Ducati’s DesertX V2 Adventure Motorcycle Is Unstoppable, And I Really Tried to Stop It

Just over what must’ve been the twentieth river crossing, a particularly deep and slippery one that caught a few off-guard, we’d come across a group of other riders. Two Norwegians, a Pole, a German, and one other hard-charging guy from another Nordic country I can’t recall. They’d been riding the same off-road, Icelandic trails as us for three days, camping along the way.

Deep sandy trails that led into gnarled rocks and craters. Streams that were cold and deep or shallow and full of ice-like pebbles and stones. And dagger-like outcroppings that made way to rock gardens that stretched on for miles. Iceland’s off-road trails are motorcycle killers, which is why most folks around these parts run Arctic trucks with 42- by 20-inch tires at 10 PSI. 

Under these intrepid riders, however, were purpose-built enduro motorcycles. GasGas, two KTMs, a Kove rally, and a Huskie. True knobby tires affixed to all of them, with custom off-road suspension, rally consoles, bar risers, long-distance tanks, and a parts catalog’s worth of other customizations that are designed to make the bikes monsters of the backcountry. 

Iceland is Iceland, though. And its terrain had stopped them all for repairs. Tires, mainly, but according to the riders, they’d spent much of the previous days working on broken bits and field fixes. And parts were currently scattered across the green, white, and black moss of Iceland’s alien landscape, with one bike completely on its side and using a large boulder as a makeshift lift. It was impressive, to say the least. 

Yet, after 900-plus miles, with likely 90% being off-road, our merry group of Ducati DesertX V2s, the bikes used for the brand’s Expedition Masters program, we encountered exactly two issues: a dislodged exhaust and a single popped front tire. And, folks, we weren’t going easy on these motorcycles. Far from it.

Ducati’s DesertX V2 feels unstoppable. 

Photos by: Marco Triano

Photos by: Marco Triano

Ducati’s Expedition Masters deserves a whole other article, so stay tuned for that, but as we worked our way through Iceland’s south country, a land not just of fire and ice—as is the common refrain—but of a spectacular array of colors and terrain and vibrant beauty, gave way to our 14-odd motorcycles, which became a far more prominent character in the whole story. A storyline I didn’t foresee as I touched down in Reykjavik. 

Most riders will say that adventure motorcycles are inherently compromised machines. They’re dual-sports, if you’ll allow me to use that term for a second, as their riders more generally use them to tour on paved roads and highways, with the occasional dalliance to some gravel-strewn fire road. Dual-sport tires, ones designed more for the road, come stock. And with some light modifications, you can take them to harder locales, sure, but generally from the factory, they’re set up in a manner that focuses them on comfort rather than rally fighting and Dakar. 

Apparently, no one told Ducati’s engineers that. 

Ducati’s DesertX V2 is a lithe machine, one that, when you see it from a rear 3/4s view, almost looks like some odd, rallified Hypermotard. The bodywork hugs the frame, while its small windscreen and “X’d” out eyes only slightly protrude forward. Your legs almost dissolve into the fairings, and the suspension and seat makes you sit tall on the bike, with little room to hunch over. But that design is also why this motorcycle works so well here in all of Iceland’s hellhole glory when being thrown to the wolves, i.e., a bunch of espresso-driven motorcyclists with Van Halen’s kid’s band Mammoth playing in their ears. It feels like an oversized dirt bike, but one that hides its weight. 

Photos by: Marco Triano

Photos by: Marco Triano

Weighing in at 480 pounds with fuel and such, you’d never guess it was that porky. KYB’s fully adjustable suspension, the aluminum frame and swingarm, and the off-road-spec Pirelli Scorpion Rally STR tires shod on wire rims give the motorcycle a rider-and-horse-like feeling, as in the two are working in tandem, not against one another. Something I’ve experienced on other large off-road adventure bikes. Rapidly, the motorcycle just becomes an extension of your whims. 

