Bajaj Dominar 400s reach the Arctic Circle [Video]

The Dominar Polar Odyssey kickstarted on July 28, 2018. After the Trans-Siberian Odyssey, this is yet another cross-country ride by the Bajaj Dominar. As the name suggests, this journey will go all the way from the North Pole to the South Pole. The campaign was flagged off in Anchorage, Alaska.

Now, the three member team has completed the Alaskan leg and reached Tuktoyaktuk, Canada in the Arctic Circle. The riders will now go onto to the next leg of the journey and cross Canada.

On the way, the team, which consists of Deepak Gupta, Deepak Kamath and Avinash PS, encountered various life-threatening hurdles but came out in flying colours. The team encountered two of the most difficult roads on the earth during this part of the journey, the Dalton highway and the Dempster highway.

The Dalton highway is a 666 km gravel laden unserviced road with potholes, dips and frost layer to add. This made it quite challenging for the riders to maintain pace and energy. The Dalton highway ends at Deadhorse which is the farthest motorable part in that side of the world. The highway is also popularly known as the loneliest road on earth.

Next in the gruelling journey was the Dempster highway, which ends at Tuktoyaktuk, Canada and where Canada also ends. The Dempster highway again posed a challenge to ride through because of the loose, deep gravel and freezing rains which sometimes limited the riding speed to just 20 Kmph. Another challenge was the slush with calcium carbonate in it which, until washed immediately, begins to corrode the metal pieces of the bike. The radiator of the bike also clogged a few times during this stretch of the journey.

The riders appreciated the bike highly and were impressed by its capacity to take the beating lashed out to it during the journey. Bajaj has made some changes to the bikes for this grueling journey. Changes on the Bajaj Dominar include fatter, knobby off road tires, larger windscreen and a beak. The motorcycles also get panniers, top box, hand grips and jerrycans to help during the ride.

The Bajaj Dominar 400s used in the journey are mechanically stock. This means they retain the 373cc, four stroke engine with 35 Bhp-35 Nm outputs, 6 speed manual gearboxes with slipper clutch, and dual channel ABS. The riders are unassisted and without any supporting/attending crew. They have not even covered half of the journey yet and we wish them best for the upcoming journey.