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All right, we admit it. This was an April Fool’s Joke!—Ed.
Good news, Ducatista! Instead of the usual wait for the fall show circuit, to get our first look at new machines from Bologna, we see an all-new adventure bike in the first week of April, months ahead of schedule! This spy shot above shows a new take on the DesertX, with a hydrogen-powered engine instead of the current gasoline-powered L-twin.
Reaching out to company insiders, we were able to get a bit more information on the machine. As it turns out, this bike has been an ongoing project at the Italian factory for some time now, code-named “Project Hindenburg.” The point of the hydrogen engine is two-fold. First, the company wanted to meet stringent new emissions rules, and current battery technology is too limiting for customers who want to ride far into the wilderness, away from fast-charging stations.
The second benefit is one you might not have expected. Our source says the idea of packing the hydrogen aboard is to reduce weight.
“The old adage of racing is that nothing is lighter than a hole,” said our source, “but a hole is full of air. Hydrogen is lighter than air, so in effect, we’ve lightened the bike by converting to this new power source.”
This arrangement is not without its challenges. With gasoline, riders fill up their bike at the pumps and make it heavier; that added weight disappears as the tank empties. With hydrogen on-board, the bike will instead gain weight as the tank empties, which will create difficulties, particularly for racers.
That’s right—we said “racers.” Our source was very sure that this new hydrogen-powered bike will race in Dakar’s alt-fuel class next year, and also possibly challenge the Africa Eco Race. That sounds pretty ambitious to us, though; it’s April 1 today, and that leaves barely more than a half-year to prepare for the 2025 rally raid season.
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