See that 70-degree hillclimb with a massive 8-inch rut bisecting it? Yeah, let’s go up it. That river crossing may have a 40-foot waterfall just a few feet away from the best line, and you may have to turn in the middle of it, but let’s do it. Sand? Ha, we laugh in the face of sand. Ha, ha, ha, ha! That last one is important, as big bikes like the DesertX V2 tend to make you loathe deep sand. 

There are vast sections of sand throughout Iceland’s off-road trails. Deep, too. The sort of sand pits that stretch on for what feels like forever and make you hate sand in the same way that Anakin Skywalker hated sand. Sand depths ranged from a few inches to what felt like a foot deep, with the actual medium feeling like a cross between silt and the coarse pebbly sand you’d find on the beaches of Hawai’i—similarly blackened, too, as both are derived from the volcanic nature of the islands they spread across. The swaths of loose surface felt almost easy for the DesertX V2, as you just sat on the tail, grabbed a fistful of throttle, and picked your exit point a mile up the trail. 

And oh, that engine. 

Photos by: Marco Triano

Photos by: Marco Triano

The 892cc V2 is a masterpiece of hooliganism, both on and off-road. Torque everywhere, but controllable and just laughably fun. Off-road, you’ll find yourself doing big, lazy, torque-filled slides from one corner to the next, or finding a little rock hop to just braaap your way into a small jump. Just a sharp twist and alley-oop! And there’s more than enough to just putter along when you need to let the engine just chug through waterways—set it in 2nd and forget it. Once you hit tarmac, however, swap Rally mode for Sport and the whole bike settles into this predatory stance, albeit one purely inside your mind, no fancy electronic ride height controls here. 

Twist the throttle on pavement and that front wheel arcs toward the sky whenever beckoned. Indeed, here’s where it really feels the most like a Hypermotard, as there’s a playfulness in this motorcycle that just wants you to be a hoodrat. And, again, it’s all down to how this motorcycle’s been designed. Designed to hide its weight. Designed to be narrow. Designed to be as close to a dirt bike as you can make a middleweight adventure bike. Yet, it’s still comfortable, too. Comfortable enough to click through 1,500 kilometers in five days. Comfortable enough to not cause my back to seize up after 9-11 hours of riding each day. Comfortable enough to take the abuse of mile after mile of baby head-sized rocks impacting the wheels. 

All while doing something even purpose-built off-road dirt bikes couldn’t—tackle Iceland without breaking down. 

Again, the two issues we faced were a dislodged exhaust pipe, which actually just made us all yearn for some sort of straight-pipe option—hot damn, does it sound amazing uncorked—and a single popped front tire. No other issues could be found, and given the terrain’s penchant for jagged volcanic rocks, even those Pirellis should be shouted out more than I really have. They took all the abuse and kept on ticking.

I’m surprised we didn’t pop more. 

Photos by: Marco Triano

Photos by: Marco Triano

Ducati’s DesertX V2 became one of those few machines that I’ve come to vividly remember. One of the few machines that I now actively scroll the classifieds for. It left an indelible mark upon my riding career, and not just because it took me across a landscape that feels so otherworldly and alien. A landscape that’ll be seared in my memory forever. No, it left its mark because it did everything I asked of it in a place known to be unforgiving. A place known to be actively hostile toward machines and vehicles. Yet, this nearly 500-pound adventure bike soaked up every bump, bruise, water crossing, sand pit, volcanic outcropping, slick stone, and more without issue, complaint, or broken parts. It just kept on going and going.

We came across the guys on dirt bikes once more when we stopped for lunch just beneath a glacier. How cool is that sentence? They had left just after the river crossing—we stopped to get our bearings, have a quick snack, and breathe—and set off toward the mountains in the distance. Yet, they’d popped another two tires by the time we’d caught up only a few dozen miles down the trail.

The Ducatis parked, our lunches unfurled, many Oreos being eaten, we surveyed the beauty that is Iceland, while listening to the stark silence the country embraces. Well, almost silence, as in the background, we could hear the riders cursing and laughing at their misfortune. All while the Ducati DesertX V2s sat idle, looking almost showroom perfect. “Listen, I paid for all the rear tire, and I’m going to use all the rear tire,” we joked during one stopover.

What a brilliant machine.

 

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