[CrzyHusky]

CW shared their take on both bikes. This made me a bit more confident in the Norden as a street bike, I don't venture off well paved roads all that much.

2022 Ducati DesertX vs. 2022 Husqvarna Norden 901

Stylish, sophisticated, and capable, Ducati and Husqvarna’s first middleweight ADV bikes both aim for the same patch of land. Who gets there first?

www.cycleworld.com

 

[belgiancx]

The Dessert X (yes I meant to spell it that way) is NOT a true ADV bike. Main reason, air filter is under the Gas tank and you have to take to the dealer to have it checked for dust......

 

[Mooseb]

The Dessert X (yes I meant to spell it that way) is NOT a true ADV bike. Main reason, air filter is under the Gas tank and you have to take to the dealer to have it checked for dust......

I agree. The bike may be great but seriously the access to the filter is a crazy idea.

 

[Billsy]

We have an X in our group, owner loves it and if it wasn’t so expensive it may have been the bike that I chose over the Norden.
We will have a swop of bikes soon but bikes are new to us and we don’t want to break each others new bikes!

I’ll report back when we swop for the day.

 

[duckfoot]

The Dessert X (yes I meant to spell it that way) is NOT a true ADV bike. Main reason, air filter is under the Gas tank and you have to take to the dealer to have it checked for dust......

I love the Norden, but to say the Desert X is not a true ADV bike is not accurate. This guy took his new Desert X 13,000km across the Australian Outback, non-stop, which is some of the harshest offroad riding conditions in the world. Once he got back home he sold every other ADV bike he had. Here's a super in depth walk through with pictures and video of the whole trip, including doing the maintanence and air-filter. He makes an incredibly compelling case for the off-road worthiness of the bike:

 

[belgiancx]

1st off my comment was tongue-in-cheek. In the places I ride, the dust can be extreme, especially in a group. How hard is it to take off the gas tank to check the air filter? Can the air filter be checked or changed during a ride? I wouldn't want to go as long as he did by the looks of his used air filter, that can't be good for the bike restricting air flow like that. and that was an aftermarket air filter.

"the stock air filter had 5mm of slop" He really didn't address the issue of the placement of the air filter nor how easy or difficult it was to change it, he obviously didn't check it until his ride was done.. He grabbed a big pinch of dirt off the air filter, the aftermarket filter. How bad would have been if he had been riding in a group vs solo? Mabe the air filter would have completely clogged the intake?

The bike is intriguing for sure but as a mechanic at the Ducati dealership told me "It's their (Ducati) first go at adventure bikes, from what I've seen they didn't get some things right"

 

[duckfoot]

Thanks for posting , will watch.

No problem. I personally think the Norden has more going for it. I'm basically in a holding pattern to see what the new Expedition model is like-- my running list for 2023 is the 901, 901 Expedition, POSSIBLY the Desert X depending on what the out-the-door price is, and if I can figure out a more accurate "cost of ownership". I'm coming from an Africa Twin Adventure Sports and have realized a middleweight ADV bike is going to be a better match for me. I never got fully comfortable taking the ATAS off-road-- freaking top heavy.

 

[belgiancx]

Ya, I sold my ATAS, lost confidence in it off-road. Love the Norden for everything from the highway to technical off-road, even when riding with my buddies on their 690's I leave my TE630 at home mostly.

If the Expedition solves the two major "problems" with the base Norden (wind and suspension) then the Expedition would be a great option. And one has to figure in the cost of aftermarket add-ons, which will NOT be cheap nor mass-produced. Oh, and dealer costs of maintenance. And insurance. It's adding up just talking about it. But then again, it's a Duc, and I bet that thing would make the devil smile as it tears down the road or trail at full throttle.

 

[GazzaNZ]

I think most bikes are good. It is just what suits the owner. That said there are lessons that manufacturers learn from successive bikes in a certain field. Some manufacturers have been in the ADV game a longtime. There is a u-tube video about the Desert X entitled what we learnt from crashes. Two riders fell one hard and on softly. In both cases the leading edge of the metal fuel tank is what impacted the ground and got badly damaged. They said protection bars are vital on theses bikes. This and the need for low down torque on an off-road targeted adv are lessons I am sure they will incorporate IF the business case for the re-development costs stand up.