Not that I am in the market for a new bike.....but lets call it research....and through a bit of boredom, I have watched a couple of ride reviews of the new Ducati Desert X. When I first saw pictures of this thing I thought it had a face only a mother could love. However, after watching these reviews and in fact, after re-watching the MAD TV Aussie review a couple of times as it is sooo in depth, I have come to some sort of "appreciation" for it's look. Some may suggest it is a form of Stockholm Syndrome which may be true but hey, here we are - it isn't that ugly.
In contrast to it's potentially polarising looks, it is getting nothing but praise from ADV test riders world wide. (for an in depth review in Aussie conditions see the YouTube video at the bottom of this post)
So as not to be counted amongst the keyboard warriors assuming it is this or that, I thought it best to judge for myself. I sought out a test ride at Brisbane Motorcycles in Windsor (no affiliation) to see if they had the big white rhino on the floor. Upon arrival I was pleased to see four examples of the Desert X on their showroom floor and on closer inspection I could see tyre wear and dust on one of them.
A demo! Awesome!
First thing I noted was that the bike is in no way as big as it looks in photos. All of that white acreage makes it look like a big behemoth but in fact it is quite a compact bike. Not as compact as the Aprilia Tuareg mind but nowhere near an Africa Twin or GS1250. The extremely bland styling gave me the willies initially when I first saw pictures of this bike but now I see it as a great opportunity to peel that stupid red stripe off and customise the hell out of the graphics. Ducati left us a clean canvas if you will.
Anyway, I didn't beat around the bush and asked straight up if I could test ride it. Being an "older gent" these days has it's advantages as there was no stuffing around, it was just a case of "where's you licence?" and "sign here" then I was off on a solo test ride!
While I waited at the first set of lights I messed around with the ride mode and changed it from Enduro to Rally, Very easy considering I had 30 seconds experience with the bike!
The immediate thing I noticed with the Desert X was how low it carried it's weight. Just like the Tuareg last week, the Desert X felt light and nimble (it did only have about 4 litres of fuel in the tank so that may help). Well, maybe not as nimble but better than my AT. Standing up I had a slight hunch to the bars but I noted that they were rolled back. If I rolled them forward 20 degrees there would be no need for bar risers.
The dash is quite easy to read, even in the bright, summery morning sunshine today. Maybe not quite as easy as the new Africa Twin though but close enough for my old eyes. The dash was pleasingly uncluttered too.
I flicked around some of inner north Brisbane's hilly residential streets and found the bike very easy to ride with planty of power on tap, though a smidge doughy off the bottom of the rev range. Nothing I have ridden yet in the ADV segment seems to pull from low down like the Africa Twin does (mind you, there are plenty of bikes I haven't ridden yet). The exhaust note is very much a strangled XR200-Honda-with-a-standard-pipe-fart-in-a-jar type noise, not any kind of a roar you might expect from a Ducati L twin. It does concern me as to what it might cost to extract some decent exhaust notes from the bike with Ducati being so proprietary with it's electronics. I hear the Termignoni and it's supporting ECU flash is about $2k US!
But, and this is a big but, the price of the bike here in Australia is $24 700 ride away. That compares to about the $20K that they are selling for in the US. So, with the exchange rate where it is, it would seem that we are getting a very sharply priced ADV bike here.
Perhaps it is because Ducati are trying to lure a new cohort of owners who have never been Ducatisti before? That price range is right in Africa Twin grounds and an AT will be around 4-6 months away from placing your deposit where as the Desert X is here, in stock now. By all accounts the Desert X is a better bike both on and off road.
The fly in the custard though is the lack of perceived owner serviceability with the Desert X. The owners manual tells you to take it to your dealer for everything from an air filter change to a drive chain adjustment to a rear wheel removal. Now that is just not cricket for most ADV riders and simply will not fly here in Australia!
I would imagine a whole aftermarket segment will spring up around this bike because when a manufacturer tries to lock people out of the chain, well...people find a way around that lockout. Especially once the 24 month warranty period is over and you are on your own as an owner.
So, what do I think? Who cares I hear you ask!
