By now, you may have seen Matt Spears' Ducati Panigale snowbike conversion before, but you probably haven't seen it tackle sand dunes like this. Once again, it's the lure of the forbidden, making this bike do things that the engineers back at Borgo Panigale probably never dreamed of. The question is, can it do those things anyway, if someone goes about it the right way?
Now, while it's clearly a mad undertaking, it's also equally clear that Spears has put some serious thought into making this effort succeed. Sure, he and his buddies are making wild videos for YouTube, but you aren't going to get very far doing that if you don't, well, get very far into the dunes.
While snow has the benefit of helping to keep your mechanical components cool, sand dunes don't. So, Matt has a big reservoir strapped to his back with a sprayer, all full of water and ready to cool down the track as it heats up under heavy use. He's also got a bunch of spare drive belts, tools, and other contingency plans in case things go wrong. Because it's all an epic test, and it's all about improving the build through what they learn from experience.
