Final versions of 2026 DesertX and Desmo450 EDS leaked in styling registrations
Among the new 2026 models debuted by Ducati towards the end of last year were two prototypes that weren’t quite ready for their full reveals – the upcoming DesertX V2 and the street-legal Desmo450 EDS enduro machine – but now the final appearances of both bikes have been leaked in design registrations.
Neither comes as a huge surprise. The 450Desmo EDS designs are near identical to the previewed version, which itself shares all its main chassis and body parts with the competition Desmo450 EDX enduro that’s already been launched as part of Ducati’s 2026 range. The street-legal EDS differs in the addition of a headlight – as already seen in Ducati’s preview – but the leaked images include additional roadgoing equipment that wasn’t included on Ducati’s show version of the bike. Mirrors, for example, are added, as well as a licence plate bracket at the rear, alongside front and rear turn signals. The pictures also show that the EDS’s final exhaust will differ from the existing MX and EDX models, with a longer header pipe, curving down much further than the off-road versions, and a catalytic converter mounted alongside the cylinder head where the off-road bikes have a simple expansion chamber. An O2 sensor is mounted on the new header pipe as part of the emissions equipment.
Other small tweaks include the addition of a heel guard behind the right-hand footpeg, protecting the rear brake cylinder, and new guards over the front sprocket and the chain on the left-hand side. A small instrument pack and an ignition key switch are tucked behind the front cowl.
The DesertX V2 was another bike previewed at EICMA last year, shown wrapped in dazzle camo graphics and shorn of a few final details, and the new design registrations give a look at the finished version including those missing parts.
The look is very similar to the existing DesertX, with a retro, Dakar-inspired shape, but it wraps around a new monocoque-style alloy chassis, aligned with the rest of Ducati’s latest V2 machines, and the same 890cc, liquid-cooled V-twin that’s already used in the latest Panigale, Streetfighter, Multistrada, Monster and Hypermotard V2 models, helping to simplify Ducati’s production by increasing the parts sharing between all those models. The new engine, which is more compact and lighter than the old 937cc Testastretta, ditches Ducati’s signature Desmodromic valve operation in favour of conventional valve springs, and adds variable intake valve timing to give a broader spread of performance.
Compared with the previewed version of the DesertX V2, the new design registrations again add parts like the mirrors, missing from the show model, as well as a street-legal exhaust in place of the Termignoni pipe that appeared on the preview.
A closer look also reveals a two-part seat instead of the one-piece design seen on the show version, plus a licence plate bracket, but otherwise confirms that the disguised prototype from EICMA was very close to production spec.
