Pure Escapism: South To Sian by Deus Ex Machina

Deus Ex Machina has always celebrated the spaces where motorcycling and surfing co-exist. And this breathtaking film takes the escapism to a new level, set against the surreal backdrop of Indonesia.

Directed by award-winning photographer Dustin Humphrey, South to Sian blends elements of a bike film, surf film and travel documentary into one awe-inspiring experience.

The film follows Harrison Roach and Zye Norris as they do what we all long to: escape the shackles of modern life. With a quiver of surfboards and a couple of dirt bikes piled into a 1970s Land Rover, the two travel from the south of Bali, up through the Indonesian archipelago to Northern Sumatra.

Along the way they connect with friends old and new—hitting stunning off-the-beaten-track surf and riding spots. We've seen the film, and it's spectacular—from the locations to the cinematography and fantastic soundtrack.

Dustin himself is the co-founder of Deus Indonesia, and Deus' International Director of Surf. He's been riding bikes since the age of six, and boards since nine, and has spent the last twenty years living in Bali.

We caught up with the man himself, and pitched him a few questions.

South to Sian is hard to define—what type of film did you set out to make? I didn't intend the film to fit into a specific genre. You could say it was more of a documentation of what we get up to over here. I have been friends with Harry and Zye for a few years now.

They are Deus ambassadors and spend a lot of time here in Bali surfing and riding. We have worked on other smaller projects together which have had some success, so we decided to go a little bigger.

Having an in-house media team here at the Temple—Anthony Dodds for photography and Andre Cricket for video—the project was born from just shooting the things we wanted and were able to do.

It was a bigger undertaking than things we had done in the past but was just the logical next step.

Obviously Indonesia's an ideal location, but how did you pick the specific route that the film follows? Basically we wanted to start at one end of the Indonesian Archipelago and end at the other.

I really wanted this next generation of surfers and creatives from the Temple to experience what I had been doing here in Indonesia for the better part of the last 20 years, and in the way I used to do it.

How many of the surf and riding spots along the way were familiar, and how many were brand new? Some of the surf spots were well known, some off the beaten track—it's a gamble when it comes to chasing waves. To find pumping surf is a combination of a lot of factors: wind, tide, swell direction, etc.

There were three surf spots that we had not been to before. All of which didn’t have any accommodation near by, so they were a mission to check. Most of the other spots Harrison and I had visited before, but all the spots were new for Zye.

As far as the riding goes Mt Batur here in Bali is one of our local riding spots. We ride there quite often. It’s a combination of loose volcanic rock with some forest trails and sandy hills.

But the volcano up in Java was new for all of us, its quite an amazing place, the terrain is very different for Indonesia. Think Kauai mixed with Iceland: Dark sand dunes leading up to enormous green cliffs with pockets of clouds hanging around. It really is the best playground when it comes to off road motorcycling.

You describe yourself as a ‘hobbyist filmmaker’—but this is a rather bold effort for a ‘hobbyist.’ What inspired you to take it on? Again, this film is more of a curated documentation of what we are enthusiastic about in life over here. It's what we do in the day to day. So for us, this year-long project was a bit bigger than some of our others—but it's just the next step in the progression of things.

Tell us a bit about the bikes on the trip. The donor bikes are both Yamaha Bisons, a pretty popular 150cc commuter bike here in Indonesia. Yamaha gave us two to customize. I think they expected us to make some slick café racers, but we made all terrain dirt bikes with a vintage aesthetic instead, ha ha. The boys in the ‘bengkel’ (Indonesian for workshop) made quick work of stripping them down. Here’s a little run through of what we did to them.

Harrison’s bike We did quite a few engine mods to get a lot more bite outta the little 150cc engine. A camshaft mod, a bore up to 200cc, and some valve work. We also changed the gearing to get more out of the low end, to suit the off-road riding they would be doing.

The whole frame has been custom rebuilt. It's got the upside down forks from a YZ250 and the back springs are Öhlins YA917s. Up top we have Renthal handlebars, the tank is from a DR650, and the seat was custom shaped and wrapped.

Zye’s bike Zye’s bike had pretty much the same treatment when it came to performance, just a few minor differences. The forks are from a Honda CR250, and the tank was alloy and custom made here at the Temple.

Agi’s bike Our friend Agi Agassi also came onto the project. He’s a three-time MX2 Indonesian motocross champ and a great enduro rider.

We wanted his Husky WR250, a two-stroke enduro bike, to keep one hundred percent of its functionality—but to give it a solid Deus makeover. So we rebuilt the sub-frame and gave it a custom seat and hand made alloy tank.

Forrest's bike Forrest Minchinton is a friend of ours from California who decided to do the last minute trip to Bali. We just so happened to be going up to the volcano that weekend, and he decided to tag along.

Being from Cali, Forrest is a great desert rider. The only problem was that we didn't have a bike for him to ride. So we ended up taking an older Husqvarna TE250 we built a few years ago.

So we grabbed it at the last minute and stripped it down, built a new sub-frame, and put the original exhaust back on with a few minor bends to fit. The original 18” and 21” rims were fitted back on, and we then gave it a set of Acerbis fenders. That was pretty much it for the cosmetics. We also adjusted the suspension and gearing to lean more towards off-road riding.

All the bikes were built at our workshop here at the Temple in Bali. We were surprised by how well the Yamaha Bisons held up—they got put through a lot of abuse but just kept ticking. Both the Huskies, with their mods, held up pretty well too, considering how hard they were ridden by the two more experienced riders.

Now that South to Sian's been released, what's next? We actually just wrapped up a shoot with a cool independent motorcycle magazine from the States called META. The project is called ‘Membah’ and is getting released in November. So look out for that.

After that? I don't really know, but I’m starting to get itchy to do something.