Ducati recently announced an extension to the DesertX name – the DesertX Rally. The DesertX Rally takes the off-road ability of the original DesertX a major step forward with a slew of upgraded components.
The key components that in my book headline the Rally variant are:
- Longer travel up-spec suspension
- Stronger and narrower wheels
These two are the headline components that state the use case of an conquering off-road adventure bike but there is more to it.
I am excited to see this bike in person and get my gloves on it to give it a thorough work out. In meantime, lets take a deep dive into the specs and images to see what makes the DesertX Rally unique.
Wheels
As mentioned one of the headline features are wheels which is equipped with narrower and stronger Excel rims with machined billet hubs.
The wheels are tube type and being narrower rims means there is a fantastic choice of aggressive off-road knobby tyres available.
The tyres fitted in images are Pirelli STR (same spec as DesertX) which frankly I consider to be “underdone” for the spec of this bike. What I mean by that is the rest of bikes hardware is pure off-road adventure spec where the STR tyres just don’t offer an equivalent level of off-road performance. Don’t shoot Ducati here though! There are so many homologation hoops a motorcycle manufacturer has to jump through that fitting a tyre like the Pirelli STR will likely make it much easier and more cost effective for the bike to meet all of the homologation requirements like brake, speed, noise tests etc.
So, right from bike delivery you should factor in the cost to change tyres to a more aggressive off-road orientated tyre to make the most of the hardcore wheel set.
Suspension
Still produced by Kayaba, both the forks and shock have had a massive upgrade in
increased the travel to 250/240mm front and rear (vs 220/230mm).
Forks
More importantly than pure travel numbers though the performance level is increased with a closed cartridge fork for more consistent damping and trick looking Kashima and DLC coatings for less friction and improved durability.
If you’re not sure what a “closed cartridge” fork is a great explanation of a closed cartridge fork system can be viewed here on YouTube channel “Steps To Podium”
Also the diameter of the fork tubes has increased to 46mm which increases rigidity but has necessitated a new set of machined billet triple clamps to grip the forks. It has to be said these triple clamps look cool.
Shock
The shock also gets a boost in damping consistency with remote reservoir with preload adjustment and larger diameter piston – up to 46mm (+6mm over DesertX). Again this is intended to improve consistency of the stroke as things heat up.
Gear & Brake Levers
The machined billet aluminium pieces on this bike include a new set of brake and gear levers, both with foldings tips. This is a welcome change as one issue I have had several times on my DesertX is bending the rear brake lever after a fall.
Another welcome feature is the easy height adjustment of the rear brake tip. Pull it out and rotate 90 degrees to easily change the height of lever tip between standing and sitting positions.
Steering Damper by Ohlins
For many riders the standard steering damper is enough but when the speeds pick up then to have the option of dialling in more damping effect will be welcome. A change to the top handlebar clamp will likely make things feel more precise too.
Skidplate
Upping the protection for the underside of the bike is a new forged carbon composite bash plate. The DesertX already has pretty good ground clearance at 250mm and with the longer legs of the Rally I don’t expect this bashplate will cop too much of a hiding but it’s nice to know the underside of the engine is well protected.
Standard Accessories
Improving the value proposition is the fact that several upgraded genuine Ducati “accessories” are fitted standard on this bike:
- Rally one piece seat
- GPS mount bracket
- Adjustable steering damper
- High mount front guard
Value
Now I’m not going to say that $36,600 is affordable for many riders but I’ll put this to you; many riders that buy adventure bikes (or any motorcycle for that matter) will typically spend a few extra thousand dollars in customising or up speccing their bikes. I would say many riders easily spend around $4-5k extra in accessories.
So if you do the sums, you start to see where the extra $9,000 odd price premium over the original DesertX comes from and where the value in the new DesertX Rally lies. That suspension alone is no doubt going to feel wonderfull to ride on.
Exclusivity is another aspect to consider with Ducati’s special models typically holding their resale value strongly. That is value for years to come.