If Ducati was going to build a motocross bike, it was never going to do things by halves. This is a company that has spent almost 100 years proving it can out-think and out-engineer the competition on asphalt. So when it finally turned its attention to motocross, we were excited to see what they could come up with. We headed to Italy last year to test the Desmo450 MX and were impressed. It was incredibly rideable slotted right into the 450 motocross equation. Then, a year later, they gave it a dress up. Ducati built the Desmo450 MX Factory, a race-ready weapon developed alongside Ducati’s MXGP program and loaded with the sort of components most riders spend thousands of dollars adding after they buy a bike.
The Desmo450 MX Factory is equipped with an Akrapovič titanium exhaust, fancy Showa suspension with Kashima and TiO coatings, billet triple clamps, Ducati Corse livery and a lighter overall package.
It was Ducati’s statement to the motocross world—a company famous for building some of the fastest motorcycles on the planet was now taking on the best dirt bikes in the business with its most focused, race-ready machine yet.
Shared Features
The Factory shares many components as the Desmo 450MX standard. It has a 449.6cc single-cylinder Desmodromic engine with a claimed 63.5hp and 53.5Nm of torque, which is cradled by an aluminium twin-spar frame. Braking comes courtesy of Galfer discs matched to Brembo calipers, with a 260mm front rotor and 240mm rear. The Desmo rolls on 21/19” Takasago Excel rims fitted with Pirelli Scorpion MX32 Mid-Soft tyres. It’s claimed weight without fuel is 104kg and a carries a 7.2-litre fuel tank. This is paired with a comprehensive electronics package that includes selectable riding modes, traction control, engine brake control, launch control and Wi-Fi connectivity through Ducati’s X-Link app for engine and electronics adjustment.
Factory vs Standard
What differs from the standard Desmo 450MX to the Desmo 450MX Factory, is you are getting a full titanium Akropavic exhaust with dedicated engine mapping. The exhaust is saving you 1.7kg in weight while changing the power characteristics with some increased horsepower. Upgraded billet ergal aluminium triple clamps over the standard cast clamps. The standard comes with fully adjustable Showa suspension, with a 49mm upside-down fork and a Showa shock on the rear. The Factory gets the same bump sticks up front, but is upgraded and complemented with Dark Kashima coated outer forks with TiO coatings to the inner fork tubes, as does the shock shaft with internal settings to suit. Finish it off with the Ducati Corse holeshot device, front disc guard, skid plate and also a high spec O-ring chain. The Desmo 450MX Factory is ready to go racing!
Rider Triangle / Ergos
Initial feel sitting on the Factory for the first time felt somewhat familiar and comfortable. For those who aren’t aware of the term “rider triangle”, this is the feeling when sitting on the motorcycle where the position of the handlebars feel like they are situated, bars to seat, seat to pegs and pegs to bars. All this felt quite familiar to the many bikes I have owned and rode over the years. There is a little bit of a ride out from the pit area to the tracks at Queensland Moto Park, so it gave me a good amount of time to get comfortable and familiar with the bike before getting onto the track. It felt like a nice neutral position, with a flat seat, although I did notice even though the rider triangle itself felt familiar, it all felt slightly taller. The Handlebars felt relatively flat with a nice bend and sweep, while the stock grips felt nice, which is a nice change as it usually isn’t the case from most manufacturers out of the box.
So what about the high revving Desmo engine?
The Desmo 450MX Factory comes equipped with the full titanium Akrapovič exhaust, with its own specific mapping to suit. This saves weight and adds a little more horsepower while changing the power characteristics. There are two map options to choose from. Green option (map 1) and the red option (map 2), which you can alternate between on the fly while riding via the map switch on the handlebars. The Desmo also comes with quickshift that you can turn on and off, and I found the bike shifted a lot cleaner with it on, so it stayed on all day. I started off riding in map 1, it was very smooth off the bottom with a very linear hit, which then continued to pull right through the rev range with that same linear feel.
This bike loves to rev and I found myself holding second gear in sections on the track that I wouldn’t usually on other 450s. On hardpack slippery surfaces, this smooth power delivery helped with getting power to the ground, helping with a lot more forward drive rather than lighting up the rear wheel under acceleration. While riding these conditions, I decided to turn on traction control to see how it would affect power delivery. It was noticeable right as you rolled on the throttle, and you could feel the traction control doing its job. For me though, even in these types of conditions, it was a little bit too lethargic.
Having said that, on my everyday bikes I am one to control the power with the throttle, rather than rely on traction control. For somebody who’s more of a weekend warrior, maybe not bike-fit and struggles with arm pump, it definitely makes the power delivery a lot easier to manage. I moved onto a track called MX2, which was recently reversed in direction and back to being ripped super deep. There had been some consistent rain the weeks leading up to this test, so the track was actually quite technical, deep long ruts, braking bumps within ruts and many soft spots. I thought being in map 1 would feel a little sluggish to get in and out of the softer corners, although I actually found it helped the bike stay quite settled and less reactive, as I navigated my way through some well run in lines from some seasoned pros punching out motos.
