The first, dubbed ‘DesertX’ is based on the Scrambler 1100 and takes its styling cues from 1980s rallye-raid bikes. In fact, there’s no mistaking the fact that its inspiration is the Lucky Strike sponsored Cagiva Elefant Dakar bikes. While Cagiva might be a dormant company now, owned by rival MV Agusta, back then it was part of the Ducat family and the Elefant used Ducati’s air-cooled 900cc engine – a direct ancestor of the Scrambler 1100’s motor.
The second model, based on the Scrambler 800, is simply called Motard and, as the name suggests, it takes a supermoto-inspired angle to its styling. It’s much closer to a stock production machine than the DesertX; the number board nose and beak-like front mudguard are the main departures, along with motocross-style bars with hand guards.
Both machines stand a pretty decent chance of morphing into production models in the future, particularly the DesertX as Ducati is currently missing an entrant in the growing Dakar-inspired adventure bike market.
