Any Honda Dominator NX650 owners out there ?

Just wondering if there are many of us about ?
All this talk of KTM's and KLR's makes me think I'm missing out on something , but the Dominator is a great bike , does all that I ask.
But I have nothing to compare it to , as it's my first bike
So if you are out there on an NX650 , let us know how many km's you are up to and how the bike is going ?
Or if you had an NX650 , how does your latest bike compare to it ?

thanks

Here is a picture of Dommi from a recent ride.

Hey Keef,

I had a Dommie for 2 years from 2004-2006.

It was only the second bike that I owned, my first was a little Suzuki GSX250F Across which I got my licence on.

They really are a fantastic bike and I think a lot of people overlook them.

My bike was a 1998 model with 10,000km on the clock, 2 years later I sold it with over 40,000km. I didn't have any major problems with it. Unfortunately I had to sell the old girl to move from AUS over to the UK to do a bit of travelling and I have been bikeless ever since

A couple of points about the Dommie I thought I would make:

Seat: by the end of a long days ride it really got bloody uncomfortable, it really cut into me.
Fuel Range: The 16L tank was a little bit small. I think about the most I got out of it was a tad over 300km. Would be nice if the tank was a bit larger. I know there are a few aftermarket tanks around that would fix that gripe.
Engine: I found it extremely strong and reliable, didn't have any problems with it, would go all day but towards the end it was drinking a ridiculous amount of oil. I have no idea why! I knew I was getting rid of the bike so I never looked into the problem. It was cheaper to just keep on topping it up.

You don't see many of them on the road these days! I had problems sourcing some parts a couple of times.

Would I buy another one? Probably not. I will be looking for another bike next year when I head back home to Aus, thinking about going down the KTM route at this stage.

Jase

I had an '88 for 2 years putting about 2,000 miles on it in 2005 and 5,500 miles in 2006 up until I had my accident in the July.

Did fine on the highway, sitting at about 120kph, between fuel stops. I think it was somewhere up around 52,000km on the clock when the insurers wrote it off.

Only issues I had were a bit of a thirst for oil on the hot French autoroutes on holiday, and the output shaft splines being worn out, so had to out in a grub screw to hold the front sprocket to the shaft.

Best change I made to the bike though was a Renazco Racing seat, from Boejangles on this fair forum Once I'd broken it in after about 1000 miles, I had no problems whatsoever with monkey butt etc

Fitting aluminium panniers to H&B racks did affect the fuel consumption on the fast highway runs (down from around 55mpg (5.1l/100km) to about 45mpg or 6.3l/100km).

Ride reports

I've now got myself an Africa Twin, and obviously being a 750cc v-twin it's a lot smoother, but it's also about a third heavier, so not as useful on the tracks etc. Fuel consumption at the moment is only slightly worse on-island at 50mpg or so (5.65l/100km)

I had one for a couple of months when I was in Europe. I put about 15000km on it. Great bike, my only complaint was its fluid consumption (both oil and gas). I've got a KTM 640A now, which is pretty much the same bike but faster.

Here it is resting on a logging track in Romania:

how close are those to an xr/l? Were they ever available in the us? would some bodywork swap over?

I've got an '88 that is new to me since 5/06. Put on about 4k miles and it is a fun and cheap ride. I have another set of wheels with knobbies and a 53 tooth sprocket that I swap out for serious single track rides. They give the bike two different personalities.

It's a lot like the xr650L but just enough different that not much besides engine parts interchange. Heavier and lower with hard to replace plastics, aftermarket upgrades are rare, but they can be found for $800 to $1500, almost disposable cheap.

I get a solid 42mpg, love to know how to bump it to 50.

I sold my '88 a couple of months ago( ) ,the bike was a hell of alot of fun , I even took it on a 40 mile atv run to prove to a friend that it was a worthy ride!
The were only avialible in the states in '88 and '89 , I guess the popularity wasn't there , real shame.
Great looking bikes guys!

Im thinkin about buying one of these. I'm a 5'5", 150lbs female. I have a honda 230 for my dirt days. Also have a 05 yamaha xt that I ride on gravel roads, but not crazy about the way it handles at slow speeds. Anybody have any pros / cons that I should be aware of. Don't want to just throw my money away, or worse yet - at it - to make one run.. . I just wanna ride!

I almost bought Luke's Dommie last year and then bought the same model in winter (ugliest colors, broken fairing=cheap!).

I'm currently swapping parts from my deceased '87 XL600R, so in the end it should somewhat resemble the American XR650L's. I'm also curious how much weight will be saved by ditching the fairing and instrument cluster (I'm only using the small XL speedo and a Garmin Quest where the XL tach would have been).

I got a 25 liter plastic tank and Givi bags. Looking forward to ride her in September.

The NX250 has a sophisticated DOHC water-cooled motor that's got a great rep for frugality and longevity. I don't think you can go wrong with it.

My wife's father has a Nx 250 and its a nice ride. The 250 has good hp but need to be keep high in the rpm range. Almost as fast an strong as a Klr. I would love to see this engine in a crf 250 frame and street legal.