Switch it into map 2 and instantly you can feel the Akrapovič change with a few blips of the throttle. A very throaty and deep tone compared to map 1, and straight away you can notice the difference right off the bottom. It had a lot more response and amazing pull all the way through to the top end. It’s very torquey, and has a nice power curve with no surprises. I’m naturally a third-gear lugger, and I was a little worried about coming into today riding the Desmo, but I didn’t have to change my riding style at all. Second gear worked really well, being able to hold gears where you would usually have to click up, and I noticed it caused minimal chassis binding like you would usually find revving a 450 that high in the rpm. I thought that was really impressive. Even going back to my natural riding style, carrying third gear with a little bit of clutch, I could get the bike back up into the meat of the power with no problem out of the tighter turns. For me, map 2 would be the preferred map due to it being more responsive, being able to carry third gear in corners and also still retaining that connectivity to the rear wheel when you get on the gas hard out of corners.
How’s it ride?
For suspension settings, I used the Ducati Corse app. They have some base settings in there where you plug in your weight, rider ability and the type of terrain you’re riding, and it gives you a recommended suspension setting to start with. For reference the forks were pulled 2mm through the clamps, with rider sag at 102mm and I’m 87kg with gear. For the conditions on the day, I was really comfortable and I had no problems with bottoming or being too stiff. Small braking bumps and acceleration chop was soaked up nicely and the base setting worked.
For me, the chassis felt on the firmer side. On a fast track, although not rough, I found it was stable with zero twitchiness. On and off acceleration, I had no problem with pitching and the bike stayed quite flat. Putting the Desmo through tight technical ruts was effortless and even on the really dry, slick corners, I had no real trust issues with the front-end wanting to push on flat, off cambered corners with nothing to bank off. The bike feels light and easy to move around the track, but I also feel like this bike is quite a neutral handling motorcycle, so whether you are a front-end steering rider or steer with the rear, you won’t have any trouble.
With the Brembo/Galfer combo, stopping power doesn’t get much better along with a nice modulation feel front and rear when hard on the anchors.
The bits
The Desmo 450mx Factory comes with a holeshot device. We locked that in and played around with the different launch control options multiple times. I haven’t done starts in a while, so they were a little bit rusty, but I got there in the end. I found a nice straight and done a few repetitions of each setting to see if I could feel much difference. Starts with no launch control activated on green (Map 1) then with the green map (map 1) followed by the launch control on with the red map (Map 2).
Across the three settings, that’s probably something you’re going to have to try for yourself and see what works best. But for me, the green map (map 1) with launch control was the money. You could really feel the connectivity and engagement, which was nice. I wouldn’t say I was wide open off the start, but I was definitely using more throttle than I normally would without the system.
Something I didn’t like?
Honestly I am nitpicking here, but if there is two things I would like to see improve is one, the seatcover. I found the seatcover slippery. This had me gripping a little harder than usual when getting on the gas out of corners and causing my arms to pump up. An aftermarket gripper seat cover would sort that no problem. The other, I found that when adjusting the clutch lever position to suit my short stubby fingers, when I would put the bike into gear, I noticed a bit of creeping. This would go away with the lever wound out a little further, although I had a little overreach for the clutch which was the compromise. If your fingers are longer than mine, I cant see this being an issue.
Ducati has introduced a predictive maintenance system for the Ducati Desmo450 MX that adjusts service intervals based on how hard the bike is actually ridden, rather than using fixed maintenance schedules. The system uses software to monitor engine load, riding conditions and terrain in real time. It calculates engine wear through a stress index and updates a wear counter to determine when servicing is needed. Riders who use the bike less aggressively may be able to extend service intervals, while harder or race-level use will shorten them.
Track Conditions
There was a variety of tracks and track conditions to put the Desmo 450mx Factory through its paces. From fast, dry and marbly, without much moisture, hardpark with nothing to bank off and minimal traction, to another track that was ripped with deep ruts and lots of soft spots.
SPECIFICATIONS
ENGINE
Type | Desmo450, single-cylinder, liquid-cooled DOHC with four Desmodromic valves, hydraulic timing chain tensioner and semi-dry sump
Capacity | 449.6cc
Bore x Stroke | 96.0 x 62.1mm
Compression Ratio | 13.5:1
Fuel System | Keihin injector, Mikuni 44mm throttle body
Exhaust | Full titanium Akrapovič exhaust system with resonator
Transmission | 5-speed with up-only quickshifter
Clutch | Hydraulic multi-plate
Chassis & Suspension
Frame | Aluminium welded frame with cast, forged and extruded sections
Front Suspension | Fully adjustable 49mm Showa USD fork with Kashima-coated outer tubes, TiO-coated and super-finished inner tubes, 310mm travel
Rear Suspension | Fully adjustable Showa monoshock with Kashima-coated body, TiO-coated and super-finished piston rod, 301mm travel
Brakes and tyres
Front Wheel | Takasago Excel, Pirelli Scorpion MX32 Mid-Soft 80/100-21
Rear Wheel | Takasago Excel, Pirelli Scorpion MX32 Mid-Soft 110/90-19
Front Brake | 260mm Galfer disc, Brembo twin-piston floating caliper
Rear Brake | 240mm Galfer disc, Brembo single-piston floating caliper
DIMENSIONS
Wet Weight (No Fuel) | 104kg
Seat Height | 970mm
Wheelbase | 1494mm
Fuel Capacity | 7.2L
RRP & WARRANTY
RRP: $19,125
Warranty | 3 months or 20 hours of use
www.ducati.com/au/en
