It is no secret that Ducati has been developing motocross bikes, and even racing prototypes, but today Ducati announced the availability of a production Desmo450 MX. The bike will be in U.S. dealerships this July priced $11,495.
You can take a look at the Ducati website here, and the full press release follows, along with several photos:
- The bike developed by Tony Cairoli and Alessandro Lupino in racing competition is finally available
- The Desmo450 MX is the only bike in its category with a Desmodromic engine
- The Desmo450 MX is a fast and easy-to-ride bike for professionals and amateurs alike thanks to its engine power delivery and aluminium frame
- The Desmo450 MX is equipped with a completely new traction control system, a unique in the Motocross world
- The Ducati Desmo450 MX will arrive in selected European dealerships starting from June 2025, reaching North America in July and extending next to the rest of the world
Borgo Panigale (Bologna, Italy), 3 April 2025 – A historic day for the Borgo Panigale manufacturer: Ducati presents the Desmo450 MX, the first motocross bike in its history. A bike that is born following the philosophy that has always guided Ducati: experimenting and testing solutions in racing competition to then make them available on production bikes, drawing in this case also from the experience gained by Ducati Corse in MotoGP and Superbike.
Thanks to this approach, and to a careful analysis of the segment, competitors and FIM and AMA technical regulations, Ducati has been able to create a light and reliable bike, with a high-performance Desmodromic distribution engine and electronic equipment that is the benchmark in the category. The Desmo450 MX is thus capable of amplifying the riding skills of riders, whether professional or amateur, offering the confidence that allows them to push their limits forward. A bike that, thanks to the power delivery of the engine, chassis and innovative electronics, is capable of offering high performance with reduced physical effort.
The Desmo450 MX is the first model in a complete range of specialist off-road bikes, designed to take the Borgo Panigale company into new worlds, speak to new motorcyclists and therefore grow the Ducatisti community. To prepare to welcome all future knobby-wheeled Ducatisti into the family, Ducati has worked by training a selection of its dealers to ensure the maximum level of professionalism and expertise in a segment that is completely new to the Borgo Panigale company.
“Over the past 18 months many people have asked me why Ducati decided to enter the world of professional off-road racing. The answer is simple: Ducati is a healthy company that generates resources, therefore has the opportunity to grow by opening up to a new segment of enthusiasts,” said Claudio Domenicali, CEO of Ducati Motor Holding. “We looked around, searching for the important uniqueness of our corporate culture and finding the one that I believe characterises Ducati like perhaps no other company: the closeness between the world of racing and the world of production motorbikes. And discovering, at the same time, that we have an incredible resource within us in the form of so many off-road enthusiasts in the various departments. All this has allowed us to present the Desmo450 MX today: an easy, high-performance bike, for amateurs and professionals alike, which we will constantly develop through sporting activity at the highest levels, supporting it thanks to a sales network that speaks the language of motocross enthusiasts and truly understands all their needs.”
The Desmo450 MX is designed around the single-cylinder 449.6 cc engine with Desmodromic distribution and represents a unicum in the specialist off-road panorama, offering the possibility of exploiting every ratio to the fullest, at the start and between the bends, thanks to a particularly favourable delivery, which combines torque at low and medium revs with reference over-rev capabilities.
The lightweight aluminium frame has been designed to have as few welds as possible, to the benefit of the solidity, lightness and rigidity of the structure. These choices proved to be immediately successful in the race with Alessandro Lupino, who after winning the first race of the MX1 Italian Championship became national champion. The races served to define the bike that will go into production in mid-April, and will be the best test bench for the continued development of the Desmo450 MX and all the models that will become part of the range.
The Desmo450 MX also represents a first in the segment in terms of electronics. It is in fact the first motocross bike in the world equipped with a Traction Control system capable of precisely defining the actual rear wheel slippage (patent pending). This system identifies the riding phases in which it should not be activated so as not to limit the performance of the bike. Finally, the Desmo450 MX Ducati Traction Control can be deactivated instantly by the rider in situations where it is necessary to make use of all the engine performance, to be automatically reactivated shortly after.
The bike, which is already available to order from selected dealers, will arrive in Europe starting in June, and subsequently in the United States and the rest of the world.
