REBEL 500 UPDATES
T
he learner market wasn’t ignored by Honda
this year, with the Honda’s contender
into the competitive LAMS cruiser
market –the CBX500 Rebel – gaining plenty
of much-needed modernising features.
Included in the update for 2020 for Honda’s
entry-level cruiser is an upgrade to a full suite
of LED lighting, a new gear position indicator
built, slipper clutch and more comfortable seat.
Less noticeably, Honda has also fitted a new
exhaust which helps ensure Euro5 compliance.
DUCATI SCRAMBLER HEADS
FOR ADVENTURE
D
ucati’s Scrambler family already has a
reasonably good contender into the adventure
class with the Desert Sled, but Ducati appears
to be following Moto Guzzi’s lead and is toying with
the idea of heritage-inspired adventure bikes.
While only a concept at this stage, and thus likely to
see plenty of changes before a full production model
is released, Ducati’s DesertX Concept packs plenty of
features into its 1990s Paris-Dakar inspired package.
Aesthetically, the DesertX Concept leans heavily
on the Cagiva Elefant 900 for inspiration for its
1990s Dakar aesthetic. The desert racer genes
come through strong with not only a fuel tank
up front, but also an auxiliary tank at the rear.
The DesertX doesn’t drop the ball in the technology
suite, however, with the bike featuring the first TFT
display for the Scrambler family along with a full
suite of LED lighting. That would lead us to believe
that the DesertX Concept would also receive a
similar suite of electronics as the Scrambler 1100.
While concrete details on the full specification
of the DesertX Concept aren’t yet available,
there wouldn’t appear to be much holding
Ducati back from putting the DesertX Concept
into production in the near future.
Ducati appears to be trying to tap into a
different market than the Desert Sled, with the
DesertX concept taking its powerplant from the
Scrambler 1100 rather than the base Scrambler
line. That means the bike features Ducati’s air-
cooled, 1079cc 2-valve L-twin. With power figures
of 86hp and 88Nm, the DesertX concept isn’t a
fire breathing powerhouse, but neither is the
already established Moto Guzzi competition.
KIWI RIDER 85