Hi,

I've had mine since last May and love it. Of course as a DS, it has its compromises. Since I'm into tinkering, I'm always thinking of either making it more dirt-worthy or better on the hwy. I use it as a commuter and ride just about every day. Just scored an OEM rack off ebay and put the JCWhitney Givi knock-off box on the back (the one with the stupid iron cross sticker). Wolfman tank bag and duffel for road trips. On the street it's just fine. Got to hang on above 65-70 mph. I put some handguards on it and made a taller windshield. Those help a bit, but it's no V-Strom. You *can* tour, but it's tiring. It's quite a buffalo to ride off-road. You've got to be pretty deliberate. Mine bottoms out on any jump bigger than a few feet. Bought it with ~8600 miles, now it's got 15k. I bought the bike as a re-entry after not riding for a while. Methinks having a Wee and maybe a small KLX would fit my purposes better. Shoot, but for what I paid for it, no complaints at all. There's a Yahoo! Group for NX riders with a lot of fellows from down under. Good luck.

look for a 250! and they are sportier too

mine (completely stock) just sings at high revs, it still pulls into the redline, in fact it still pulls past the redline! a NX250 powered 250X is my Idea LOL

I have an '89 and I love it, has about 48000miles on it about 5000 of which are mine. Now only if I could get my hands on a bigger tank.

My previous bike was an '87 klr and I do like this bike quite a bit, its much lighter on its feet but I miss my A1 and would trade my dommie for an early klr in a second(was my 1st bike so I'm a little attached to it.)

Thanks guys, it's good to hear from othwer people ont he same bike . Mines a 1995 model , so it's getting on a bit , people always ask me ," what bike is that "

I am up to nearly 50 000 kms on mine so nearly 10k of them mine :)

I hope to keep it for a while yet , and then upgrade , but I have no idea what I'd upgrade to.

Does anyone know if the size of the Cowl on the NX650 and the NX250 where the same? I am looking for a windscreen for my NX250 Baby Domi and I can only find them for the 650 Domi's

-B

I have a 1988 NX650, nicely farkled I might add. I do like it quiet a bit. I would agree being a dual sport if is good at almost everything and great at none. I think that "Merle O'Broham" described it best. I tried the taller home made screen for a while and it did help, but not as much as I would have liked, so I am back to stock. You do have to hang on a bit at freeway speeds. In cross winds on the freeway, it is a little un-nerveing, but I would assume any middleweight (640A, KLR, F650GS) would have similar problems with getting moved around a bit. I call it my perfect 50mph bike as up to that speed, I think it is FANTASTIC. Off road it is a touch heavy and I too have bottoming issues over big jumps. A new rear spring properly sprung could fix that problem though. After all, the US versions are almost 20 years old and the springs should be a little tired by now.

If you can pick one up around the $2K range, I would encourage anyone to do so, they are good little ride and very well put together.

A little history for those that do not know. In the US they only sold the NX650 for 2 years 88 & 89. To my knowlege there was no 650 dualsport offering from honda from 90 through 92 they came back with the more offroad orentated XR650L in 93. They did have the much loved Transalp during that void 89-92 (i think) but that was a 600 twin.

Oh and the Acerbis 22L tank upgrade, Yeah that is a big plus, now over 200Miles on a tank!

Hope this has helped

Hi everybody!
I own a black '92 Dommie since Feb. this year.
Got it from Germany in a pristine state, with 30k km.
Now it has 40k km and it's running perfectly.
Changed the standard spark plug with an Iridium one - the engine starts instantly in the morning, below 10 deg C. It can idle at lower rpm.
Changed the stock 47 teeth sprocket with a 44 - the machine runs a lot nicer on road. I don't have to change gears so often in town. Haven't checked the max speed yet. I can still do wheelies in the first gear using only the throttle.
Installed Ferrodo sintered brake pads - they squeal like hell when braking, but work fine. Seem to wear out rapidly.
Got heated grips - they're magnificent in cold weather.
The bike eats oil only when kept running for long time at hingk rpm, or after 2500 km since the last oil change. I use semi synth.
Fuel consumption - 95 petrol: ~4l/100km at 100km/h with the standard sprocket, girl and bags in the back. When using 99 grade petrol, the fuel consumption raises by 1l/100km. The engine performance doesn't seem to improve. At higher speeds, the consumption raises badly (6-7). It took 9l/100km in town wiht the 99 gas.
All parts can be ordered at the local parts shops, but they're very expensive.
There are lots o'Dommies here, in Ro, either form Germany or from Italy, where they used to be very popular.

I've got a 1990 Dommie, I use it for commuting since I bought an Africa Twin one and half year ago.
Mine has about 103000Km on the clock and never had a problem.
By now, clutch (still the original one) has to be changed and oil consumption is two-stroke like

here's some pictures:




Max

Nice glad to see you are enjoying the bike. It is a pretty good all rounder.