Single-cylinder engine with Desmodromic distribution control The design of the Desmo450 MX started from the engine, which is equipped with Desmodromic distribution, the system used on all Ducati racing bikes, including MotoGP. This feature offers several advantages to the Desmo450 MX, first of all the ability to run the engine at very high revs, offering the greater extension that increases the chances of starting faster than rivals at the gate and thus winning the coveted Holeshot award that goes to the rider who comes out of the first corner first. An award that the two official riders Seewer and Guadagnini won in their debut race in the Motocross World Championship, in Argentina, using a production engine equipped only with the complete Akrapovič exhaust, the same one that Ducati makes available to every enthusiast through its Performance catalogue.
The Desmo450 MX also offers a very strong torque curve at low revs, ensuring an abundance of power out of corners, with a linear delivery and unprecedented acceleration for the category. This unique power delivery curve, which provides the rider with 70% of the maximum torque already at 4,200 rpm, makes the Desmo450 MX less demanding and tiring than a traditional 450, to the full advantage of track performance and riding enjoyment. This was made possible thanks to the Desmodromic distribution, which by reducing the energy needed to open the valves allows for more aggressive lift diagrams even when choosing large diameters for the valves themselves.
Thanks to bore and stroke measurements of 96 x 62.1 mm, it was in fact possible to use 40 mm intake valves and 33 mm exhaust valves. The former are made of titanium, while the latter are made of steel, with a hollow stem filled with sodium to improve heat exchange, thus increasing reliability and consistency of performance.
Particular attention was paid to the cooling system, featuring rhomboid-shaped radiators. These represent a new feature for the segment and allow for a 6.5% higher radiating surface compared to a traditionally shaped solution, improving engine cooling while keeping the bike compact, thus offering the rider a high level of freedom of movement towards the front of the bike. Alessandro Lupino and Tony Cairoli competed in 2024 with the standard radiators, capable of guaranteeing high reliability even in the most extreme and prohibitive conditions such as in the race at Ponte a Egola, which was dominated by the two Ducati riders, and interrupted due to excessive mud on the track that forced most of the bikes to stop.
The maximum power of the Desmo450 engine is 63.5 hp at 9,400 rpm, and the maximum torque delivered is 53.5 Nm at 7,500 rpm. The limiter intervention is set at 11,900 rpm, a new benchmark for the category.
Chassis
The chassis of the Desmo450 MX is based on an aluminium perimeter frame. This layout was chosen to obtain a lightweight structure, which allows the engine to have intake and exhaust ducts as straight as possible, in order to guarantee the best performance. The technicians of the Borgo Panigale company have managed to create a structure weighing 8.96 kg characterized by the least possible number of welds, thus hitting the desired targets of lightness, reliability and rigidity. The frame contributes significantly to containing the weight of the bike, in a ready-to-use configuration but without fuel, at 104.8 kg.
The frame of the Desmo450 MX is made up of only 11 pieces, about half compared to the competition, and is composed of cast, forged and extruded elements. The front part, which connects the steering column with the upper shock absorber attachment, is represented by a single cast element. This construction technology, which Ducati also uses on Superbike frames, allows for total control of the thicknesses, thus using only the amount of material needed at each point and creating complex shapes without compromising weight or strength.
The extremely compact frame design was also designed to ensure the best ergonomics for the rider and at the same time quick and easy maintenance in the workshop or on the track, where operations such as disassembling the shock absorber can be carried out quickly.
The latter is mounted in a central position and works on a cast aluminium swingarm and a forged aluminium linkage. The progressivity of the link was defined during the races run in the 2024 season
The suspension and brakes of the Desmo450 MX were the subject of a targeted decision. Ducati relied on the long experience in racing competition of Showa, which was also chosen to facilitate setup for amateurs by virtue of the spring, and not air-based technical layout for the elastic component. The fork is fully adjustable, with 49 mm inverted stems, 310 mm travel and Kashima Coating treatment on the stanchions. The shock absorber is fully adjustable, the wheel travel is 301 mm. To better develop the setup, Alessandro Lupino raced the entire first part of the Italian Championship with standard suspension, confirming the validity of the choice of the equipment.