This bike has a LOT of potential as for the money you get the best electronic package on an ADV bike as of 2022. You get great suspension straight up. You get a strong, proven engine (Multistrada V2 heritage). You get Brembo brakes. You get a steering damper as standard. You get usable foot pegs that don't need changing out. You get a height adjustable rear brake lever. You get 21 litres of fuel with a slick 8 litre auxiliary tank (yes, at a price). You get cruise control.
These are all things (well, apart from the engine) that you need to ADD to most other ADV bikes to make them work properly in the dirt.
The bike really only needs crash bars, a bash plate and perhaps heated grips before you leave the showroom and these will set you back $1700ish AU. Yes, I have checked.....
On my way home I also stopped in at Motorcycles R Us (again, no affiliation) in Springwood as they are my "local" Ducati dealer. They would be happy to take my Tuono back as a trade on a Desert X....as would Brisbane Motorcycles.
Hmmmm. There are some pretty saucy decal kits out there.
I recently had an advert pop up on the Facebook feed for an 'event" that was happening near me. Normally I just ignore these annoying ads but this one caught my eye. It was for the new Aprillia Tuareg AND it was for the opportunity to test ride in in my own backyard, namely the Mt Glorious area.
There was a small fee of $39AU attached for the privilege but to sweeten the deal one would recieve an official Aprilia hat and t-shirt.
Free merch!! Or free test ride with cheap mech!!
Either way, it looked like a great opportunity to do more than the "lap around the block from the dealer's yard" that normally constitutes a test ride so I was IN.
The down side was that the test ride day was on a Saturday. The problem with that I hear you ask? Well, the Mt Glorious road is THE road that riders use that is oh so close to Brisbane and I avoid it like the plague on weekends as it is populated with too may dangerous wanna-bees and plenty of down right incompetent newbies plying the multitude of tight corners on this narrow strip of bitumen. Yep, dumb shit like this happens every day and quite often into the oncoming lane.....
Anyway, back to the test ride..... I left home at 9am on a soon-to-be-quite-hot Saturday morning and got across town to the start of the Mt Nebo/Glorious climb without issue. I had a good ride up the hill without anyone really getting in the way. (hey, I'm not fast on a knobbie shod Africa Twin but it is surprising how many bikes get rounded up on a ride)
Arriving at the Mt Glorious cafe' I wheeled around to park up and it was busy! Aprillia had a big section of parking roped off for their demo bikes so I guess that compressed everyone into a smaller space making it look even busier. That is my Twin down the far left end.
I wandered down to the organisers and filled in the usual paperwork, collected my hat and shirt then grabbing a coffee sat down to enjoy the morning. I was there early so we had to wait a bit until everyone arrived and the 11am timeslot kicked in.
Lots of nice backsides to look at.....
This was to be my steed for the morning. Number 2 out of 12. The yellow actually looked pretty good in the flesh and surprisingly my normal "go to" of red, white and blue looked a bit plain and ordinary in the flesh. Black and red was..well...black and dusty and red.
One of the ride leaders looked familiar but I couldn't place him. That was until the introductions started and it turned out to be none other than I.O.M. TT winner Cam Donald! Steve and I had met Cam waaaaay back in 2003 during a tyre buying stop in Melbourne during our Tassie trip that year and as a young up and coming Aussie racer he had impressed us with his down to earth, genuine manner. Fast forward 19 years and it was the same easy going, genuine bloke who gave us a run down on what the ride would involve and how to set up the rider modes on our bikes.
I was impressed on two fronts here. First up was that we were going to get a taste of dirt by climbing The Goat Track (not as rough as it sounds but gravel none the less) from the Samford Valley. Second was how easy the rider aids were to set on the Tuareg. I had to read my Africa Twin manual a couple of times then fiddle with the switches to get the Honda sorted. Score for the Aprillia!
Saddling up I instantly noted how soft the suspension was and how low the seat height was. I could easily hold the bike up, almost flat footed, unlike my Twin. The clutch and brake levers were a bit goofy for my hands (rolled up too high) and would be the first thing I moved, rolling them forward for comfort.
Rolling off it was quickly apparent how low the centre of gravity was on this bike. Having just ridden the Twin up here I had a direct comparison of how nimble and light the Tuareg felt. It was very confidence inspiring. All the bikes were shod with Continental TKC80 tyres. I have never used these before but from all of the good things I have read about them I was confident to throw the bike into corners on them (plus, hey, it wasn't my bike, right?!). They didn't disappoint but what did was being stuck behind some really slow riders. I couldn't get too sporty as I kept running up the back of the guy in front every corner we rolled into.
