First look: Ducati Desmo 450 Enduro breaks cover

Ducati reveals the Desmo 450 Enduro at EICMA show – anticipated off-road model from the Italian manufacturer breaks cover with 8.5 litre tank, 18-inch rear wheel and six-speed gearbox.

The sprawling mass of the EICMA International Motorcycle Exhibition in Milan this week contains a few shining gems if you’re into off-road and enduro. 

Perhaps the brightest is the new Ducati Desmo 450 EDS (Enduro) model. It’s a model we have expected for a while now, officially confirmed to Enduro21 when we tested the Desmo 450 motocross bike earlier in 2025.

Judging by the interested parties taking a look while Enduro21 was on the Ducati show stand (KTM and Honda to name two), it is a bike of interest to mre than just us riders.

One problem Ducati had told us about at the time was making the larger enduro fuel tank fit and still retain the shape and lines of the Desmo 450, not ruin the aesthetic.

As we can see they made it fit and we’re happy to see it is a see-through plastic tank in there too. The limited specifications we have for this pre-production bike does contain the fuel capacity which is 8.5 litre or 2.2 US gallons.

Other details for this bike which will be sold as a fully homologated machine, include the 449.6cc four-stroke motor, 49mm Showa forks with Kashima coating and with both front and rear suspension fully adjustable as you would expect.

There’s no fan in there, surprisingly although we’d await a full and finalised production bike before passing judgement on that – we’d say a big 450 will need one though.

Like we say, specs are slim at the moment but we understand it is a six-speed gearbox for the enduro model but we also expect there to be an XC model (see video below) which will be more closely based on the MX with the five-speed box and simply a bigger tank and 18-inch rear wheel.

The different-shaped exhaust header pipe (compared to the MX version) is one standout and obvious feature of the EDS enduro and EDX (cross country version). 

Looking around the “Preview” bike on the Ducati stand in Milan we can see it has the same high quality you will find on any Ducati. The premium quality of the machine, the quality of components and the feel of the Desmo was a standout feature of the MX model we tested.

Another standout feature was the motor which was something else in terms of power and, with the multitude of electronic options at your left thumb (judging by the instrument cluster it should have the same engine map and traction control settings or very similar to the Desmo 450 MX).

XC model coming too?

For now that’s all we’ve got ahead of a planned summer 2026 launch of this bike. When we get more, we’ll publish it.

Photo Credit: Ducati + Enduro21