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- Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled – motorbike magazine, adventure motorcycle publication
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Looks like a show pony.Goes like a thoroughbred.
Power delivery is predictable and controlled, but still offers plenty of excitement for those who want to cut loose.
There’s nothing new in retro-looking bikes. There’s a whole lot of Japanese Harley lookalikes running around Australia’s roads, all with ‘the look’ of bikes from the golden era of V-twin cruisers but sporting up-to-date technology and equipment that makes them an absolute blast to own and ride.
Lately the scrambler idea has caught on with the dualsport brigade. The bikes all look like late-1960s British road bikes converted for off-road use, but, like the cruisers, have modern, high-tech equipment. Most of the bike brands have an example on offer, and we admit we thought, like the cruisers, they were probably just bikes put together from existing components and wrapped in plastic panels. Imagine our surprise when the Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled not only rolled straight out of our daydreams in the way it looked, but offered the kind of performance that left us somewhere just on the credible side of unbelievable.
A very late-1960’s, early-1970’s look.
Ducati to the core
Naturally the Desert Sled’s a V-twin. It’s a Ducati after all.
The 90-degree, oil- and air-cooled, Desmodromic V-twin is an 803cc, fuel-injected powerplant with a claimed 75 horsepower. The grunt drives through a six-speed box and chain via a cable-actuated, wet, multiplate clutch, and service intervals are a healthy 12,000km.
The rear wheel’s a 17-incher, the front a 19-inch, and a reinforced frame and longer swingarm differentiate the Desert Sled from the other Ducati Scramblers.
As far as instrumentation goes, there’s only a single-dial LCD in a housing that looks like a speedo from the era,but offers a fair chunk of information from the usual trip meters and odometer through the strength of backlighting and a few other bits and pieces, the most essential being the switching of the ABS. There’s no traction control and a surprising – but very welcome – lack of other electronic rider aids.
It’s hard to consider a bike like this one and not take the appearance into account, and we felt Ducati, as always,had done a superb job when it came to the look of the bike. The cross-braced handlebars, the way the shock reservoir and muffler box are so cleverly hidden, the round headlight and even the shape of the seat and the way it meets the tank are truly beautiful. The bike absolutely captures the era of the British scrambler with real style and true admiration for the period.
That’s what we reckon anyway.
A cunningly hidden muffler box explains how the engine note is kept under control.
Highlights
We were all set for the Desert Sled to feel like a compromise. We thought Ducati would try and cram as much leading-edge technology as possible into the retro look and cut whatever corners were necessary to meet the marketing department’s approval.
When we first sat on the bike it was like tumbling back through time to our younger days. The look and feel of the cockpit, the big, round speedo, the ’bars with the crossbrace pad and the sparse, gimmick-free switchblocks took us straight to our happy place, and touching the start button had the surprisingly quiet twin burbling promises of a deeply spiritual motorcycling experience.
As we eased out the clutch, twisted the single-cable throttle and felt the wind cleanse the thoughts of work and responsibilities from beneath our open-faced helmet, we were transported back to when riding was something personal and meaningful. When that feeling of freedom was the reason we spent so much time daydreaming about bikes and where they could take us.
There’s a very emotional side to the Desert Sled for us, we admit it, and we think it’s fantastic.
Cold reality
Moving away from the fanciful side of things for a while, the performance of the Desert Sled, judged by any standard, is exceptional.
The motor won’t frighten anyone.
By today’s standards 75 horsepower is no big deal, but as we’ve been trying to get through to people for a very long time, horsepower isn’t the be all and end all of performance. The V-twin configuration and Ducati’s tuning mean the power is delivered in a very manageable, mid-rangey way that will allow the overwhelming majority of riders to get the maximum enjoyment from the powerplant and probably the best performance from themselves.
The engine’s lively enough to get the heart racing, but it’s happiest in around the middle of the rev range, say between about 4000rpm and 6000rpm. The ‘Desmodromic’ configuration means there’s no valve springs, so in theory the motor will rev like a mad thing, but it doesn’t enjoy being worked that way. It responds best when a rider carries corner speed and works to keep it on the boil – as opposed to using a point-and-shoot technique in and out of corners.
The motor is an excellent match for the other performance factors of the Desert Sled, and those other factors include some real beauties.
The shorty twin pipes look the business, but they’re surprisingly quiet.
The big, round speedo and the ’bars with the cross-brace pad took us straight to our happy place.
Hard lines
The suspension and braking on this bike are exceptional. For us, they were high points in a bike that didn’t have any real lows.
Braking is awesome. There’s great feel front and rear and plenty of strength.
We put the front to some very hard use, and even though it’s a single disc we couldn’t feel any slewing to the disc side. Ducati has engineered a very solid front end in there somehow. Normally we’d be calling for a fork brace, but not on this bike.
Now, the suspension.
We loved it. The front upside-downers are fully adjustable and the rear monoshock has preload and rebound adjustment. The action is excellent, but the feel is hard. There’s a real swing among adventure riders on big bikes to tune their suspension for comfort rather than performance, and those people will probably turn their noses up at the Desert Sled. But the performance is really, really good. On or off road, the bike can be sent full tilt into corners or rough going with complete confidence, and we did that a lot, so it was awesome for us.