Stopping at the beginning of The Goat Track, Cam gave us a demo of the Tuareg's ABS and traction control systems by blasting from the sealed surface to the loose gravel while braking hard or accelerating hard. The bike remained very composed under the very skilful control of Cam but it was obvious that the latest generation ABS is excellent on the dirt and doesn't need disabling like older generation systems (my 2018 AT).
We saddled up again to try the bikes on the 3.1km gravel climb and this time I made sure I was the first bike behind Cameron. Partly to avoid the dust (I have choked on plenty of dust on this climb on my mountainbike) and partly so I wouldn't be stuck behind some super slow rider as many on this test ride were not dirt riders.
Right away I switched the traction control down to Level 1, stood on the pegs and roosted around each corner, trusting the TKC 80s to do their thing. The Tuareg was instantly comfortable in the standing position as standard. I didn't feel the need for bar risers at all (2" risers on my Twin to feel comfortable).
The power output is far less than the Twin at low revs but once I got the engine spinning up around 4-5000rpm the bike took off, sounding great through the standard pipe. I think I would miss that low down torque of the bigger AT, especially loaded up on a long trip but then again, I guess one could get used to it. Like riding a Supersport 600 after a Litre sportsbike.
Where the Tuareg would really shine is in the snottier, tighter tracks that I will simply NOT take my Africa Twin. The Twin is fine for fast dirt road cruising or carefully picking your way along rougher dirt roads but I feel the Tuareg would be awesome in the snotty stuff with the way it carries itself. Having the fuel tank down low in the frame gets that C of G low. It would make the bike much easier to pick up after a spill and combined with the low seat height would inspire more adventurous exploration (IMHO-YMMV).
Thanks to Aprilia Australia for this opportunity to test ride the Tuareg in the real world. This just doesn't normally happen for us mere mortals, it usually being the realm of journos only. As an aside, these bikes were the same bikes the journos rode during the Australian launch of the Tuareg. Cam was along on that launch and said the bikes copped an absolute thrashing through the sand of Hattah National Park (where the Hattah desert race is held here in Oz) and stood up to the test with flying colours. He said he wouldn't have wanted to take any ADV bike other that the Tuareg or the T700 through there to give you some context of the difficulty of the riding and the capability of the bikes.
I have attached the MAD YouTube video review of that launch for your viewing pleasure.
So, is there a Tuareg in my future?
Like any of the ADV bikes, there is compromise to be made between how much on road versus off road ability you want. A Tuareg would lure me into tougher off road riding for sure as I would be more confident of being able to handle it (and pick it up!) BUT I do ride solo quite a bit and being solo in riskier riding situations may not be the smartest option. I like the Africa Twin's mile munching and gear carrying ability a bit too much at the moment, plus I want to see how the Tuareg's reliability and dealer support network interact here in Australia. Aprilia dealers sure aren't on every corner....🤔
Post Script - To highlight my concerns about riders on this road I followed a couple of riders down the hill. It took me several kilometres to get past the first bloke as I didn't want to be silly but he wouldn't make any room to let me past.
The second rider (on a SV650) was the same but much slower and again, I was stuck for several kilometres until we came to this flick left, then hard right, divided corner. Old mate was slow to flick left, then obviously got target fixation and very slowly rode onto the incorrect side of the road and was trapped on the oncoming traffic side of the barrier, all on a tight 30km/h posted corner! 🫣
VERY LUCKILY for him, there was nothing coming and all I could do was shake my head as I slowly rolled up the left side of him (I was on the correct side of the road).
He was going soooo slowly when he went onto the wrong side of the road that any amount of left steering input/left lean would have seen him back on the correct side of the road.
This was a massive reminder for me to STAY OFF MT GLORIOUS on weekends.
Unauthorised use and /or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blogs author is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given with appropriate and specific direction to the A View From Above website.
Aeroplanes, Mountain Bikes and Motorcycles are the toys that make me tick. If you have an interest in any of these things feel free to have a nose around in here. I hope you find something of interest.
