Neale Bayly takes the Ducati Diavel out for a ride.
With my feet tucked up in a semi-race position, arms stretched out in front of me like a Streetfighter, and the Spanish road dividers beside me traveling backwards at over 120 mph, it feels more like being in the latest Tron movie than out on a test ride. Futuristic electronic gauges feed me information, as we carve effortlessly through the Andalucía countryside. Big fat tires, loud, raucous engines and a pack of leather-clad riders around me fuel the excitement, as we blast along the interstate heading for the slower, more scenic mountain roads that will take us towards the town of Rhonda. Riding on the all-new Ducati Diavel is like nothing I have ever experienced in over a decade of testing motorcycles around the world, and my brain is in stimulation overload.
It’s a naked standard. It’s a custom cruiser. It’s a sporting muscle bike. No amount of shuffling and juggling with existing motorcycle terminology is going to help me adequately pin a definition on the latest Ducati. That the world Diavel is an Italian derivative for Devil is about the only thing that makes any sense, as I peel through a triple-digit sweeper and let loose all 162 horsepower again to keep pace with my group.
For the launch of their radical new Diavel, Ducati picked the town of Malaga in the south of Spain. As a central spot for the world’s press to converge, it affords beautiful views of the Mediterranean ocean with challenging climbs up in the mountains that frame out the coast in this area. With fast, open interstate sections, slower crawls through town, and a couple of hours bend-swinging as we made our way for coffee in the mountains, Ducati gave us a chance to test the Diavel in a wide variety of different conditions.
The Ducati launch wasn’t just essentially dealing with new graphics, styling, or minor upgrades like a lot of intros lately, and the press brief was enough to make my head spin. Jet-lagged and on some weird time schedule, and sitting in a warm, dark room is normally the kiss of death for staying alert and attentive. Not so this time, as the Ducati designers, engineers, and marketing staff told their stories. The new Diavel is so totally new and fresh, and jam-packed with such a plethora of advanced electronics, it actually ended up being a fairly long affair as we learned all the intimate details. From anti-lock brakes, to multiple-position traction control, different ride modes, keyless ignition and all the custom parts, the connection to the Tron movie actually started before I even rode the bike.
While the majority of the espresso-bar conversations about the new Diavel are undoubtedly going to focus on the styling, the most impressive part of the beast to me was the engine. Using what is called the, Testastretta 11 referring to the degrees of crankshaft rotation during valve overlap it’s also a lot more civilized than Ducati’s own Streetfighter: a machine that is darn right unfriendly on an open throttle unless you are on a deserted road. This doesn’t make the Diavel less exciting, as the big desmodromic twin is still kicking out 162 Italian stallions, it’s just able to mind its manners at low speeds before you get too rowdy with the throttle. Now get that throttle pinned and you had better be holding on, as the Diavel can apparently accelerate from 0-60mph in 2.6 second. I’m told it feels very similar to the new Multistrada, but I’ve not ridden it yet so can’t comment.
I have no reason to doubt this acceleration claim, as yanking open the throttle pins you back in the seat and demands your full attention. Using Ducati’s Ride-by-Wire (RbW) system this acceleration is immediate and flawless and it really starts to build once you get past 6,000 rpm. There is a choice of three different maps, or riding modes, and if you don’t want this full-power version, you can step down from this sport level to a touring mode. This will still give you the full 162 horsepower but with a more progressive delivery. Finally, there is a city mode that limits the Diavel to 100 horsepower, and after letting loose all the horses in the full-power mode, trying it out just didn’t feel like fun so I never used it again.
