The Diavel is in the Ducati as the Italian maker cruises into a new segment
What Is It? The U.S. motorcycle market loves big, comfortable cruiser bikes. The XDiavel is the next generation of Ducati’s groundbreaking cruiser the Diavel. Eight percent of Ducati’s U.S. sales were Diavels since that bike’s launch in 2011. With this, the maker has the potential to double that, according to CEO Claudio Domenicali.
Ducati product manager Stefano Tarabusi said the X in the new XDiavel represents “… a cross between different worlds, a melting, a union, the best of both.” Those different worlds would be the cruiser and the sport bike. The cruiser bike segment in the U.S. is led by, heck, is stomped upon by, Harley-Davidson. But you wouldn’t expect Ducati to make a Harley. Ducati has generations of experience making sport bikes, but only one generation of cruisers. The new bike looks more trim, with an abbreviated seat and black-on-black-on-black paint job.
The engine is a 1262cc stroked version of the L-Twin Testastretta seen on the Multistrada, with a “top end that has been given a thorough overhaul” to provide better low-end torque demanded in the cruiser class. Peak torque is listed at a mighty 95 lb-ft at 5,000 rpm, with most of it available as low as 2,000 revs, according to Ducati. Horsepower peaks at 156 at 9,500 rpm.
The XDiavel has a 1262-cc L-Twin good for 156 hp and 95 lb ft of torque.
What’s it like to ride? After Ducati’s torque-happy press presentation, it would be easy for a rider to expect more of the stuff at lower rpm. We found that, for us, anyway, comfortable, useable torque didn’t come on until 4,000 rpm in city riding and not till 5,000 rpm out on the highway. There are three riding modes that adjust power, throttle response and electronic assist from the Bosch Inertial Measuring Unit: sport, touring and urban. Sport and touring offer the full 156 hp at the top of the tach. Urban sets peak power at 100. Sport and touring are supposed to have the most torque, but we were left wanting more on the low end in any of the modes. Other riders may feel differently about that. Torque is, in fact, up compared to the Diavel, particularly at that low end, but in our humble opinion, the curves still show Ducati’s glorious sport bike roots in a higher-revving feel. Likewise, gearing of the six-speed transmission felt taller than we’d have liked in first and second. For city — and even a lot of highway — riding, we spent a lot of time in second gear then maybe shifted up to third. Only rarely did we see fourth on a day of mountain road riding. On a flat highway stretch, we actually kicked it up to fifth and sixth just to see if those gears were really there. We were in a sensible caravan of press bikes all day, so maybe with no adult supervision we might have opened it up more. For those who do, there are all the electronic controls you could ask for, including eight levels of traction control and a new launch mode.
On curves, the bike felt a lot less like a cruiser and more like the sport bikes for which Ducati is rightfully famous. Handling was pretty crisp for a 545-pound motorcycle. The suspension is adjustable, but you need tools to do it. Hence, we would have liked to have tried out a softer setting just to see how truly cruiser-like the XDiavel could be, but we weren’t able. The seating position was cruiser-correct, with forward foot pegs. We kept trying to swing our boots back to center and out of the feet-forward, high-handlebar seating position, only to find there was nothing there. An optional center footpeg setup will arrive shortly as an option, but we weren’t able to try it. The existing forward-mounted pegs can be adjusted to your choice of three settings. The seat height is a very comfortable and cruiser-appropriate 27.9 inches, which opens up the bike to more riders with its ease of accommodation.
Another nifty accommodation is a keyless starter — just have the key in your pocket and the bike will start via buttons. However, you have to hold one button down for two seconds then hold another button down to make it start, which could be troublesome if you stall it on railroad tracks.
Diavel means “devil” in Italian.
Do I want it? We enjoyed our long day in the saddle. This is a very cool bike. Stylish, even. While we could see some complaining that the rear end looks chopped off, many observers liked the look.
What does it compete against? Nothing directly. It’s more of a proto-cruiser with sports bike DNA. It wants to break free of its cruiser confines and do a wheelie or scrape a knee (it will lean 40 degrees, Ducati says). Cross shoppers might look at the Star VMAX or maybe they wouldn’t. We imagine buyers are Ducati and other sport bike riders who have grown up or who want to travel longer distances. But for them, there are a zillion other more comfortable bikes.
This one felt like a sport bike recast as a cruiser and it winds up being a little of both.
