Ducati presented the Desert X concept publicly back in 2019. The bike is expected to reach the USA and European markets by the mid of 2022 but it will take quite a while to cross the Indian borders. The styling of this adventure bike is sort of a retro desert racer but also a bit modern and futuristic-looking with a healthy dose of off-road aggression. The original concept bike was actually based upon the Scrambler 1100 with an air-cooled engine but this final production bike has a lot more in common with the Multistrada V2.
The Ducati Testastretta 11°, L-Twin cylinder, liquid-cooled 937cc engine that powers the multi-strata Supersport, Monster and the Hypermotard, churns out 110 horsepower at 9250rpm and 92Nm of top torque at 6500rpm. It is pretty handy and certainly makes it competitive with the likes of the Triumph Tiger 900, BMW F850 GS and KTM 890 Adventure. There’s also a Termignoni exhaust accessory available which combine with the dedicated map, increases both power and torque by 7%.
The round headlights, the sparse paint job, the big fuel tank, knobbly tyres all contribute to its offroader looks. It also comprises its own dedicated gearbox with new ratios to better suit off-roading. All the gears from first to fifth have been shortened with the first and second being especially short to improve low-speed crawling. On the other hand, sixth gear is rarely used for off-road. To give Ducati Desert X a proper Rally bike advantage, an extra fuel tank is being offered as an accessory as there are not enough petrol stations while racing across the desert.
Ducati Desert X gets a 21-litre main fuel tank and on top of that, there’s an accessory 8-litre rear tank that can be activated with switchgear when the main tank gets to a certain level. The bike stands on 21-inch front and 18-inch rear wheels which offers easier rolling on rough terrains. The versatility of Desert X is also reflected in the 6 Riding Modes namely Sport, Touring, Urban, Wet with Enduro and Rally dedicated specifically to the off-road riding experience along with 4 power modes like Full, High, Medium and Low.
The motorcycle has a dry weight of 202 kg while the seat height stands at 875mm. If we talk about the instrument console, the Desert X is equipped with a 5-inch full-colour TFT display which comes with Ducati Multimedia System offering functions like Turn-by-Turn navigation, music, and incoming/outgoing calls.