Fortnine on the DesertX

[jj le roux]

I would not be comfortable just trusting the filter for 16k km, especially in dusty conditions we ride in (my 990 new paper filter every 5000km and 890 pre filter changed every tank of petrol)

I wouldn’t trust any 790/890 filtration as well

 

[jj le roux]

Ha ha great video!
If I had more money and there was a good local dealer I reckon this would be the one

Speak to Braam at Ducati, they are busy building a strong dealer network(service angents) all over. Not sure about up north but in the cape there’s one in CT, George and I believe PE. They also have a agreement with SuperBike Solutions in Somerset West but they not a official service agent

 

[2StrokeDan]

I wouldn’t trust any 790/890 filtration as well

That's why they are so powerful, they burn an air-fuel-dust mixture.

 

[jj le roux]

Ag nee pass

1290 service close to R16000 I believe so you not far of. A friend had his valve clearance done on a 790 and that was almost R5000. I’m sure BMW won’t be far off on a lot of their services.

 

[pandaattack1]

My dad collected his Desert X yesterday. He is delighted so far. Crash protection etc to be fitted somewhere in Jan.

View attachment dad desert x.mp4

 

[Oilhead]

 

[jj le roux]

My dad collected his Desert X yesterday. He is delighted so far. Crash protection etc to be fitted somewhere in Jan.

View attachment 808091

Congratulations! Many happy miles

 

[Chrisl]

Mens kan nogals misdaad pleeg vir so outjie ja.

Of besluit jou kinders hoef nie te gaan swot nie hulle kan maar till kap by Checkers vir n lewe!!!

 

[BLK]

Fantastic bike by all accounts but whats the point of owning such a wonderful bike that you are not allowed to clean the air filter etc.Pointless buying the bike.

 

[Striggs]

Looking forward to it!

Ok here goes with a few pics…
Actually, before I start, a quick question regarding the 15000km air filter service conundrum… if I just ride and ride and ride until the 15k service comes up and it is found that the air filter has not done it’s job and there is an internal issue, who is responsible for that? I am following the manual and have not touched the part.

 

[Striggs]

Fantastic bike by all accounts but whats the point of owning such a wonderful bike that you are not allowed to clean the air filter etc.Pointless buying the bike.

Sooooo if you’re not planning on doing much dirt? Still pointless? I don’t buy bikes so that I can service them, way to inept for that. I guess time will tell and then we can all be experts Having said that, I have ordered the Unifilter from Aus and will get the service agents to fit that when the 1000km service comes up..if they will…

 

[Striggs]

@Noneking …. Here we go.. sorry for the false start..

decided to do a little return trip from East London to Mazeppa Bay, around 350km of mixed roads, tar, good gravel, bad gravel, minor rural roads and the occasional tweespoor. With all the rain we’ve had, I wasn’t sure what to expect..

Myself, @chico on a 2018 690, Jonno on his 1200 GSA set off early and headed out on N6, then onto a district farm road to meet up with Hein on his 1200GSA.
came across a weird looking roadsign..

Headed off down a track called kudu-kloof and decended down “Sweat-Hill” named by the mountain bikers.. it was wet in places but nothing to daunting.



We then crossed the N2 and headed to Kei Mouth on the R349 to catch the ferry/pont and head off to Mazzepa Bay. This piece of tar is in great condition and gave me a chance to open up a little and test her manners in the curves. I noted on my first outing that the buffeting at speeds above 95kmh was annoying to say the least. I changed helmets from the Arai TourX4 to my Shoei Hornet and the difference was vast. I would say a 80% improvement. We reached the pont and discovered that we would be last trip for the morning! What luck…. With spring tides and a silted river, it was too shallow for them to operate.. the ferry would only resume at around 1pm, perfect timing for us.


