depreciation is a non-issue for me.
Intention was to buy a new bike after shopping around but found a very lightly used trade-in unit for 8500 with 3600kms on the clock.

Giving my requirements and riding, i'm pretty happy with the bike, and likely keep it for quite some time even after a get a bigger bike. This will serve as my daily beater and off road bike.


Current Mileage : 61,000+ (Average about 22-25k /year)

Riding style : Hard. Bang in limiter gear in gear out, redline everyday. Off road, gravel, mud. Dropped over 100 times.



Things I like
1) Good mid range engine response for a small engine. Power delivery is perky albeit 2 step from 5000rpm
2) Long wheelbase and stable highway ride characteristics. Is not affected by crosswind or lorry wake
3) comfortable riding ergonomics. Definately touring capable (if not for the vibration and lack of power)
4) Handling in corners is very decent and acceptable given its long wheelbase and weight
5) Very very cheap bike to buy and run. Very easy to find parts. Service every 5000km, Takes 1.7L of oil. This trumps all the negatives below. Fuel economy is a mixed bag. i'm averaging between 18 - 20km/L. at constant high speed, it would empty the tank in about 140km.
6) long wheelbase and single cyc, makes for an entertaining ride on gravel, easy to slide the tail out without overcooking it.



Things I dont like
1) Weight. Its a heavy bike for a 400. As she sits with accessories, she is slightly north of 200kg
2) Vibration. Its a big single. It vibrates, and badly past 7000rpm. Heavier bar ends have somewhat reduced handlebar vibes.
3) Throttle a bit on/off at first 10-15% leading to difficulty riding smoothly at low throttle opening
4) Top heavy build and relatively high CoG. Slightly less balanced at low speed.
5) Very very short geared. Highly recommend to sprocket down (i'm down to 42 from stock 45)
6) Soft suspension, lack of travel, a bit wallowy at high speed corners , short of foot peg clearance,,,(to be fair, this isnt a sports bike)
7) no top speed. Even with smaller rear sprocket, it maxes out around 160-170 on the meter (about 158 on GPS) depends on how many boxes i have mounted
8) lack of carrying capacity. Max load I think is only 150kg. Might be challenging if you travel with pillion and luggage. Rear preload maxed.
9) difficulty finding semi off road tyres for stock size (but this is something of concern if you do take it off road)
10) ABS a bit slow reacting. Once it engages, it take a while for it to disengage. Not an issue if you don't go off road or jump the bike.
11) small tank. 13L, but lights up with about 2.5L left. Limited non-stop cruising range at high cruising speeds (>140km/h)


Things that have gone wrong (beyond those self inflicted)
1) Clutch cable (@35k)
2) Wiring harness rubbing against bracket causing short (DIY fix)
3) water splashes causing bike to stall (hopefully rectified , not yet test)
4) One rear tail light LED burnt out (leave it, as need change whole assembly)
5) infamous rear brake mushiness - DIY proper rear brake bleed fixed it.
6) shifter lever has a tendency of getting loose and falling off. DIY new design.
7) vibration causes every bolt and nut to get loose over time. Need to be conscientious to check tightness and have to lock tight everything
8) random stalling after long cruise, coming to a stop (no fix yet, suspect throttle idle control slow to respond to rapid throttle down)
9) tank leaks when bike on her side
10) Clutch will need replacement soon (still on factory clutch)



Maintenance items (beyond oil and filters)
1) Chain and Sprocket set (stock lasted @ 25k, RK Takaso X seal at replaced @55K. Now on 2nd set RK X seal).
2) Front and Rear brakes (Stock @ 59k)
3) VC inspection (@59K, still in spec, no adjustment needed)
4) Spark plug set (every 30k)
5) Full brake system flush (@15k and 59k)
6) rear wheel bearing (@55k)

Upgrades
Windbro Touring windshield (mount to stock location with no additional brackets) https://shp.ee/34v9pgj
1" Handlebar riser
China Quadlock phone mount, DIY Nav bar for phone mount https://shp.ee/g64356v
Headlight riser mount https://shp.ee/yyctuhi
Givi Pannier and Top racks
Givi Pannier and Top box
Aftermarket folding levers (I removed the end since I wanted folding stubbies) https://shp.ee/ccmys6k
China spot lights https://shp.ee/qk6mybd
Auxiliary fusebox and relay
Vietnam 420g bar ends https://shp.ee/9xrjzu5
Dominar UG crash bars (broke stock ones after multiple drops off road)
Bottle holder and various aux gear bags
USB charger https://shp.ee/da83gm3


* Most Items are DIY

Other things bought but not yet installed
Adjustable bar risers https://shp.ee/7shdbyi
Larger footpegs. Added damping o-rings but still needs minor modification to fit. https://shp.ee/6jp9zn9





Conclusion.

