Ducati DesertX Rally (2024) REVIEW ｜ Two days in Morocco

Welcome to Bennett's Bike Social. Welcome to Morocco. We are out in the middle of the desert testing this, Ducati's new Desert X Rally. Now I'm about to tell you why this is one of the best adventure bikes I've ever ridden off-road. Now there's the key, off-road, because today all we've done is ride off-road. Normally when a manufacturer launches an adventure bike, it's mainly on-road with a little bit of off-road. But Ducati have done the opposite. We've hardly touched any tarmac. We've spent all day off-road. Hence the reason I am covered head to foot in dust. I can't stop smiling and I've got blisters on top of blisters. I have loved riding this bike. So this time it's Morocco and this time it's the launch of Ducati's Desert X. But this is the rally version. This is the big, hyped up, jack it up on steroids, give it loads of suspension travel and give it loads of ground clearance. Hence the reason we've got two days here in Morocco to hit some dunes, to hit some sand and about 90% of this ride is going to be off-road. So what Ducati have essentially done is taken the Desert X and just beefed it up. So we've got bigger forks that are two mil thicker. We've got more travel, 20 mil on the front, 20 mil on the rear. We've got way more ground clearance. We've got a bit of cosmetic tweaks. The front mudguards got higher so we've got more clearance for mud and gravel. It's basically what they've learned in competition with the Desert X, taken what they've learned there and beefed it up. The engine is exactly the same as it was before which is around 110 horsepower if I remember rightly and the price is around 19,000 in the UK. We've got a few little extras on this bike, a little bit more crash protection but apart from that it's near enough standard and we've got two days here in Morocco which is gonna be epic. We're out with Ducati. We've done a decent ride already. This is the new Desert X Rally. Lighter wheels to compensate for the extra weight of the forks and we've got a few extras like the crash protection, the rad guard, the new high front mudguard that's standard and we've got more off-road orientated tyres because we're here in Morocco. This morning was lots of off-road riding and it was quite cold and the biggest problem as you can tell that I'm getting out of breath is the seat height because we're at nine ten seat height which is not small. So we've done a fair range actually. We've done 86 kilometers this morning and that was all off-road or 90% of it was. Some of it is quite like pebbly gravel is the best way to describe it kind of like throwing like a million marbles down the road and trying to ride over it so at times it's a bit unnerving but the suspension is outstanding off-road. I mean I got airborne maybe six or seven times. You know we're not hanging about we're really enjoying it. The riding position when you're stood up is beautiful as well that's just perfect. The foot pegs which I never mentioned foot pegs but they're so grippy and in exactly the right place. There's a little flick over on the brake lever to make it more accessible and easier when you've got big enduro boots on. The controls the switch gear it feels like my bike and I've not rode a Desert X for a while yet I got on this and I was like this is my bike. The suspension control is really impressive. I know the standard Desert X is brilliant as an adventure bike on road and this is proving pretty equal. The Ducati Desert X which I rode a couple of years ago for Bennett's Bike Social, really impressive bike. Me and Simon Hargreaves also did a video where we did the Desert X versus the Triumph Tiger and again I love the Desert X. It's a brilliant bike and what Ducati have done is basically just give it a big injection of steroids and kind of masculinity to make it more off-road to give it more off-road robustness. Robustness? I'll go with robustness. I like that word. So basically what they've done is given it more travel on the suspension. So you've got a KYB closed cartridge forks which are very trick and very expensive about four and a half thousand euros if you wanted to buy them off the shelf. With 20mm more travel. Got a new shock on the rear again with 20mm more travel fully adjustable front and rear. So we've got more adjustment, we've got more ground clearance, we've got a very tall seat height, we've got more crash protection with this new carbon composite belly pan, the front mudguard is now higher so we've got more clearance to clear all the mud, we've got new lighter wheels that are stronger, the rear wheel is slightly narrower also but we've got the same rider modes and we've got the same engine, we've got the same power. So it's the familiar Tesla Strata engine, 110 horsepower, the same engine that Ducati have used in the Multistrada and the Hypermotard and other models. It didn't need any more power. Basically what Ducati have done it just made it more off-road to give it more off-road capabilities. They've seen what customers have done and what they've done at races like Hertzberg where customers have wanted to race the Desert X, they've jacked up the suspension, improved the suspension and give it more crash protection and that's what Ducati have given us. That is what they've done and to prove that we've had a full day of riding here in Morocco and it has been amazing. The suspension is so good, it's expensive suspension, it's closed cartridge forks which I think is the first time anybody's ever done that on a production bike, made by KYB, front and rear, fully adjustable but I don't think anybody's done any adjustment. The punishment this bike can take is impressive but also is its control. It just takes everything and it allows you to ride with more confidence and a little bit more speed. Even when you jump the bike and you deliberately close the throttle the back doesn't flick out on the rebound, the rebound is lovely