Ducati’s New Video Gives Insider’s Look At The Making Of The DesertX
A window into the journey to create the brand's Dakar-inspired adventure machine.
Time flies doesn’t it? It’s already been nearly three years since Ducati caused a stir by debuting their interpretation of a Dakar-inspired adventure bike — the DesertX. The new concept unveiled at EICMA received a resoundingly positive reception, prompting Ducati to turn the one-time show bike into a fully developed production machine.
Now Ducati is giving the public a behind-the-scenes look into how their new dirt-worthy 937cc adventure bike came to life. The “making of” video of the DesertX tells the story of the genesis of the project and the development path leading to its production.

The video was shot entirely inside the Ducati factory at Borgo Panigale where Product Sponsor Claudio De Angeli, through a series of interviews, retraces all the aspects that characterize and make this bike unique.The design aspects are broached by the Director of the Centro Stile Ducati Andrea Ferraresi, who describes the work done to transform the original concept into a functional project.
To Ducati’s credit, the production bike is very close to the concept that grabbed so much attention when it debuted in 2019, something that the Italian brand says was an important part of the bike’s development. Ferraresi explains that not only the proportions remained identical but also features like the optional rear tank, which adds 8 liters of fuel to its range, were carried over from the original DesertX. “We made no intermediate clay models so as to not risk, even unintentionally, distorting the original concept. We just did the inevitable adjustments required by the technical area to ensure the reliability and performance we were looking for, but nothing more,” explained Ferraresi.

The interview with R&D Vehicle Director Pierluigi Zampieri covers the technical details of the DesertX. Their goal was to develop a bike with high off-road prowess without losing the sporty street performance Ducati is known for. An objective Ducati admits was a challenge, in part due to how little they’ve fully explored the off-road world in their modern creations.
Finally, the video addresses the subject of the development and tests of the motorcycle together with Luigi Mauro (Vehicle Testing Department Manager) and Matteo Graziani (Ducati Official Tester & winner of 58 Italian off-road titles), who talk about the long phases of road and off-road testing (with enduro champ Antoine Meo) that led to the definitive version of the DesertX. The result is a bike with a Testastretta engine pumping 110 ponies and dirt-focused features not typical of the Ducati range such as 21”/18” wheels, a rally-inspired dashboard, generous ground clearance, and 9.1” of front and 8.7” rear suspension travel.

The DesertX will be the protagonist at the World Ducati Week 2022, scheduled from July 22 to 24 at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli (you can buy tickets at this link). Although the bike is already starting to arrive in Europe, North America will have to wait a bit longer with a later release date of mid-August, according to Ducati. Starting MSRP will be $16,795 USD. Check out all the details, including specs here.
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