Royal Enfield’s Dean Coxson talks exclusively about their record-breaking expedition to the South Pole

Updated: 01 March 2022

Royal Enfield riders rode to the South Pole
Royal Enfield riders reach the South Pole
Royal Enfield riders faced many challenges on the adventure
Parked up on the way to the South Pole
Sleeping in a tent on the way to the South Pole
Tackling snow on a Royal Enfield Himalayan
The Royal Enfield South Pole expedition team
Riders battled challenging weather conditions
Pushing the Royal Enfield Himalayan through a snow drift
Riding on snow on a Royal Enfield Himalayan
Heavy snowfall surrounds the engine
Wheel spinning through the snow

1 of 12

On December 16th 2021, Royal Enfield rode into the history books when employees Dean Coxson and Santhosh Vijay Kumar reached the South Pole on a near-stock Himalayan, becoming the first people to reach 90 degrees south by motorcycle.

With the pair now returned home to the UK and India respectively, MCN caught up with classic bike restorer Dean for an exclusive interview about the trip.

The 51-year-old has been at Royal Enfield for four years as a Senior Engineer of Product Development, and although he’d heard whispers about the 90-degree South project, to mark Royal Enfield’s 120th anniversary, he never imagined he would be one of the riders.

Pre-trip prep

Aside from testing in Iceland, Dean didn’t do much prepping physically, but extensive time was spent on the bikes to ensure they could cope with Antarctic conditions.

“There was talk of doing a lot of modifications, but that detracts from what we were trying to do – use a standard or near-standard bike,” Dean explains. “It was as stock as they come! It even had mirrors on at one point… But they soon came off.”

Among the mods were a 13-tooth gearbox sprocket to increase torque to the rear wheel, with tubeless wheel setup and studded tyres.

A stronger alternator was fitted so the riders could run heated gear from the battery, as well as an external connector to aid quick jumpstarting. There were mounting brackets for a front ski. But upon arriving at Novo in Antarctica and getting it out the box, the cold caused it to shatter so the expedition went ahead without.

Dean says: “I also removed the oil coolers because it wasn’t going to get hot out there! I also think they’re quite vulnerable. I’ve not known of any being knocked off but the last thing we wanted was to throw the bike down, rip it off and spill oil on the surface because we would have been in trouble then!”

Welcome to Antarctica

Dean met up with the rest of the team in Novo and then the group spent five days there to acclimatise. The expedition consisted of six men: the two riders, Dean and Santhosh; George Marshall and Will Evans to film and photograph the historic event; and support crew Arnar Gunnarsson and Youi from Arctic Trucks.

“It worked as a bloody good team to be honest. Considering we’d never met each other before – it was great. We looked out for each other.”

In Novo, the team prepared the bikes by adding fluids and studded tyres, then Dean helped prep the 4x4s and 6×6. But with over 3000kms to travel until the start point, it wasn’t long before they loaded the bikes onto the trucks, clambered in and began the next leg of their journey.

“At Novo there is some sort of civilisation,” says Dean. “You’d got mountains around you, there were people and planes coming in. It was when you got onto the plateau you realised how vulnerable you are.

“It’s just flat. There are no mountain peaks, no hills, it’s just 2500km of flat snow and ice. No wildlife, nothing. It’s just you and the five guys you’re with.

“On a good day you’ve got clear blue skies, but the weather soon changes to a whiteout and then there is no differentiating between land and sky – it just becomes one. It’s so disorientating.

“It’s a risky place. You’re minutes away from death if you wandered off at that sort of temperature because no one is going to get to you. Even in a vehicle, at the furthest point you are still two weeks away from anyone reaching you.”

The team trekked overland in the trucks for two and a half weeks before they were able to start their world-record attempt.

The plan was to start from the Ross Ice Shelf and follow the route of the very first expedition to the South Pole, by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen in 1911 (see box out), but bad weather meant their plans had to change.

“We got close to 86 degrees south and had a whiteout, so we had to stop. When we woke, the snow drifts were that bad that ALE (Antarctic Logistics Expeditions) wouldn’t allow us to continue to the Ross Ice Shelf. We had the option to sit the storm out or move further towards the Pole.

