It’s tall, bright white and wearing knobbie-ish tyres… can this really be a Ducati?

It needed that little Italian flag on the tank to remind me over and over that it was.

* No techy specs here, just a yarn from a shortish tour on the Desert X…

What is one supposed to do with a desert bike in November in Japan? Find sand? First stop, the beach.

I’d read the news leading up to the Desert X release and watched a couple of early YouTube reviews and thought it an interesting move for Ducati. Read it as basically being a real crack at a big off-roader repurposing the venerable L/V-twin that’s also doing duty in the Monster, Hypermotard, Supersport 950 and Multistrada V2.

On collecting the bike, the odometer was showing 1350km odd and a few scuffs and kisses of over zealousness, so we took it easy for the first few days just tootling about town and the hills while we got to know each other and I the systems of a seemingly simple off-roader.

First challenge was mounting and dismounting. It’s got a high seat, adjustable but still high at 86cm to 88cm or @34-34.5 inches. Seems taller until your body weight compresses suspension. Set in the low position, I became accustomed to stepping up on a peg and stepping over to mount. Kind of felt like the thing to do with those big wide high bars and substantial foot pegs. With bodyweight onboard, it’s an easy enough one foot stopper. I’m @176cm/5’9″. Conveniently, the shifter peg and rear brake lever have easy set holes for adjusting to personal preference and boot choice. My big touring boots were right at home with the standard setting, but I can see this coming in handy with stiffer and/or bulkier footwear.

Once aboard, it’s a comfy place to be. Nice long n wide flattish seat of near goldilocks softness. With the high n wide bars, low foot pegs and that longitudinal flatness in the seat, it has multiple riding positions and near tireless comfort.

The screen isn’t massive but it is tall and diffuses the brunt of the wind well enough, even in lip-blueing temps. When it gets that cold, the handguards make a lot of sense. Needed them too as heated grips aren’t standard. With a hotpack in the back of each glove, the cold wasn’t freezing. Some old dog tricks still work well enough.

The cockpit is a nice place to be with everything where you might expect, except for the 5″ TFT display and that’s in a superb location! Vertically orientated and right up there like it’s on the road in front of you. It made so much sense that I’m hoping this becomes a future norm.

The electronics package is fair, 4 modes for the road and two for offroad. I found sport and touring best with touring being very smooth and economical while sport is quite snappy. On dicey roads, wet mode tempered the controls nicely, too. I’m no offroad pro so won’t try to make my dirt roads sound like an off road adventure…or pretend I felt a difference in offroad mode. 🙂

That 21 litre tank I can attest to though. The filler cap is offset to the right for easy and FULL fill-ups. As to range, when in touring mode with 50/50 expressway/twisties, it managed more than 420km from @19 litres. 22km/L+ from a largish V-twin powering an offroad wind sock is impressive.

Apparently there’s an optional rear auxiliary tank that’s good for another 29 litres. That’s a 1000km+ range! Or a double coast to coast Twistybutt!

There’s a handy range predictor in the top right of the screen as well as a couple of trip meters with corresponding econogauges at the base of the screen. In addition, there are air and water temps. The mode display is at the top and accessing that takes you through to another settings screen. Everything is accessible from the handlebar controls and it is all easy enough to use but with the depth of functions and adjustability, it takes a while to get your head around. I began to feel it was an endless endeavour which is great for long term ownership but when hitting the open road in search of freedom at the start of three days of touring and trying to optimize your trip settings in near freezing conditions, it was tedious at first. I remembered a few swear words in Italian again in that endeavour. 🙂

I hit the road in Yokohama with a rough plan to camp in Hakone and ride some rindos in the area again for photos but once on the highway with luggage on the back and almost no one on the roads, it started to shine as a mile-muncher, so I gave it the road and let it eat! Before I new it, we were in Hakone and it felt like some twisties were in order. Looking down over Gotemba, it seemed a run up and over Mikuni Touge would be nice. That dispatched, a run around the lakes to Motosu just fell under us and soon we were rolling into Minami Alps and onto the Chuo Expressway for a run up to Suwa where the temps started falling with the elevation, eventually settling at 0 as we pulled in for fuel at Suwa SA.

