Ducati has teased the production version of its upcoming Desert X middleweight adventure.
- Neo-retro styling inspired by classic Dakar bikes
- 937cc liquid-cooled L-twin engine
- Launch on December 9
The Ducati Desert X first appeared as a concept back in 2019. Now, it seems nearly ready for launch, with the Italian manufacturer teasing a production version of the upcoming middleweight ADV. While the production bike does still feature the neo-retro styling inspired by classic Dakar bikes, there have been some major changes under the surface.
While the concept version housed an air-cooled Scrambler engine, the production Desert X will be powered by the liquid-cooled 937cc Testastretta L-twin engine that currently does duty in the Monster, Multistrada 950, SuperSport 950 and Hypermotard 950 models. This means we can expect engine output to be in the range of 110hp and 95Nm.
You may be wondering why Ducati is developing another ADV around this engine when it already has the Multistrada on sale. Well, the Multi is a street-oriented adventure tourer with a 19-inch/17-inch alloy wheel combo, while the Desert X is going to be a much more hardcore off-roader, complete with a 21-inch/18-inch wire-spoke wheel setup, and more off-road focused tyres, too.
That’s all we know about the bike so far, but with the launch still some time away (December 9), it is quite likely that Ducati will be putting out more teasers every now and then to maintain the hype. So stay tuned.
Azaman Chothia
Vishal Venugopal
