Ducati has just released another mercurial teaser video for... uhm... something. Probably a bike, but beyond that I'm pretty much baffled.
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What we do know is that it somehow involves the 24th letter of the alphabet –– X –– and it's black. And perhaps it's slow. The source of this information comes from two obtuse videos that have popped up recently.
Video 1
The first, entitled: "This is X," came out a few weeks ago. It features black and white images of seemingly incongruous things: here's a freeway, here's a ballet dancer, here's Corey Graves putting on a tuxedo shirt (though, probably not the real Corey Graves), etc. Over this, a man doing his best gravitas voice says a bunch of random things like: "The multiplication of potential. Maximal strength with minimal effort."
The video ends with him whispering, "Low-speed excitement."
The "low-speed" statement led some on the interweb to believe Ducati is teasing a 400cc version of its popular Scrambler sub-brand. I was inclined to disagree; in part because the dark, moody nature of this advertising doesn't fit with the bright, hip (and perhaps ironically cheesy) "Land of Joy" theme Scrambler uses elsewhere.
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Video 2
Now a second video, entitled: "This is Style," has appeared and I'd argue it supports my belief that this is something other than a scrambler. There are no words in this video, just a generic electronic music soundtrack and tauntingly small glimpses of whatever X is.
Upon Further Review
I've watched the video several times, stopping, going back, playing at slow speed, adjusting my monitor brightness, and holding my laptop at various angles. And I can say with relative assuredness that I don't really know what X is.
I'm going to stand by my assertion it's not a scrambler, though. To me, there's something cruiser-esque in the glimpses offered. Take a look at the screengrab below. That looks like a tank with a low-slung, cruiser-like seat. At another point in the video the seat appears to be of the solo variety.
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Is this the feet-forward, belt-driven Diavel that was spied back in August? Ducati has promised to reveal all on 16 November. And whatever it is, RideApart will be there in the guise of yours truly –– EICMA is shaping up to be big this year. In the the meantime, please offer your best guess as to what X is.