The 19-inch front wheel meant turning was sharp and it felt great to see an erosion mound and not spend the seconds before impact wondering how much speed we needed to wash off to avoid a savage bottoming out. On the crappy outback roads the way to get the best from the bike was to push hard and let the suspension do its work.
That meant at sightseeing speeds things were a little rough, but it’s the kind of compromise we wish we could make more often.
Each to his own, but suspension and braking on the Desert Sled got big, big ticks of approval from Adventure Rider Magazine.
An SAE plug and lead connected to the battery as a standard fitting. Nice.
Thank you, Ducati.
Not so good
What about the negatives? The only things we could say against this bike really relate to the intended use and some specifics for individuals.
If your plan is to ride the big, long straights of the Nullarbor Plain or the Silver City Highway, you’re not going to be able to explore the best features of the Desert Sled.
There’s a screen available, but handguards, luggage, nav and communication aids, cruise control and all the other perks that make that kind of riding so pleasurable are all missing from the stock bike, and to ride a bike like this one in a straight line on the bitumen is ludicrous. It’d be like buying a Ferrari to commute in capital-city traffic.
Taller riders might find the seating position a little cramped. Our 175cm test rider felt the ’pegs were just a whisker too close to the seat on long road stretches, but the clearance under the sump and 200mm suspension travel made that compromise worthwhile. Standing up was certainly comfortable enough, especially when the rubber footpeg inserts are removed – no tools needed. Just reach down and pop them out. Or in. Whatever.
Speaking of long stretches, the 13.5-litre tank will be marginal for adventure riders.
The fuel light came on for us at 200km of mixed riding, and doing the maths suggests a range of 250km. That’s going to be a little uncomfortably tight for some sections of the Wide Brown Land.
The menu is simple and straightforward enough, but, as with any new bike, remembering which buttons to push in which order took a little time. The Ducati guys turned off the ABS to show us how it was done, and it took us until the end of our time with bike to work out how to turn it back on again. We were rapt the ABS doesn’t reset to the ‘on’ position every time the ignition’s turned on, but then felt a little foolish when we couldn’t work out how to make it happen when we wanted it.
The ABS works fine, by the way. The only options are on or off, and it applies to front and rear, there’s no in betweens.
Ducati’s Scrambler Desert Sled doesn’t just look the part. It delivers with strong performance.
Nice touches
While we were carried away by the Ducati’s performance there were some really nice details that impressed us.The first was a good toolkit.
It’s held under the seat with a rubber band, and includes a pair of plastic tweezers to remove fuses. Anyone who’s struggled with those small motorcycle fuses will know why we’re so impressed. The rest is a small set of the usual tools needed for standard adjustments, but Ducati includes a tool for adjusting shock preload. It must be a common inclusion on Ducatis because we’ve seen it before, but we loved the thought.
We also loved the USB power outlet under the seat and the SAE plug and lead attached to the battery. They’re two fittings we routinely add to every bike these days, and that Ducati has already put them in place shows a great regard for its customers, we reckon.
Love it
The Desert Sled handles like a rat on rails and brakes and turns with precision. It pounds over rough ground with real authority. It doesn’t feel heavy or unwieldy and offers performance good riders will use to make sports-bike riders feel foolish without giving up too much to more focussed off-road dualsporters.
Best of all, the look and feel truthfully captures the atmosphere and emotion of the bikes and attitudes of the late-1960s and early 1970s motorcycling era.
It’s a daydream made reality.
Ducati Scrambler Desert Sled
Web: www.ducati.com.au
Engine: L-twin, Desmodromic distribution, two-valves per cylinder, aircooled
Capacity: 803cc
Bore x stroke: 88mm x 66mm
Compression Ratio: 11:1
Power: 55kW @ 8250RPM
Torque: 68NM @ 7750RPM
Fuel injection: Electronic fuel injection, 50mm throttle body
Exhaust: Stainless-steel muffler with catalytic converter and two lambda proves, aluminium tail pipes
Standard: Euro 4
Consumption and emissions: 5.1 litres per 100km –CO2 119gm/km
Transmission: Six-speed
Clutch: APTC, wet, multiplate with mechanical control
Final drive: Chain. 15-tooth front sprocket. 46-tooth rear sprocket
Frame: Tubular steel trellis
Front suspension: 46mm, fully adjustable, USD forks. 200mm travel
Front wheel: Spoked, 19-inch aluminium wheel
Rear suspension: Kayaba rear shock, preload and rebound adjustable. Aluminium, double-sided swingarm. 200mm travel
Rear wheel: Spoked aluminium, 17-inch wheel
Front brake: 330mm disc, radial, four-piston, floating calliper with ABS as standard equipment
Rear brake: 245mm disc, single-piston floating calliper with ABS as stan-dard equipment
Dashboard: LCD
Wheelbase: 1505mm
Fuel capacity: 13.5 litres
Dry weight: 191kg
Wet weight: 207kg
Seat height: 860mm
Maximum height (at brake reservoir): 1213mm
Maximum width (mirrors): 940mm
Maximum length: 2200mm
Number of seats: Dual seat
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