Cross-country motorcycles have been popping off over the past few years, both because off-road trail riding is more popular and because these bikes are diverse enough to go enduro riding or blast a few motos around your local MX track. Whether you're looking at the Yamaha's unstoppable YZ250X or Triumph's new TF 450-C, it's undeniable that there's a huge future in cross-country motorcycles, and now Ducati's here to take advantage with its new Desmo450 EDX.
The latest model from Ducati is built upon the championship-winning base of the Desmo450 MX, but has been developed to tackle enduro races. That means that it comes with all the extras you'd expect from an enduro bike, plus a few more that you'll only find on the EDX.
For starters, this model has a dedicated US gal (8.5 l) fuel tank that connects to a specific seat and set of shrouds, and a different wheelset, with an 18" rear wheel wrapped in Pirelli Scorpion XC Mid-Soft tires, which are there to help you gain traction over even the sketchiest of off-road terrain. The standard offering also comes with dedicated enduro suspension, a set of handguards, a skid plate, and a side stand.
Like the outgoing Desmo450 MX, the party piece of the EDX is its engine, which is equipped with Ducati's Desmodromic valve system, which keeps the power pumping high in the rev range, unlike other bikes in this category. The maximum power of the Desmo450 engine is 63.5 hp at 9,400 rpm, and the maximum torque delivered is 39.5 ft-lb at 7,500 rpm; the limiter intervention is set at 11,900 rpm.
Of course, you don't want to be whaling on a four-stroke 450 engine when enduro or cross-country riding, you want torque on demand. Ducati has given the EDX a unique power delivery curve, which provides the rider with 70% of the maximum torque at 4,200 rpm in the hopes of making the Desmo450 EDX less demanding and tiring than a traditional 450.
Housing the engine is the same 19.75-lb frame that you'd find in the Desmo450 MX. Unfortunately, Ducati's "ready-to-use weight" for the EDX is listed as 236.1 lbs, although that's without fuel, and I'm not quite sure how to use a 450 enduro bike without fuel, so here's hoping Ducati will start listing its bikes' actual ready-to-use weights in the future.
While the chassis hasn't been given more flex, like some manufacturers do when building an enduro bike based on an outgoing MX platform, there are plenty of changes to the suspension.
The closed-cartridge Showa fork is fully adjustable, featuring 49 mm inverted stems, 310 mm of travel, Kashima Coating treatment on the stanchions, new .47kg/mm (4.6 N/mm) springs, and specifically tuned damping. The shock absorber is fully adjustable and offers 301 mm of wheel travel. Here again, the spring rate of 4.49 kg/mm (44 N/mm) has been specifically tuned for Enduro riding, and the damping has been tuned to match the new spring.
The wheelset is also dedicated to the EDX and tailored to shine when riding enduro. It features Takasago Excel aluminum rims and Alpina spokes in 21” x 1.60” and 18” x 2.15” sizes.
More than any changes to the engine characteristics, suspension, or wheelset, what's most interesting about the EDX is the dedicated electronics.
This model features a dedicated traction control system that's supposed to offer benefits in terms of lap time, rider safety, and energy savings while riding. Unlike the systems currently available in the segment, the Ducati Traction Control (DTC) implemented on the Desmo450 EDX is a true closed-loop system that calibrates the power cut based on the actual rear wheel slippage and inertial measurements of the vehicle dynamics, which is supposed to provide a more linear intervention.
What's even more impressive about the system isn't when it intervenes, but rather when it doesn't. It's supposed to be able to more accurately identify moments in which it should not come into action, such as jumps, when it will automatically exclude itself. The rider can also intervene and momentarily disengage the traction control, of which there are four levels, by applying light pressure on the clutch lever.
The EDX comes with all the same trick parts that you'd expect on an all-new off-road Ducati, such as a quickshifter, launch control, and engine brake control, which, like DTC, can be configured on different levels of intervention and associated with two riding modes that riders can adapt to their needs and the characteristics of the track via the X-Link App.
When it comes to enduro riding, one of the most important factors to consider is maintenance, because that's where most of your time and money will be spent if you ride a lot. Ducati claims that the maintenance intervals have been strategically developed to reduce 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, which aren't groundbreaking numbers, but not bad at the same time.
The Desmo450 EDX is scheduled to arrive in North America in January of 2026 and is priced at $12,495 in the United States. But, like any Ducati, you can massively increase that price by adding a huge range of accessory parts, such as wheel hubs and triple clamps, as well as a complete exhaust system, Akrapovič titanium slip-on silencer, and Brembo Racing brake calipers.