Made our way to Mazeppa… mix of pothole riddled tar, detours and then finally good old Transkei roads. Dust galore! Lots of ruts, washaways, potholes, rocks etc.
ar some point Hein and I decided it was race on.. know anyone that knows Mr Kumm knows that this bugger can ride a bike.. we just kept on pushing and pushing and a couple( literally twice) of times I bottom out the rear shock.. stopped and 3 clicks later on the manual preload and no issues after that. The front never bottom out.
I have never felt this comfortable and confident on a new bike, never… the 790 and 890 Rally’s certainly felt like they could take the knocks and bigger hits better, but I was definitely faster through the corners on the Desert X. The standing position is so neutral and balanced, I never felt like I was holding on for dear life or doing push-ups to keep myself centred. I will add that the brakes are top notch. The rear likes to lock up quickly, might need to set the lever down a little. I rode the bike in the pre-set enduro mode. Quick and easy, on the fly. This mode runs on 80 of the 110hp available.. never felt like I needed more on those roads. In fact, if it had more, it probably would have been more difficult to control and would result in fatigue setting in earlier.

Arrived at Mazeppa Bay for a quick lunch



Headed back on a slightly different route to “mix” things up a little…

How bad can it be???



came across a low level bridge that had been washed away after all the rain they have had. Excavations had begun and we managed to get across unscathed. The X made easy work of the steepish bank on the other side. It just has so much traction… I thank the 80hp once again.. this is exactly what makes the T7 so manageable and more importantly, predictable! Yamaha have got that right for sure.
head off and made our way back to the ferry.


got to the ferry and found the fella to be merry….



hit the blacktop and headed straight home, it was getting late.. switched to tour mode and off I went. Plenty power get past trucks and taxi’s and solid enough on the tar to be confident into the bends. I must give credit to the Scorpion STR’s that come fitted.. they are not what I would normally use, I always seem to end up with a TKC80 or something similar. These Pirelli’s were awesome on this trip, just not sure how they would fare in thick mud/sand. I ran at 2bar front and back.
Got back home and thought, I could just fill up and go do that again… definitely not what I felt when I did the same route on the KTM’s.. I would say that the adrenaline probably flowed more on the KTM’s, but that also added to the fatigue setting in sooner.
comments from Hein (multiple GS Challenge winner) and Chico (Quest winner)… they have never seen me more comfortable and confident on a bike.. and we have ridden together for many many years. That in itself summed it up for me.
The X is just a perfect fit for me. I understand how all the servicing issues can put people off, but damn it is a good all round performer. It makes me feel good and I suppose that’s what important after all. I was a bit hesitant to start adding crash bars etc as the cost of those is bordering on silly, but after my experience and real world test, I will be spending money I don’t have shortly

hope this helps make all you monkeys confused…

 

[Noneking]

@Noneking …. Here we go.. sorry for the false start..

decided to do a little return trip from East London to Mazeppa Bay, around 350km of mixed roads, tar, good gravel, bad gravel, minor rural roads and the occasional tweespoor. With all the rain we’ve had, I wasn’t sure what to expect..

Myself, @chico on a 2018 690, Jonno on his 1200 GSA set off early and headed out on N6, then onto a district farm road to meet up with Hein on his 1200GSA.
came across a weird looking roadsign.. View attachment 808225

Headed off down a track called kudu-kloof and decended down “Sweat-Hill” named by the mountain bikers.. it was wet in places but nothing to daunting.

View attachment 808226

We then crossed the N2 and headed to Kei Mouth on the R349 to catch the ferry/pont and head off to Mazzepa Bay. This piece of tar is in great condition and gave me a chance to open up a little and test her manners in the curves. I noted on my first outing that the buffeting at speeds above 95kmh was annoying to say the least. I changed helmets from the Arai TourX4 to my Shoei Hornet and the difference was vast. I would say a 80% improvement. We reached the pont and discovered that we would be last trip for the morning! What luck…. With spring tides and a silted river, it was too shallow for them to operate.. the ferry would only resume at around 1pm, perfect timing for us.
View attachment 808227

Made our way to Mazeppa… mix of pothole riddled tar, detours and then finally good old Transkei roads. Dust galore! Lots of ruts, washaways, potholes, rocks etc.
ar some point Hein and I decided it was race on.. know anyone that knows Mr Kumm knows that this bugger can ride a bike.. we just kept on pushing and pushing and a couple( literally twice) of times I bottom out the rear shock.. stopped and 3 clicks later on the manual preload and no issues after that. The front never bottom out.
I have never felt this comfortable and confident on a new bike, never… the 790 and 890 Rally’s certainly felt like they could take the knocks and bigger hits better, but I was definitely faster through the corners on the Desert X. The standing position is so neutral and balanced, I never felt like I was holding on for dear life or doing push-ups to keep myself centred. I will add that the brakes are top notch. The rear likes to lock up quickly, might need to set the lever down a little. I rode the bike in the pre-set enduro mode. Quick and easy, on the fly. This mode runs on 80 of the 110hp available.. never felt like I needed more on those roads. In fact, if it had more, it probably would have been more difficult to control and would result in fatigue setting in earlier.

