2022 Ducati Desert X First Look - The Italian Dirt Bike

Cycle World is the first North American media to ride and report the 2022 Ducati DesertX. Here’s a little taster of just how capable it is. Twenty years ago, the thought of Ducati making an off-road-focused bike would have been almost laughable. But little by little, the Italian sportbike gurus have been stepping toward more grubby stuff, first with the original Multistrada, then the Multistrada Enduro, and now the Scrambler and Desert Sled too. After teasing us with a concept bike based on the Scrambler 1100 at EICMA in 2019, the Ducati DesertX is finally a real thing. And what a thing it is. Zinging the Testastretta V-twin up to 10,000 rpm between turns after lugging it from the bottom of the rev range at the apex, one thing is certain: Ducati made the right choice in skipping the 1,100cc motor from the concept bike and giving the DesertX the horsepower and huge torque spread it deserves. The 937cc Testastretta is the same engine used in the Multistrada V2, but with revised first and second gear ratios, a lower-ratio final drive, and fresh calibration designed to deliver as wide a spread of power as possible. On the road, the motor has the ability to ride entire mountain passes in a single gear, allowing riders to rely on engine-braking into the curves, flowing along with the twists and turns, giving time to reflect on just how far the bike is leaning and just how hard it’s pushing its skinny 21-inch front wheel. Even when pushing hard and braking deep into turns, the DesertX performs in a way that no off-road bike should. The only real giveaway is the slightly increased effort needed to make rapid direction changes compared to a more road-biased setup. But honestly, that’s splitting hairs. Ducati has this bike dialed in so well for tarmac, it’s hard to believe it could be any good in the dirt. At which point we refer you to the video of enduro legend Antoine Meo absolutely sending it around an MX track on a stock DesertX. To be fair, Meo’s bike does have the accessory sump guard and Pirelli Scorpion Rally tires-—and, of course, Meo—but that’s hardly a big change, and Meo’s pulling pretty decent whips on the damn thing. You’d expect a talent like Meo to make the bike look good, but even with Mister Average in the saddle, the DesertX is an easy, accessible bike. The riding position is spot-on, with decent footpegs, no protruding bits to jab into legs, and a well-placed handlebar. With knee braces on there’s contact with the fuel tank when leaning forward and standing up, but it doesn’t feel restrictive. Nice details, like slim clutch and brake levers and easily adjustable foot controls, including a flip-over two-position brake pedal, allow riders to settle into the bike and feel comfortable right away. Add to that the nice weight distribution and smooth low-rpm throttle response and it’s easy to jump straight on the DesertX and feel confident. To keep cost and weight under control, Ducati opted to leave out the fancy electronic suspension, sticking with fully adjustable Kayaba units front and rear with a decent 9.1 inches and 8.7 inches of travel respectively. With this in mind, it really is a testament to the bike just how well the suspension copes on and off-road. On the asphalt there’s none of that lurching or diving from the front under brakes that dual sport bikes can suffer from. And on the dirt the suspension is very well controlled, especially on the big hits. Even hopping off rocks at low speed and landing hard, the suspension used all the stroke but rebounded in a totally controlled manner. When charging a fast trail and hitting that unseen rain gully, there’s no horrible kick over the bars; the bike just eats the bump and carries on. The payoff for this was some deflection on smaller, sharp-edged bumps, particularly when climbing which keeps you on your toes. This was accentuated by the road-biased tires. As you’d expect from Ducati, the DesertX comes with a comprehensive electronics package based around six rider modes, all of which can be customized. From an off-road riding point of view, the most important features are that in Rally and Enduro mode you can have specific off-road-calibrated ABS and traction control or switch them off entirely. Full story here: https://www.cycleworld.com/story/motorcycle-reviews/ducati-desertx-first-impression-ride-review-2022/ Subscribe to Cycle World Youtube: /c/cycleworld Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/ Buy Cycle World Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cycleworld

Category