Dirt Bikes

2024 Ducati Desmo450 MX Prototype Motocross Bike First Look

Italian manufacturer shows prototype version of its Desmo450 MX.

January 23, 2024

In October 2023, Ducati announced its plan to enter the motocross and off-road market with a range of motorcycles that will be available for purchase in the next few years. Now, the Italian manufacturer’s dirt bike racing division, Ducati Corse Off-Road, has unveiled two prototypes of the Desmo450 MX (the model name of its first motocross bike) that will be piloted by Antonio Cairoli and Alessandro Lupino in the 2024 Italian Motocross Championship.

Ducati lifted the veil on a prototype version of its 450cc motocross bike at the Campioni in Pista event, and declared the model name will be Desmo450 MX.Ducati

Historically, Ducati is known for its steel-trellis frames, but the company continues to show it is agnostic about best design for performance in a category. So while many Ducatis retain steel-trellis frames (as on the DesertX), plenty of its sportbikes use aluminum frames. We can clearly see Ducati went with a twin-spar aluminum frame for the Desmo450 MX, which isn’t an uncommon choice in the full-size dirt bike realm as Japanese manufacturers and Triumph employ aluminum frames on their respective motocross models as well.

Antonio Cairoli (left) and Alessandro Lupino (right) will compete aboard the Desmo450 MX in the 2024 Italian Motocross Championship to develop the bike in race conditions before it goes into production in the second half of 2025.Ducati

Ducati declares its goal for the first season of racing the prototype dirt bikes is mainly to acquire data and information to contribute to development of the Desmo450 MX, which is scheduled to go into production in the second half of 2025. Cairoli and Lupino’s competition debut aboard the machines will be at Circuito Internazionale Città di Mantova on March 16 and 17, 2024.