Arrived at Mazeppa Bay for a quick lunch

View attachment 808231

Headed back on a slightly different route to “mix” things up a little…

How bad can it be???

View attachment 808232

came across a low level bridge that had been washed away after all the rain they have had. Excavations had begun and we managed to get across unscathed. The X made easy work of the steepish bank on the other side. It just has so much traction… I thank the 80hp once again.. this is exactly what makes the T7 so manageable and more importantly, predictable! Yamaha have got that right for sure.
head off and made our way back to the ferry.
View attachment 808234 View attachment 808235 View attachment 808236

got to the ferry and found the fella to be merry….

View attachment 808237 View attachment 808238 View attachment 808239

hit the blacktop and headed straight home, it was getting late.. switched to tour mode and off I went. Plenty power get past trucks and taxi’s and solid enough on the tar to be confident into the bends. I must give credit to the Scorpion STR’s that come fitted.. they are not what I would normally use, I always seem to end up with a TKC80 or something similar. These Pirelli’s were awesome on this trip, just not sure how they would fare in thick mud/sand. I ran at 2bar front and back.
Got back home and thought, I could just fill up and go do that again… definitely not what I felt when I did the same route on the KTM’s.. I would say that the adrenaline probably flowed more on the KTM’s, but that also added to the fatigue setting in sooner.
comments from Hein (multiple GS Challenge winner) and Chico (Quest winner)… they have never seen me more comfortable and confident on a bike.. and we have ridden together for many many years. That in itself summed it up for me.
The X is just a perfect fit for me. I understand how all the servicing issues can put people off, but damn it is a good all round performer. It makes me feel good and I suppose that’s what important after all. I was a bit hesitant to start adding crash bars etc as the cost of those is bordering on silly, but after my experience and real world test, I will be spending money I don’t have shortly

hope this helps make all you monkeys confused…

Thank you! This makes the itch even worse….

 

[Striggs]

Thank you! This makes the itch even worse….

sorry... well sort of..

 

[Striggs]

I have a technical question for you guys in the know.. why does this Dx have such massive hubs? they are literally double the size of any of the other adv bike hubs I have seen/owned. They look like belong on a G-Wagon..

 

[sidetrack]

15000km on one air filter off road is just stupid, that thing will be so clogged up I’d be surprised it gets any air in. This is Africa not Europe. Very nice looking bike though, the modern 990

 

[BLK]

Be interesting to hear follow up reports on how Ducati look after you service wise.Wishing you many happy miles on a good looking machine.

 

[Striggs]

15000km on one air filter off road is just stupid, that thing will be so clogged up I’d be surprised it gets any air in. This is Africa not Europe. Very nice looking bike though, the modern 990

agreed, it is very dof... somewhere lies an answer, just waiting for it to show its head.

 

[Chopper]

agreed, it is very dof... somewhere lies an answer, just waiting for it to show its head.

The Scrambler handbook offers the disclaimer "unless used more frequently in dusty or wet environment". Opened mine up after 2000 km of karoo gravel - there was some minor dust that I could blow out with a compressor but nothing really noticeable and definitely nowhere near dirty. The intake seems to be cleverly positioned under the tank where there's minimal dust ingress. Also, I don't ride up my mate's ass, leave a dust gap if I'm not riding solo. Figure if there's dust building on the visor, I'm too close. Not sure where the X breathes but it sure looks like an awesome piece of kit. Congrats on the acquisition, many happy miles to you Sir

 

[pandaattack1]

agreed, it is very dof... somewhere lies an answer, just waiting for it to show its head.

Will be keeping as eye open as well... My dad's only concern is the filter. Either way, he has the bike now and he says it makes him feel good. All that matters in the end.