David Knight milk run - Desmo450 EDS

Five-time World Enduro Champion David Knight MBE shows just what the Ducati Demso450 EDS is capable of, putting the enduro bike through its paces on the Isle of Man during an essential last-minute shopping trip.

“Throughout my whole career I've always preferred an enduro bike. Even when I raced in the US when all the Americans would be on motorcross bikes, I’d still chose an enduro bike over an MX, as I’m always faster on a bike with smoother power.

For a motorcross bike the Desmo450 MX is very smooth, reliable. It's really good. But then when I've got on the enduro bike, well the Desmo450 EDS was just perfect for me. Really easy to ride, and smoother than anything else I've probably ever ridden.

It almost feels like a smaller capacity bike, not with the power, but just because it's so nimble and light. I don’t know whether that’s to do with the Desmo system in the engine, maybe that makes the engine feel lighter. I don't know, but the bike feels quite light to throw around, and the power is incredibly good, strong, and so smooth. We'll see over the winter and early next year, but I'll probably do some hard enduros with it."

"To be fair, I always try and ride a bike standard for like at least a couple of weeks. The EDS is obviously a brand-new model, so I've just ridden it and I don't need to change anything on it and I'm almost scared to change stuff on it because I don't want to go the wrong way with it because it is so good. Honestly, it’s incredible. I’ve not even changed a click on the forks. It's as perfect as I've ever had out of a standard bike and that good there isn't really anything I would change.

A few people have asked me what I think of it, but I've said to a few mates now to just go and try one. Get on a test day or whatever, go and jump on one. When mates have ridden my one and they’re like, “Flippin ‘eck, that thing’s good!” 

They can't believe that all I've changed is a spring on the shock because I’m over 100 kilos, and the handlebars - which is a personal preference. And that's all I've done on all my bike. Which for me is that's incredible because I'm the chief messer, normally I’m always changing stuff! 

People just need to try it. There’s a test day at Marsh Powersports coming up, and I’m pretty sure that most people that ride the Desmo450 EDS will think the same as I do. I’m over the moon with it. I love the MX bike, but this is a massive step forward for me with what I do having this enduro bike as good as it is, straight out of the box.” 

“The Hailwood bike in the video was my late father’s. He got that when I was probably eight years old or something. That was his pride and joy. When he was ill before he died, he got the bike mechanically spot on. But at that time, it was getting a little bit tatty. So, after he passed away, we got a family friend, and we pulled it all apart and restored it all. 

It takes pride of place in my brother's little museum he's got with all his old classic enduro bikes. It hadn't been run for like four or five years. But we’d drained the carbs, and just put new hoses in and fresh fuel, and on the fourth kick it started!

I used to pinch it off my dad when I was 17 years old, and nip out and give it a run, give it a ride or whatever. So, it brought back nice memories, jumping on it again. It's something we need to do more because we always try and give it a run at TT week or something like that, or I’ll take out my brother and give it a run. I just need to get it out on nice days and give it a bit more of a run next year.”

“I had a load of fun doing the video, and the feeling I get from the people at Ducati is similar. A lot of them are a real people, by that I mean proper enthusiasts that love motorbikes. I think that anyone that watches the video will know that we had a right laugh doing it, and all the different places we took the enduro bike shows off just what the Desmo450 EDS can do.” 

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