controlled. When you land it it doesn't sound like you're dropping 20 spanners from the top of an apartment building. It sounds like it's all refined, it feels quality. When I got it on this morning I was in road mode and I wanted to go to touring and then I wanted to go to urban and then I wanted to try rally and all these modes are simple and easy to do on the fly. You can turn off the traction, you can add traction, you can do what you want on the fly, there's none of this stopping and having to go through the manual to find out how the dash works. It's quite simple, you go from enduro to rally and back to road, on the fly, just close the throttle. Now obviously today we've been riding mainly off-road so we've got two off-road modes which is the rally and enduro. When you're in rally you have full power, when you're enduro you've got 75 horsepower and obviously the rider aids change depending on the mode. Now what's also interesting is that these rider aids are lean sensitive which is pretty unique for off-road rider aids. So the ABS is lean sensitive, the traction control is lean sensitive and it's catered for off-road riding. So when you're in the full rally mode and the traction is down to one it's been designed to work with off-road bias tyres. It's different TC to the Desert X, it's been designed to work with this suspension and these off-road tyres. It's been designed to work off-road. So it's like 26 degrees now just out in the, well yeah, desert. We've got dunes over there, got all these cool tracks. I've rode similar around here before in Morocco and it is just, just epic. There's just so much space. The Ducati is holding up so well. We've just been doing, whether it comes out on video, some jumps for pictures and fairly sizable jumps and when it lands there's no like bagging and clattering, it just takes it. This is middle of nowhere, big dunes in Africa, lots of dust but truly amazing. Oh look at this, straight through the side of a football pitch. How cool is that? That's messy, that's cool. Hey dude, are we high-fiving? High-five Crom! It is really, really impressive off-road. It just gives you confidence, it just gives you the ability to ride this amazing terrain with confidence and you have time to make decisions, you have time to choose lines, there's nothing untowards happening, the bike's not bouncing around and skipping, the front is tractable, you can feel what everything's doing even through the deep sand, you can just kind of sit back on the bike, let the bars find its way, track it and travel it, lovely. Is it the best bike I've ever ridden off-road in the adventure market? Probably so. So what's the downsides? Well, you may have noticed, it's a little bit big. That seat height is 9'10". That's standard, 9'10". That is the highest seat height you can get on a production bike at the moment, I think. But I'm sure someone like Simon Hargreaves will put a comment below and remember something from 50 years ago that had a taller seat. But that is quite hard work for somebody my size who's nearly 5'7". There are a few moments where you're struggling to kind of get the side stand up while you're still sat on the bike, so I have to get the side stand up, then throw a leg over the bike, and then get going. The other one is price. Deep breath. £18,995 standard. And this isn't standard, so the crash protection isn't standard, the radiator guard isn't standard. So once you add that, you can get close to £20,000 for a middleweight adventure bike, which is a lot of money. But when you price up the parts, like £4,500 for the suspension, the wheels, you're probably looking, bear with me, I made some notes on this, €2,000 for a set of wheels if you wanted to buy them off the shelf. Rear shock, probably another €2,000. Ohlins manual adjustable steering damper, it's about €800. You can see where the money's gone. Ducati haven't just gone, we've won World Superbikes, we've won MotoGP, we're famous for producing beautiful bikes, so we'll give it a massive price tag. No, what they've done is thrown quality items at the bike, give you rider aids that work on and off road, and then justified that in the price. So it is expensive, but you can see where they've spent the money. So just getting ready for day two, had a camping experience last night, it was alright. Got weird, like a sandstorm came through at four o'clock this morning, so it was, yeah, in a tent in heavy wind is hard going. You can see the rain coming in over there, so this morning you could see just snow on top of the mountains, you can't quite see it now. Bikes, standard, same again, same tyres, same bike as yesterday, we've given it a bit of a clean and thrown some fuel in it. I guess this is what you want if you come to Africa, big dusty trails, kind of stand up on the pegs, let the bike do the work. You've still got to be so careful, it's like, big ditches like that, big rocks, you've just always got your concentration head on. The big test for this bike I guess is going to be when we put it against the competition. For me, riding it in isolation, I can't categorically say this is the best adventure bike I've ever ridden off road. But I'm also struggling to think of a bike that's going to be competitive against it. I love the Husqvarna Norden that I rode in South Africa for about three days, mainly off-road, that was a very good bike off-road. KTM 890R, rode that in Wales for a couple of days off-road, very good bike off-road. And then there's new bikes coming into the market, like BMW's F900GS, there's going to be a new Africa Twin, I rode the Tiger 900 just a couple of weeks ago off-road, not as extreme as this, but that was good bike off-road. And they're all a lot cheaper, with a little bit more spec. But in terms of just off-road riding, I don't think it's going to be beaten. And it's not like it's an ugly bike either, is it? But it is expensive, and the seat is really tall. But apart from that, I bloody love it.