It's not every day I wipe blood from my lips, dirt from my eyes, and arch my back in agony. Then again, it's not every day I return from hitting the desert on a 211 kilo, 110bhp pukka adventure bike, having had two days of utter off-roading extravagance.
When the invite for Ducati's DesertX Rally landed in my inbox, I was expecting good things but couldn't have imagined the dirt-fuelled delights I'd indulge in crossing the Atlas Mountains and camping out among the camels and fellow stinking journos with nothing more than rocks, sandstorms, and the occasional barking dog for company. It was a launch fit for the most audacious of adventure bikes, which was how Ducati pitched its pimped-up DesertX to us in a hotel lobby on the outskirts of Marrakesh a few days earlier.
It's time to level up and admit that I'd never so much as sat on the road-inclined DesertX that was to form the core for the more 'go anywhere, do anything' Rally-spec machine that saw a solid handful of enhancements over its base model brethren. New forks, a new shock, and a whopping 910mm seat height weren't the only features to the join the party, made all the more utilitarian with an added skid pan, enhanced off-road electronic algorithms, and tubed tyres on lighter Excel rims. You're probably starting to get the picture, but to hammer its off-road focus home, Ducati took things that bit further with a tall mounted front fender, MX-style graphics and a cockpit mount above the vertically placed 5in TFT dash to mimic the style and purposefulness of the kind of bike you see hitting the Dakar.
Of course, with a 937cc V-twin motor and more torque than a small car, this thing promised to be nothing like the featherweight singles you see bounding through the desert, but that's not to say it wouldn't have the minerals to tackle 400km of unforgiving, unruly and unrelenting trails in a place so arid not even weeds want to grow there.
Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Fast Bikes UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av Fast Bikes UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Sensational Suzuki Live - Blending decades of motorcycles, racing legends, track time and a beer tent with a cracking band, Suzuki Live's formula proved a winner for the thousands there.
Blending decades of motorcycles, racing legends, track time and a beer tent with a cracking band, Suzuki Live’s formula proved a winner for the thousands there. As motorcycling events go, Suzuki Live's 2024 effort is surely set to take some topping. Held over two days at the iconic Cadwell Park circuit, the event played host to a list of two-wheeled legends and a mixed bag of iconic Suzuki machinery spanning five decades.
Steve Parrish
It's been a busy old month but so good being back in the thick of it. Despite the great British weather, it finally feels like summer is here, and I've been all over the place with some really great events since we spoke last month.
Christian Iddon
It's a long time since I had that feeling... 1057 days, to be precise, and if you were to ask if 'that day' was the day it would happen again, then I would have bet all my worldly belongings against it.
BOTH A CRIMINAL AND CIVIL CASE
There’s a time and place to lawyer up to the hills, and this is one them...
LONGTERMER KAWASAKI ZX-6R
Last month, I was gearing up to consign my ZX-6R to the back of my garage while I disappeared for the best part of three weeks to work at the TT with Batham's Racing.
YAMAHA WABASH RT
When you live a life of wheelies, burnouts and fast laps on race tracks, it's hard to spot a midlife crisis... but six months on in the saddle of Yamaha's Wabash e-bike, I daresay that's exactly where I'm at. I'll be honest, cycling isn't for everyone, and quite frankly, Lycra is even more polarising, but for me, life on two wheels, be it powered or pedalled, has formed my staple diet for as long as I can remember.
24 HOURS FLAT-OUT!
Ever fancied a crack at 24-hour endurance racing? You might think again after reading this...
PROJECT 37 A TEST OF TIME
Having got his head around the standard bike at Cadwell, Timmy heads to Powerslide Motorcycles with a wish list of improvements for the Suzuki GSX-8R...
'WHY WE GO RACING...5
Ever wondered why big brands spend big money and put in huge amounts of effort to go racing? Well, we did too, so we didn’t hesitate to ask the man who makes that call for Honda Racing UK...
9 BIKES WE WISH WERE STILL HERE...
No one’s worked out how to bring things back from the dead, but if we had our way, these are the bikes we’d oe see makingareturn.