“We drove up to 87 degrees and started the ride there. That was right on the edge of the whiteout and the conditions weren’t good. So, we moved up half a degree and started the ride from where I believe Shackleton finished his trip, so there’s a connection there.”

As they debated beginning the ride, they heard that another front was moving in, and had to make decisions quickly.

“We just decided to go, and we did it in one hit. We didn’t sleep or stop. We just got on the bike, and when you got cold or tired another person jumped on. The actual pole trip [a ride of 250 miles] we did in a complete 30-hour stint.”

Keeping warm in -30 degrees was a challenge. On his lower body Dean wore a merino wool base layer, mid-layer trousers with Rukka overtrousers. On top he had a wool base layer, t-shirt, hooded top, Keis heated jacket and Dainese textile jacket with a Nomex balaclava and Shoei flip-front helmet with ski goggles. But even so, he could only spend just over an hour on the bike at a time.

“I started the first leg. I was probably riding for an hour. Some of the conditions were heavy snow drifts and you could be dropping off a snow drift 18 inches high which gives your body a pounding – especially in those temperatures. You just ride until you feel you can’t really do anymore. You’d stop, put your hand up and the next person would jump on and carry on.

“It was mainly between me and Santhosh, and Armar did a bit in the middle. The cold had got to Santhosh, then I highsided, pulled my groin and couldn’t ride. They dosed me up on ibuprofen and at that point Armar rode in my kit.

“I think I came off five times in total over the whole trip and four of them we’d almost come to a standstill. I was generally travelling about 20/25mph – I found that comfortable on the flat part, but it got to one point where it felt so good, I pushed it up a little bit to 30/35mph. The bike jumped right, so I corrected it to the left, and the next thing I know I was going one way in the air and the bike was going the other.

“It was a soft landing. It goes through your mind ‘don’t break a bone’ because there’s no medical support. You’d have to put up with it until you can get to a hospital… which would be in Chile!”

If the riders revved too hard, the bike’s tyre broke through the icy surface and had to be heaved out which was even more of an effort at because of the thin air at 3000ft. But the team was on hand to jump out of the trucks and get the riders on their way as quickly as they could.

“I was physically exhausted when I got to the Pole,” Dean says. “But about a metre short, I whacked the throttle open and dug the bike in. I walked to the truck Santhosh was in because he was having difficulty with the cold, and said, ‘look come on, we started this together, we’re finishing it,’ and we both pushed the bike over that last metre.”

It was a hard 30 hours, but the team and the bike had made it. A total overland distance of 1988 miles – 250 of them ridden – in one of the harshest environments on Earth. And after weeks on the move, Dean was finally able to take a well-earned shower at Union Glacier, from where they flew home.

One for the mantlepiece

When asked if Dean had any doubts during the trip, he says: “I never even thought about failure to be honest, it wasn’t on the cards. One way or another, that bike was going to get to the Pole.”

Now he’s home, Dean is back to work and enjoying being up to his elbows in oil and engine components again.

“I’ve got frostnip on a couple of fingers on my clutch hand and a couple of toes, but I’m just waiting for some of the images from the trip to come through. There’s one of me stood next to the Pole with my crash helmet sitting over it. I think when that’s on the mantlepiece, that’s when it’ll sink in.

“There are a lot of people involved who don’t get credit. So, it’s a big thanks to everyone who prepped the bike and those that made it possible for me to go.”

Royal Enfield Himalayans complete extreme Antarctic mission to the South Pole

First published on 11 January 2022 by Jordan Gibbons

A pair of Royal Enfield Himalayans have successfully achieved a first-of-a-kind mission to reach the geographic South Pole.

To celebrate 120 years of Royal Enfield, and as a tribute to all adventurers and riders across the world, Royal Enfield employees, Santhosh Vijay Kumar and Dean Coxson, spent 28 days travelling over Antarctic territory to reach 90 degrees south.

Royal Enfield to mark 120 years with 770km South Pole expedition on modified Himalayans

First published on 27 October 2021 by Dan Sutherland

Royal Enfield are marking 120 years of motorcycle production by attempting to ride to the South Pole on two modified Himalayan adventure bikes.

The trip, known as ’90° South – Quest for the Pole’ is said to be the first of its kind and will begin on Friday, 26 November in Cape Town South Africa before snaking around 479 miles to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station.