If you didnt get a lemon unit, this is by far the best bang for the buck value bike money can buy now. You cant argue for a sub 15,000rm bike that can do almost everything (but not well). It has proven far more reliable than many have complained about (maybe I'm lucky, or i just ride often). Its not the easiest bike to learn on nor ride slow speeds, but it feels like a proper big bike and would serve as a very good stepping stone to a future big bike.

I'm aware some owners had some shitty luck on lemon units... so your mileage may vary with one of these. The Dominar is not a bike that does everything execptionally well but does things good enough for a general bike. Its not the most balanced, easy to cilok, easy to ride bike, nor it is the most sporting, and certainly not best for off road. But if you just want to get a bike that is a good stepping stone to something more powerful and heavy, I can't think of a better bike for this sort of price.


*I'll post some pictures up later, along with shopee links for the accessories (almost everything is bought from shopee)









This post has been edited by jaycee1: Dec 13 2023, 07:26 PM

Won't worry about QC for something this price. It's built to the price..... Which means QC and build quality isn't the best. This applies both to Bajaj and modenas.

All the Indian bikes seems to have really shitty welds. Seems TVS did ok on the BMW, but Bajaj and RE has really bad welding. Maybe Bajaj improved on the Triumph 400s, and RE did improve on its Meteor 350....but who knows.

Bad QC and lax tolerances probably also meant some bikes came out lemons.

To be honest, I don't think Modenas ever built anything 100% here. They probably buy CKD packs.

Now I know why Bajaj set the fuel light to come on that early with 2+ litres of fuel still in the tank. The internal tank baffles (if any) aren't very good.

Hit fuel cut midway in a higher speed turn and fairly steep lean angles With about 2L still in the tank. By right it shouldn't happen, since centrifugal forces should still have kept the fuel at the bottom of the tank regardless of the lean angles.

Maybe I just didn't go fast enough.....

For all intents and purposes. I also prefer the powerband of the V1. That was one of the reason I bought a late year V1 used instead of a new V2 (then just a month or 2 before launch)

On paper the V2's higher hp looks tempting, but it isn't until you realise max torque is also 500rpm higher (torque is same between V1 and V2). Higher rpm is fine with multi cylinder engines, but on a thumper, all it means even more vibrations to get to max torque. The V1 will be the more responsive motor for in town use where most of the riding will be between 5-6k rpm. In retrospect, it was exactly that I had expected when I chose the V1 instead of waiting for the V2... An unintuitive action from a potential buyer.

That said, the V2 does come with a lot of improvements over the V1 like brakes, suspension and other componentry.

I had a similar experience with my car also. I had a 1.9L (bored out and high comp pistons) SOHC satria with loads of low end torque which I do a bit of touge, hill climbs and short tracks with. Switched to the twin cam head and absolutely hatred it. Eventually put another SOHC head back on. The DOHC had 30+ hp more but moved the powerband some 1500rpm up causing a very weak bottom end.

Ran my tank dry till it sputters today.

Managed to squeeze in 11.5L of fuel. So whatever balance 1.5L of fuel left in the tank is just to allow you to sputter to a gas station....

Maybe the tank is smaller than the advertised 13L or there is an issue with the height of the fuel pickup.

So god forbid you need to tackle an incline on low fuel. Hahahaha. Combination of forward movement and uphill incline means you'd never make it up.

Haha...well this explains why the fuel light comes on with nearly 2.5L of fuel left. Bajaj knows you ain't making up that hill.

I carry a siphon tube with my bike... In order to help other riders that has run out...but looks like I might need it more..hahahahaha

I get range anxiety on my bi-montly trips back to ipoh. If I whack it, fuel light starts blinking before tapah. I suppose the range anxiety is well founded.....you don't want to run low going up the hills at tapah. Puts weight on the old bike saying. Fill up when you can, not when you need it.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Dec 17 2023, 01:17 PM

Instead of posting the same thing in 3 different threads, why not just try the D400?

To me the D250 is a pointless bike. The cost differences between the 2 doesn't make any sense at all, unless you are stuck with B2 only.

The heavy dominar chassis needs all that extra power the bigger 373cc engine can muster.

Refinement? Arguably the v3 runs a little rougher and although it makes more power going to DOHC, the powerband also moved up 500rpm. So you loose a bit of the low to midrange torque generally welcomed in daily city rides.


