Ducati DesertX Rally which debuted last year has finally been launched in India at Rs 23.7 Lakh (ex-showroom, India). The DesertX is already famous for being one of the best off-road premium middleweight Adventure bikes out there and the DesertX Rally pushes the limits even further.
Ducati DesertX Rally – Perfect Machine But There’s a Problem
The key element that makes the Rally variant stand out is its suspension which the company stated to be a competition-grade equipment from Kayaba. The fully adjustable 48 mm closed cartridge USD fork now has a travel of 250 mm, up by 20 mm. The new rear shock is also fully adjustable as well and comes with high and low-speed compression damping. Travel at the rear is now at 240 mm, also up by 20mm and ground clearance has also increased to 280 mm.
A higher ground clearance also calls for an increased seat height as well and as a result, the DesertX Rally now has a seat height of 910 mm from the 875 mm which was already quite high enough. As the name suggests, the bike dons a rally theme with a high-rise fender and a carbon-fibre sump guard.
Ducati has also upgraded to stronger spoked wheels with tubed tyres which will also help in reducing the chances of spoke damage and extend to the edges to the rims on the standard DesertX and run tubeless tyres. Other than that we also get machined adjustable brake and gear pedals along with machined front fork clamps. The bike also gets an Ohlins steering damper.
All these specs make the already powerful Ducati DesertX turn into even more capable with the Rally variant. But with higher capabilities come heavy weights to bear and in this case, the weight of the bike has gone up by 1 kilo and now weighs 211 kg without fuel and a whooping 225 kg with its full 21-litre tank. The rest is the same as the standard DesertX, including the 937cc L-twin engine that generates 110 hp.
Other than the Burj-khalifa like seat height and heavy weight (which can be manageable), the bike also faces a problem in its price because the standard DesertX is already quite expensive at Rs 18.3 Lakh (ex-showroom) and the Rally variant is even pricier at Rs 23.7 Lakh, Rs 2.4 Lakh pricier than the base Multistrada V4.
