Ducati Reveals New Details About Its Desert X ADV Bike Concept
Italian marque releases more details on its Dakar-inspired concept.

During the Ducati World Premiere last week, the Italian Marque announced their 2020 lineup live to the public. One of the big surprises from the presentation was the reveal of the Desert X – a new adventure bike concept with serious off-road intentions.
According to Ducati, the Desert X is a Paris-Dakar Rally inspired design that celebrates Edi Orioli’s victory in 1990 on a Ducati powered Cagiva Elefant. Few technical details were released by the brand about the new machine, other than it will be based on the current Scrambler 1100 platform with its 1,079cc 2-valve, air-cooled, Desmodromic L-Twin engine that produces 86 horsepower @ 7,500 rpm and 65 ft-lb @ 4,750 rpm.

All we could see in the original rendering is that the Desert X has a similar paint scheme and bodywork to the early 90’s Cagiva Elefant 900 ‘Ducati-Powered’ Paris-Dakar race bike. Clearly visible were Dakar-style rear fuel tanks, 21″ front and 18″ rear wheel combo, taller suspension and a Termignoni exhaust.

Now Ducati has released a new rendering showing additional details of the Desert-X concept. Two round LED headlights give the machine a striking neo-retro appearance. We can now see the shock on the left side of the bike, which is similar to the current Scrambler 1100 design. Also interesting is the use of 4 filler caps on the front and rear fuel tanks, similar in design to the old Dakar Rally bikes. The Desert-X also gets a motocross-style handlebar with crossbar for improved bend resistance.


Along with the newly released rendering, Ducati has also confirmed their new retro-ADV rides on 21” / 18” wheels wrapped with Pirelli Scorpion Rally dual sport tires. All we can say is that the new rendering looks even more enticing than the first, and we love the nod to the old Cagiva Rally Racing heritage.
OK Ducati, no more teasing. We’re ready to see this machine as a real prototype. Luckily, we won’t have to wait much longer, Ducati will unveil the Desert-X prototype during EICMA next week. Stay tuned!
EICMA UPDATE

Ducati has dropped the cover on the Desert X adventure bike concept. Look for our upcoming article with new information about this exciting concept from the Italian marque.
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Please build this beautiful machine Ducati!
DROOOOOOOOL!!!! You have all of my attention.
Slated for production release in Oct 2020 at Ducati World Premiere event. Can’t come soon enough
If your going to make a true adv bike, please give us the option of tubeless tyres.
Your got the rims off the Multi Enduro, so it’s not a hard thing to do, or offer us.
We don’t want to be patching or replacing damn tubes an the side of a road or track.
Please Ducati, put tubeless rims , or at least give us an option for tubeless tyres.