As for the braking system, Ducati has also chosen in this area to collaborate with its long-standing partner Brembo on the development, also in Motocross, of benchmark braking systems as has been the case for many years on road bikes. There is a two-piston floating caliper at the front, and a single-piston caliper at the rear. Galfer brake discs are 260 mm at the front and 240 mm at the rear.
Electronics
The experience in MotoGP and Superbike, where Ducati is a technological point of reference, allowed the Borgo Panigale technicians to introduce a real traction control system on the Desmo450 MX, one that is capable of offering benefits in terms of lap time, rider safety and energy saving while riding. Unlike the systems currently available in the segment, the Ducati Traction Control (DTC) implemented on the Desmo450 MX calibrates the power cut based on the actual rear wheel slippage and inertial measurements of the vehicle dynamics, thus guaranteeing an effective, prompt and linear intervention. This system is able to identify moments in which it should not come into action, such as jumps, automatically excluding itself. Furthermore, if the rider identifies points on the track in which he wants to make use of all the engine performance, he can deactivate the system with a light pressure on the clutch lever. The control will automatically return to operation a few moments later. Ducati Traction Control offers four different levels of intervention.
The electronic equipment also includes Launch Control and Engine Brake Control, which, like DTC, can be configured on different levels of intervention and associated with two Riding Modes that the rider can adapt to his needs and the characteristics of the track via the X-Link App. The gearbox is equipped with a Quickshifter in engagement.
Maintenance intervals
The maintenance intervals have been defined with the aim of reducing the related costs for the customer. Piston replacement is set at 45 hours, together with the valve clearance check while the total engine overhaul is set at 90 hours, benchmark values for the segment.
Accessories
Thanks to the Ducati Performance catalogue, it is possible to create a replica of the Ducati Desmo450 MX ridden in the MXGP World Championship by Jeremy Seewer and Mattia Guadagnini. All the details of the 450 MX Factory, in fact, are available in the Ducati Performance catalogue with the sole exception of the official Showa suspension, which cannot be purchased b privateer riders.
The special parts offered include Factory components machined from solid such as wheel hubs, triple clamps, but also a complete exhaust or Akrapovič titanium slip-on silencer and Brembo Racing brake calipers. The list of available accessories will be progressively expanded.
Finally, to complete the Factory look, the Ducati Performance catalogue offers an entire technical collection created in collaboration with Drudi Performance. The offer consists of a complete Alpinestars jersey/pants/gloves/boots set, Arai helmet, wind vest, softshell and Spidi rain jacket.
Availability
The Desmo450 MX will arrive at selected European dealerships from June 2025, with distribution extending to North America in July, followed by the rest of the world.
Desmo450 MX
Colours
- Ducati Red
Main standard features
- Desmo450 single-cylinder engine, 449.6 cc
- Maximum power of 63.5 hp at 9,400 rpm, Maximum torque of 53.5 Nm at 7,500 rpm
- Twin-spar Aluminium frame
- 7.2-litre fuel tank
- Showa 49 mm upside-down forks, fully adjustable, 310 mm travel and Kashima Coating
- on the fork legs
- Showa fully adjustable monoshock, 301 mm wheel travel
- Cast aluminium swingarm
- Brembo braking system with single Galfer discs, 260 mm (front) and 240 mm (rear)
- Pirelli Scorpion MX32 Mid-Soft tyres, 80/100-21” and 110/90-19”
- DID chain final transmission
- Takasago Excel aluminium rims with Alpina spokes, 21” x 1.60” and 19” x 2.15”
- 2 Power Modes, 2 Riding Modes
- Riding Modes configurable via the accessory X-Link app
- New generation electronics package with Ducati Traction Control (DTC); Power Launch;
- Quick Shift, Engine Brake Control.
- Piston replacement every 45 hours
- Valve clearance check every 45 hours
Are we supposed to care that it has a desmodronic camshaft, or do they realize people will avoid the bike because of it? Who was asking for a desmo? Even Ducati has been moving away from desmo valvetrain ever since Honda perfected valve springs in the late 1960s.
Post
Some of the motocross guys are terribly fashion conscious. They’ll pay real money for any gadget or gizmo they think will give them an advantage or make them look cool. So yeah, there are guys who will buy this bike because the desmo valve train will theoretically make more or broader power. If the bike actually does make more or broader power as measured by some magazine they will sell quite a few of them. You have to remember that these are four stroke guys. They are already crazy noise making maintenance slaves. Don’t try to sane wash them. They are not normal people.
