I am looking for a 400 cc motorcycle under Rs 3 lakh. My running is 70% city and the rest will be occasional touring. I test rode the Triumph Speed 400, Bajaj Dominar 400 and Honda H’ness and now I am totally confused between these motorcycles. 

I am a little worried about Triumph service as it does not have any service centre in UP. While the Dominar is good, there have been so many issues which are not resolved even after 7 years of its launch and H’ness is underpowered. Which one should I chose

Abhilash Sharma, Meerut

Autocar India says: If you want 400cc levels of performance below Rs 3 lakh on road, your only realistic choices at the moment are the Triumph Speed 400 and the Bajaj Dominar 400. Between the two, the Triumph is easily the better motorcycle, but your concerns about service support are legitimate. Triumph does intend to rapidly expand its network and Meerut is a large enough city that the company should eventually open a dealership there, but we can’t say how soon this will happen. 

The Honda is in a completely different category and if you are considering that bike, we suggest that you also try out the Royal Enfield Classic 350 or new Bullet 350. As for the Dominar, its biggest issue is its size and weight which might be a bit much for some people, especially within the city. However, we recently reported that Bajaj will launch a new Pulsar NS400 with the Dominar’s engine - more details here. We believe that this bike will launch in the first half of next year and if you can wait, it could be the right fit for your budget. 

Also See:

Triumph Speed 400 vs RE Hunter 350 vs Classic 350 comparison: Retro rivalry