Honda Dominator (Mileage)

[floyd]

Hi all, i have the opportunity to purchase a Honda Dominator ready for overlanding. The quiery is it has done 56000 miles, the top end has been done up but not the bottom end nor the oil pump. Do you think that this bike could be reliable with this kind of mileage? i know this a like saying how long is a piece of string!. Does anyone have any thoughts on this, also anybody out there with the said bike with a potted history of any problems associated with this model.
Many thanks Floyd.

[martync]

i had one or two of these and currently have an XR400 (simular ish). Strong and good bikes but vibration on the road is a pain for anything other than around town and they're heavy to take off road.
personally, I'd take it to bits and replace anything visibly warn. oil level is a pain on xr type engines but there solid and if you make sure they don't overheat then it will be fine. overheat can do all kinds of damage.xr's only do a temp guage dip stick

one thing is (i was told this as i didn't take mine apart) the cam shaft sits on top of the head (no bearings) so a high miler may be warn. there is nothing you can do about this except buy new parts. that is what I was told

I'd get a transalp and take the fairing off 100K trouble free miles

[Shells]

I have a 96 Domminator and rode her on my first trip of almost 7000 miles - slightly more than just around town I'd say. Vibration isn't a huge issue. if you buy a big single, vibration is to be expected. It is minimal though (take a KTM for a ride!).

And heavy offroad? Not really - 158kg with the original tank (but then if the comparison is with a 250 or 400, then there's no real contest).
I am a 5'7 girl and I am accomplished at picking my Dommie up out of the mud. I found it to have plenty of grunt off-road and handled well (she'd handle a lot better if I knew what I was doing off-road and didn't put her IN the mud in the first place, but we all have to start somewhere eh).

Change the tyres and you have a different ride. The biggest benefit for me was knowing that I would be able to tackle rougher terrain if I had to, but also be able to sit on highways to get there.

Oil level can be a problem if you don't check it regularly (no oil level gauge can lead to obvious problems).
I did PLENTY of research before buying a Dommie. Every bike has it's issues. The biggest one for the Dominator (apparantly) is overheating causing the valve seats to drop. It's an air cooled bike so, the hotter the country you're in, the heavier you're loaded, the thicker and slower the traffic, the longer the riding time... the bigger the potential overheating problem. So, avoid adding all the stresses together, and there shouldn't be any problem!

But then I love my bike and want everyone to have one

Mileage is always a tricky one though. Some bikes with high mileage are still good for ages because of being well maintained, while others have had to be real work horses.

Best to go and check it out. You might get on it and HAVE to take it home with you
or you may not. It comes down to individual preferences and gut feelings at the end of the day.

But if it is a fully prepared overland bike??? What the heck are you waiting for man?!

[nx650]

My 97 Dommie has been absolutely bullet proof up to 50 000 miles and nearly all of them have been travelling with 60 kg of luggage using all sorts of different fuel any old oil and in the heat or cold and alltitude. I'm just having my motor rebuilt before my next big trip as it started to use a fair amount of oil. Still ran great but not ideal.

I'm not sure if there is anything else to worry about. The gearboxes are ment to last forever a new clutch would make sense. The rear shock may well be past it's best but it depends on the sort of life it has had. Mine still works fine but I may change it before I go just in case.

They are fantastic bikes I will happily travel 400 miles in a day on gravel and tarmac. A screen can help with the wind.

Just don't climb straight from a big powerful road bike straight onto a Dominator and expect to be impressed with it's performance or power!!!!

cheers Rich

[beat_]

i know there are dommie's that have run over 130000km without oil consumption...

[cheesy.b]

That kind of mileage would make me a little uncomfortable, but if it has had a lot of overlanding prep done and the price is right, this will outweigh the milage factor. They are simple, robust and weel proven bikes, so if it goes wrong it shouldn't be too difficult to put right.

[floyd]

Hi all, seems that the bike was used by someone on this site called spud, i have been to the Red Bull air race this weekend, which was called off( what a flippin waste of time and money, to add insult to injury the Dommie is know sold, better luck next time. I still was concerned as everything else had seen that sought of mileage. Thanks for the reply's many thanks Floyd.

[Spud]

Yup sorry this bike is now sold. Just for ref, Dommie's can go a lot further than just round town I rode this trouble free to Singapore from the UK and also around the UK a year later. I know of a guy who also rode one of these the other way no trouble. Heavy? Have you ridden one? ha ha.. anyway, sadly I had to sell this much loved bike (which has had so much money spent on it over the past couple of years I could have bought a very low milage replacement instead). What no one mentioned here was that the engine was rebuilt by Honda and all other parts of the engine were checked at the time of the rebuild.
Well, so long to the bike that took me so far and realised my dream. Now, where's my bicycle?

[Graeme]

1st time in years I've been back sniffing around this site. Need to put my 2 cents worth in on the Dommie. Mine carted me from Germany to New Zealand over 60000km bouncing along India's and Indonesia's worst roads heavily laden. My old girl never missed a beat, soaked up bumps with aplomb, made me giggle in the dirt and scrapped the panniers on glorious northern Thailand's curvacous roads. The Dommie does it all. Just keep dumping oil in her every 3-4000km and you can't go wrong. The only thing mine didn't like was altitude. She'd get a bit stroppy on crap fuel over 2000 metres.

[desmoss82]

Have a 93 Dominator with 230000 on it. Original piston and rings replaced at 210000. Heat is the big killer as everyone else has already pointed out. I change the oil (not just top up) every 4000 without fail. Most engines should use about 800 ml every1500km because they have large diameter bore and the rings have large end gaps to account for the exapansion when hot. I do about 1300km every week as a commuter on dirt, crap roads and highways. The dommy takes it all - best bike of it's type I have owned, with the exception of my DR big and only cos the dr had a 30 litre fuel tank/s.

Other weak spots are chain and sprockets - they are only 520 and the thumping single does stress the chain and the teeth on the sprockets. Use a quality xring chain and good steel sprockets.

Front fairing - particularly the bit around the headlight is flimsy and will break either through vibration or age.

Brake discs wear out fairly quickly - especially if you are riding in the sand a lot.

Fuel range - 300km unless you fit an Acerbis long range tank, but then you retain a lot more heat under the tank and around the engine's head which will have obvious results.

Look after your engine with quality oils and filters and it will take you anywhere!

desmoss82