The Dark Knight

We ride the spanking new Bajaj Dominar 400 in the western ghats! 

- Sandeep Goswam

Dominar. In all these years of motorcycling, never have I ridden a name. Though I’ve always ridden motor-cycles which had names. What I mean to say is that a name never maketh a machine. Though it can easily be the other way round. The Bajaj Dominar 400 is an interesting name carried proudly by an equally interesting machine but since the proof of the pudding is in the eating, that’s exactly what we did from Akurdi to Panchgani. We rode the Dominar 400 through a wide range of road and traffic conditions to find out what it would be like if you owned and rode one.

Bajaj created a unique market segment in the Indian motorcycle milieu with the Pulsar. And it was a trendsetter too, raising the pulse of the youth and veteran riders alike. A decade and some years hence, the machine has evolved into something so new, state of the art and functionally advanced that it yet again seeds a new indigenous product class which has the potential of turning the tables in times to come. So much so that it deserves an entirely new identity.

The Dominar 400 is impressive – as much from far as from up close. It is like a large, ready-to-lunge brutish beast that would demand as much from its master as it can give in return. A solidly built bike what with those beefy fork tubes, the stout perimeter frame and that muscular swing arm. The robust theme in fact defines the whole bike and so inspires confidence. The long and low profile, said to have been inspired by the Gir lion, is not just good to look at but also affects the bike’s geometry in just the right manner. Even though there’s a certain edginess to the design, yet it flows into a shape that wraps the entire machine into one sleek and strong element. In a nutshell the Dominar 400 is impressive when introduced. Time to find out what it is like to shake hands with it and get acquainted.