We got a first ride on the all-new Ducati DesertX in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Photos by Gregor Halenda and Scott Rounds.

Ducati knows how to build sportbikes and superbikes. The Italian manufacturer claimed 14 World Superbike championships between 1990 and 2011, and it has finished in the top three in MotoGP every year since it began competing in the premier class in 2003, including two championships. A lot of this racing experience transfers well onto the company?s streetbikes, and even its Multistrada models, which handle more like sportbikes than adventure bikes when ridden hard on pavement.

Enter the Ducati DesertX, the newest machine to leave the factory in Borgo Panigale, with a seemingly heavy penchant for unpaved surfaces. Styling-wise, the DesertX looks like it?s ready to tackle the Dakar Rally with a rally-inspired fairing, long-travel suspension, and off-road friendly wheel sizes.
At the bike?s North American launch held just outside Aspen, Colorado, Ducati reps admitted during the technical presentation that this machine took the company out of its comfort zone. Despite this declaration, Ducati has some off-roading lineage. Back in 1990, Italian rider Edi Orioli won the grueling Paris-Dakar rally aboard a Cagiva Elefant, a feat he repeated in 1994. Ducati was under Cagiva Group?s ownership from 1985 to 1996, and the Elefant was powered by a 900cc Ducati V-Twin.

A concept of the DesertX was first shown at EICMA in 2019, and it was met with...