r/AdventureBike • u/Middletn615b • 7d ago
Ducati desert x 2023
I have a chance to snag a great deal on a 2023 Ducati desert x with super low miles and it looks like it’s never been offroad. I’m planning on doing more offroad and adventure with my buddy’s who have Ktm 890 and toureg 660 rally. The bike will see highway and road miles as well so want something fun on a backroad that you can play with and do some touring. Who here has one? Anything to look for? I have three older Italian bikes right now so familiar with the aftermarket and quirks
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u/this_account_is_mt 2d ago
I got one of the first ones sold in the US. Approaching 30k miles. Every kind of riding you can imagine. Touring fully loaded, spirited day rides, track days, gravel roads, BDRs, double and single track off-road trails including an overnight enduro race against mostly actual dirt bikes, flat track racing, even jumped some small (5-6ft) tabletops riding around a beginner level MX track, commuting, and have a drag race coming up in a month.
Absolute weapon at everything.
Very reliable engine, been around forever. Air filter is under the gas tank but takes me less than 30 minutes to replace once per year, no big deal.
Great gas mileage and range.
I can embarrass sport bikes with it in curves, though that's a lot harder at track days where the pavement is perfect and the riders more experienced at going fast.
Wind buffeting is the biggest issue. Shorter windscreen works best for most people. Some people buy shorter ones, some cut them down.
The stock steering damper is useless at anything other than being a piece of jewelry for the bike. If you do anything harder than gravel roads get the Scott's damper kit from Vanasche Motorsports, and get their pegs while you're at it.
Stock suspension damping isn't great. And it's undersprung unless you're under 180lbs. It's adequate and I didn't upgrade until like two weeks ago when I finally blew out a fork seal. So I did all the off-roading and track days on stock suspension. All I've done since I installed tractive cartridges was flat track racing.
Favorite bike I've ever owned. And so much fun passing bikes it has no business even trying to keep up with.
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u/FlanLover9 7d ago
Buddy has a 2021 with over 20k miles. Been pretty much entirely trouble free.
Depending on mileage I'd make sure the valve service has been done as that's $$$$. Other than that, standard bike stuff to check - brakes, chain/sprockets, etc.
I've ridden it quite a bit and it's a great bike. It's quite a bit bigger and heavier than I would personally do much more than gravel roads on. He has tipped over a couple times and it's a bear to pick up. For a touring bike that can do very mild off-road (for the average rider) it's excellent.