Post
An often overlooked advantage to desmo is less power used at low and moderate rpms, which is never used by racer type people. Still very stylish though, especially in the quick dirt.
Post
They’re claiming about 5-8 more HP for this than I see magazines publishing for other 450 mx bikes, but I don’t know if the magazines are publishing rear wheel or crankshaft hp.
Post
Nice machine. Do tariffs apply to the list price?
Post
By the spec sheet it looks like a competitive machine. In the US it will be exciting to see a Ducati (and Triumph) team going head-to-head. The down side is that two additional factory teams means the elimination (or the not making the main) of two privateer teams.
Post
Or another way to look at it is, 4 more factory rides for up and coming privateers to compete for.
Post
It’s a pure racing bike for peeps who could have left earlier and been on time.
PS – Everybody will want to beat the crap out of their $ 12,000 bike to be first,
so be the first to buy one, cause these will sell quick like a bunny.
Post
There are those everywhere. But the larger dirt bike buying public will be slow to adopt a new bike. Particularly a demo bike. The four stroke dirt bikes have become maintenance nightmares. Dosmo is just a new thing to learn. But they are two “shims” per valve instead of one. You don’t have to pull the camshaft, like most of the current crop of four stroke dirt bikes, but desmo is still a bit more fussy to deal with. Though I suppose the average four stroke guy is a born maintenance slave now who will hardly notice. Spare me those dinosaurs. I just pour oil in my gas and let the ‘thals worry about that ‘bage.
Post
“The four stroke dirt bikes have become maintenance nightmares”
If this were true, 2-strokes would be a lot more popular than they are. The truth is, 80-90%% of dirt bike riders can’t ride a 4T hard enough to prematurely wear anything in the engine out.
Post
Two strokes are popular. You just don’t need to buy them as often. The advertising money is spent promoting four strokes and a lot of riders find the four strokes easier to ride motocross on. Not so much in off road events which are mostly ridden on two strokes. Many of them decades old.
On the maintenance front the four strokes require a lot of attention. The valves don’t need checking. They need adjustment. Once they get a little too far out they become very difficult to start. Once you run out of shims in your kit that fit you need new valves or your engine is going to eat one and you are out thousands of dollars. Adjusting the valves means pulling the camshaft out to do so. It’s really a pain.
I had tons of ice race parties at the tracks that I would plow out on the lake. There was always a four stroke guy whose bike wouldn’t start when cold because he needed to adjust his valves. They would often use the plow quad to get the thing running. You always knew what that guy was going to be doing before he came back the next weekend. A few weeks later the guy would be using the quad again. Some guys just wait until the darn thing won’t start. I didn’t mind one less four stroke. You could barely hear the two strokes from inside the house. But you always knew exactly how many four strokes were out on the track. They really should have left the darn things in the dust bin of history rather than using a rule book to drag them out of the grave. They just aren’t proper race bikes.
Post
Right… So much less popular that Yamaha has been selling the same bike unchanged since 2003?
For every 4T in need of a valve adjustment, there’s dozens of 2T’s in sheds with siezed cylinders or blown rings that the owner just can’t bring themselves to fix. Again.
Motorcycles require maintenance. Race bikes require more. If 4T’s were what you believe them to be, they’d have died out in the market decades ago because 2T’s have been available all this time.
You’re just comfortable with the devil you know, Mick.
I Love this !
4 strokes-2 strokes, high wing-low wing, pistols-revolvers, peanut m&ms-plain m&ms, 2 wheel drive-4 wheel drive, flat seats-curleycue seats, full face-porridge bowl, Devil dogs-Angel food. Oh The Humanity ! !
Have a nice day.
Anyway.
I wonder if Ducati or Triumph is going to get a better sales bump in the first couple of years. Triumph went with the 250 first, a bike that the majority of people will be faster on. Ducati is releasing the 450 first, a bike that the majority of people think they’re faster on.
After decades of always having at least one four stroke, I washed my hands of them entirely some time around 2008. Street bikes only.
Post
Depends who can operate at the lowest prices. With the tariff announcements there’s a chance that new dirt bikes (and lots of motorcycles) become unavailable in the US.
Post