On leaving the gas stand, the range meter was showing 486km to empty and I had to pull over to see what I’d broken. It wasn’t broken, it had just been doing its fuel sipping best in touring mode. So, on we went. Swung north for Matsumoto and then off the expressway and up into the Alps under a clear star filled night sky tracing the twisty gorge along the 158. That is a nice stretch of road and the Desert X was showing another strength in Sport mode, twisties, and I began to wonder if I’d stumbled upon an outlier in the search for THE Twisty bike for Japan…

On entering the Abo Tunnel at -1°C, that 4300m of subterranean warmth was welcomed and needed. Emerging on the other side, it was colder with snow on the mountain tops. The temps continued falling and I passed a temp meter that warranted a U-turn and pic. (See -3°C pic above) To the Desert X’s credit, it wasn’t in the least bit fazed. The roads were dry and clear with a full moon overhead and with only the very occasional car it allowed high beams to light our way through the Alpine twisties.

Those lights are nice. Oddly, they have three modes. 1. Ring-only running lights, or Minion goggles as I called them. 2. Low beam with Minion goggles. 3. High beam with Minion goggles.

The low beams worked decently and the high beams were great, even lighting through corners quite well which seems to be rare with sharp cut-off LEDs these days. Switching down to minion goggles only is a polite means of not flooding the interior of cars in front at traffic stops as the lights are quite up there, shining in their back windows.  

Back on the road and we trundled into our hotel in central Takayama. Wasn’t tired, crooked or saddle sore, so went for a wander and ate some Hida-gyu. 😋

Here’s that first leg’s route.

Started the next day with breaky at a favourite little coffee house. Then a tootle around Takayama and was reminded of this bike’s unmentioned superpower, so many bystanders love it! It seems to be of a white knight wearing Minion goggles sort of thing. Anyway, people stopped for pics of it, with it and even of me with it. Prior to this, I’d had workmen by the beach clammer for a look and were stoked when offered a sit on it. A family in Yokohama took photos with it and the gas stand attendant at Suwa SA had me pose with it after filling up. Said he was a veteran MotoGP junky and then almost fell off his perch when he noticed the Ducati name on it. It also afforded me some ‘irregular’ parking opportunities. Superpower!

Taking a closer look beyond the commanding stance and cute goggles, it has some nice details both aesthetically and engineering-wise from the patterned windshield fade to M50 Brembos. I found myself more than a few times perusing this stylish mild-apocalypse prepped steed. The design and integration works, as is typical of Ducati.

Everything is well integrated and purposeful. With some help, I laid it down on its side to see what touched where and that cage is right where it needs to be. The bash plate underneath seemed durable as evidenced by a prior pilots scraped but not dented enthusiasm awards. Unlike many racier Ducatis, there was actually some room under the seat. And unlike a dirtbike, yet like most Ducatis, it has an extensive rider assist electronics package and those M50 calipers are the bitey end of a cornering ABS equipped system that have great feel and pull up well.

Climbing back aboard the comfy seat, thumbing the starter to awaken the testaretta twin and wriggling out of Takayama, rain was on the horizon to the west. We went southeast for Kiso on Rt.361. The Desert X was right at home flowing down Rt.361 then climbing up n over Nomugi Touge. The flurries of snow across the peak were a chilly reminder of the previous evening and to stay ahead of the weather so we snaked down through Kiso and up to Chino before slotting it back into 6th, engaging cruise-control and gliding back down the Chuo Expressway headed for the night’s campsite at the base of Mt. Fuji.

Exited near Kofu and after a brief stop at Apexmoto, it was twisty time again on the climb up and over Misaki Touge and although a little late, the colours were nice. It’s a spirited climb on the north side and those rider aids came in handy a few times on the endless leaves that were skirting the roads and running out into the corners.

In a good rhythm, brake – tip in – feather throttle – see exit – let her rip, rounded a corner and sensed eyes on me.