Parts wise, I say the v3 is worth the upgrade. You get better forks, marginally better front brakes, the upgrade to twincam and 5 extra HP, and other minor upgrades to mirrors, gear indicator. It does however packed an extra few kilos of weight.

Not sure if I'm getting the versions right though.

There is the v1 and v1 facelift, the V2 which is the UG, and the v3 is the touring model.

I'm assuming you are referring to the v3 as the UG where the most significant upgrade happened.

If you appreciate the bits, then there is no different with the UG.

I think you get saddle stays, a tail rack, windshield , lower (pretty useless) fake skid plate, hand guards and and an improved crash bar design that more protects the sides of the radiator.

Whether it is worth it or not, depends if you are going to outfit it with similar aftermarket parts, its still going to cost 800+ for some similar parts. A Givi tail rack alone is going to run 300ish.

If thats the case, just get whatever used dominar. They are going cheap nowadays. Seen them routinely going for 5k or less.

Needs experience to see. Usually take note on the wear and tear of the grips or sections of the bike that comes into contact with the rider or the general condition of the bike.

However, its not rare to see Dominar's with low mileage, as many of these are bought by first time B Full riders, either for a practice bike for the test and upgraded soon after or the owner just gave up on B full as was in the case of my bike. It only had 3600km on it when I bought it used 1 year old with hardly a scratch on it.

If this is to serve as your practice bike, I wouldnt sweat it too much as it would be a temp bike anyway.

Did entertain the idea of selling my Dominar, but at these sort of 2nd had prices, I'm just keeping the Dominar as a spare bike, used to get groceries as it has 3 boxes. My V1 facelift is probably worth only 5k now (half that if i were to trade it in), but I only bought it at 8500 so for 4 years and 70k km I had it, the depreciation is actually negligible.... ROI achieved in year 3. The bike is "free" now.

the gold engine case bikes are the first batch. Its coming out to 6-7 years now. Having only 2000km sure raise eyebrows. No way of telling if the bike has an accident before unless you can get a good mechanic to see it. There will be telling signs though if you see any newer plastics or touch up parts. a 2000km bike should not need anything replaced.

even if it was not crashed and in perfect aesthetic condition, the battery is probably shot, tyres are expired and most of the rubber hoses and such would be dry rotting, fork seals shot and all fluids need replacement.

I suggest you shop for a newer low mileage UG or V1 facelift (black engine case, gold wheels) at 5-6k. At these prices a used Dominar is going for, best to avoid the oldest of them since there isn't going to be much price difference.

I won't worry about RV of any of these cheap bikes especially if you buy one used. Just view it as scrap value.

My advise. Dont bother with new if its just for a training bike.

First, you are going to drop it if you are doing things right with your training. To learn, you have to push the limits, especially for low speed maneuvers, which will inevitable lead to some jatuh bodoh.

Second, dont expect good RV

Third, you will outgrow it very very quickly and buy a bigger bike in a year or 2.

Dont get me wrong, the Dominar is a great bike to get started with...don't think there is any doubt on this point. But it lacks the longer distance comfort , power and legs if you are eventually planning to go for longer rides, or group rides. It is inevitable that you'd be shopping for a more suitable, more powerful multi-cylinder bike soon after. Which is why there are so many used, low mileage dominars in the market as most riders will upgrade after a year or 2 for those that are financially capable.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jul 10 2025, 12:24 PM

The original crash bars actually work pretty well. I had my bike down at least 50 times, lost count years ago (going off road will do that to you) and I'm only on my second set of (ori) crash bars..and they are cheap at 25 each. The body isn't scuffed, and I still have my original mirrors. The brake lever was bent though but they are cheap to replace. Broken a foot peg but that's also cheap item to replace. Exhaust is scuffed but it's a minor issue.

The only thing that seems to get easily damaged is the gear shifter, which tends to get bent each time you drop it. I do have rear pannier racks and panniers so they do take the brunt of the impact when I go down.

Basically, parts for the dominar are cheap. So if you break them, just replace them. Which is also why it works so well as a beginner big bike.

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jul 11 2025, 09:50 AM

I do my own repairs. Sometime have to macgyver shit up if your are off road and break something.

Sure, you can put a more comprehensive crash bar but at that point it just looks silly. It cost more than the usual parts that get damaged and need repairs. Full crash bars are ok if you are actually going to go off-road or stunting, where you will drop it often, but looks silly on a daily bike.

Crash bars are consumable items. Just so you know. Drop them a few times, and you may need to repair or replace them. Given how much(or little in this case) a dominar costs, it's just not worth "protecting it".

This post has been edited by jaycee1: Jul 12 2025, 07:17 PM

safest way is just both you and owner go to JPJ and do the transfer.