The bike formerly known as the Bajaj CS400 concept is hitting showrooms in India as the Bajaj Dominar and will become the firm’s first model to make a serious attempt at reaching the European market.
The fruit of Bajaj’s part-ownership of KTM, the Dominar has been a long time in development and shares the basic engine design of the 390 Duke.
It’s detuned, though. That means it gets 35PS at 8000rpm from the 373cc, water-cooled single, down from 43.5PS at 9000rpm for the KTM version. Peak torque for both bikes is the same; 35Nm.
Powering through the same six-speed gearbox as the KTM version, the Dominar also gets a standard slipper clutch.
However, while the engine is from KTM, the rest of the bike is very different. Gone are the trellis frame, the upside-down WP forks and the funky styling. In their place come a beam frame, right-way-up 43mm forks and down-to-earth looks.
It might not be a recipe that stirs the heart, but it represents a leap forward for Bajaj and, priced right, it’s easy to imagine such a bike becoming a budget favourite in Europe.
It’s certainly got the kit it needs for international sales, including ABS (albeit as an option rather than standard equipment in India). And of course the KTM-derived engine is quite capable of hitting European emissions limits.
On board there’s a pair of small but capable LCD instrument displays. The upper one, mounted in the fairing, shows revs and other info, the lower one, set into the fuel tank, gives gear and speed read-outs.
Prices in India work out as around €2100 for the ABS-equipped version, or €1950 without. That compares to around €2800 for a 390 Duke in the Indian market. Of course, European prices for the KTM are significantly higher – €5395 in Germany, or £4499 in the UK. Similarly, when the Dominar reaches European markets, it will also be more costly than it is in India. Around €4000 (or £3400 in UK £) would give it a similar margin compared to the 390 Duke.
While Bajaj has said it intends to export the Dominar to Europe, at the moment there’s no fixed timescale as to when we can expect to see it in showrooms over here.
