Constantine Phaulkon
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 13, 2011
Ducati Diavel cruiser reviewed. Catch the complete review including photos at the link below. The article states that this category of "cruiser" is only 10 years old, which surprised me (I guess I consider any touring motorcycle a cruiser), and that BMW had a cruiser model called the R1200C with the implication that it's discontinued, showing me these models come and go.
Note the lightweight of the Ducati (456# = 207 kg), the acceleration of 0-60 mph (zero to 100 kph) in less than three seconds, the high price (cost of a small car) and high horsepower/torque: "162 hp at 9,500 rpm; 94 pound-feet at 8,000 rpm" as well as "slipper clutch" which I took to mean it provides more tactile feedback somehow when shifting.
Not a beginner's bike that's for sure, more of a middle-aged man's dream.
CP
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... ore_row2_2
RUMBLE SEAT
SEPTEMBER 24, 2011
Italy's Multicultural Motorcycle
From the nation of lean, chattery bikes comes a big, American-style power cruiser—that's still a Ducati
By DAN NEIL
Andrew Yeadon for The Wall Street Journal
2011 Ducati Diavel Carbon Edition
All technology is idiomatic. A German Leica camera has a feel and operation utterly different than a Japanese-designed Canon's, for instance. An LG front-loading washer doesn't beep or buzz when the cycle is over; it plays a cheerful musical phrase to announce the gifting of clean clothes, which is so Korean. And nothing makes a hole in the ground quite so roundly and fragrantly as an American Hellfire missile.
From the nation of lean, chattery bikes comes the Diavel, a big, American-style power cruiser--that's still every inch a Ducati.
Dan Neil has a review on The News Hub.
Italian motorcycles? We get them, don't we? They chatter at idle, rev to the moon, weigh nothing, cost mega-lira and are ridden by skinny leather-clad knee-grinding monkeys with a death wish.
Ah, but that's so 2010. Meet the Ducati Diavel, a "power cruiser" built by the Italian company famed for its scarlet sport bikes. As a rough analogue to a Harley-Davidson V-Rod, the Diavel is more than surprising; it's a radical exercise in multiculturalism.
Photos: An Italian Cruiser
View Slideshow
Andrew Yeadon for The Wall Street Journal
Perhaps you're wondering what, exactly, constitutes a power cruiser, also known by the vaguely homoerotic term "muscle cruiser." Essentially it's a huge and powerful motorcycle with a sinister technological mien—the Ducati looks like it was designed by the Borg—that is exceptionally comfortable and doesn't handle very well. This class of bike includes the V-Rod, the Suzuki Boulevard M109R, the Star VMax, the Victory Hammer S and a couple of other huge honking bikes I wouldn't be caught dead on.
Now, to be clear, the Japanese-brand bruiser cruisers came first, and Harley answered with the V-Rod in 2001. BMW also had a splendid power cruiser called the R1200C for a while. But all of these bikes targeted the American road and rider, which is to say, the American attitude. And thus the category's gun-slinging stance, big pipes, straight-line power and general lack of subtlety.
It's one thing when Yamaha builds a power cruiser. I mean, they also make pianos, right? It's another thing when a brand so focused and self-defined, so Italian, as Ducati lumbers into the cruiser segment. The purists' outrage is exactly what Porsche heard when it decided to build the Cayenne SUV.
My take? Deal with it, tifosi. The Diavel is a fantastic bike.
The Diavel hits a lot of the power cruiser notes: a stretched wheelbase (62.6 inches, a whopping 6.3 inches longer than the wheelbase of the Ducati 1198), a 28-degree rake, a 30.3-inch seat height, a 41-degree lean angle, a hilariously fat 8-inch-wide rear tire. The Diavel design isn't quite as ludicrous as some of its classmates'—if the Star VMax were a men's cologne it would be called "Sex Panther"—but it's still pretty bonkers: Bleak, malevolent, a suicide machine like Kevorkian couldn't have imagined.
And it's also recognizably, still, a Ducati. The trademark trellis frame peeks out from underneath the bunched biceps of a gas tank, amid the sculptural shrouds and radiator faring. The single-sided swing-arm drives a gorgeous Marchesini forged wheel wrapped in a specially engineered Pirelli tire, a 240/45 ZR17 Diablo Rosso II—specially engineered because tires this fat make bikes fretful in corners.
On both wheels, Brembo calipers grip cross-drilled discs, abetted by an antilock braking system. A two-way-adjustable rear shock by Sachs comes with a preload dial. The heat-anodized downpipes wriggle out from under the frame to unite on the right side in a pair of massive alloy cylinders, the "silencers." Yeah, right.
2011 Ducati Diavel Carbon Edition
Price as tested: $19,995|Powertrain: Liquid-cooled fuel-injected 1,198-cc V-twin engine with desmodromic valvetrain; six-speed manual transmission with hydraulically actuated wet-plate clutch and slipper clutch
Horsepower/torque: 162 hp at 9,500 rpm; 94 pound-feet at 8,000 rpm
Length/weight: 88.9 inches/456 pounds (dry)
Wheelbase: 62.2 inches
0-60 mph: <3 seconds
Seat height: 30.3 inches
Speaking of noise, this engine—the same unit as in the 1198 Superbike and Multistrada 1200—snickers with Ducati's characteristic desmodromic valvetrain noise. The so-called Testastretta engine (90-degree twin, water-cooled, four-valve, throttle-by-wire) has been mildly retuned to produce more torque across a lower and wider rev band. Peak torque is 94 pound-feet at 8,000 rpm, and yet, in aural character, the Ducati has little of the molten flatulence of a Harley V-twin. This is still a pricey Italian sound: stressed, refined, musically mechanical, and loud.
Off Duty Italy Special
Italy's Multicultural Motorcycle
Horsepower is respectable: 162 hp at 9,600 rpm. On my test ride through the Mojave there were times when I wished for a little more throttle twist, another 500 rpm or so, so pleasant is the sound of the Testastretta being caned. The six-speed gearbox with hydraulically actuated multiplate wet clutch ascends through the gears beautifully and a slipper-clutch provides assurance as you ratchet down coming into a corner. Stick a pitchfork in the Diavel and it will accelerate from zero to 60 in under 3 seconds, and it will also pull the front wheel up with a well-goosed throttle. But what this bike does absolutely best is course serenely through the air of the high desert at 80 mph. Even the cacti turn around to look.
In one important respect, the Diavel flouts power-cruiser convention. It's lightweight, and not by a little but a lot. The dry weight of 456 pounds for the Carbon Edition, which I tested, is about 200 pounds lighter than some competitors and nearly 300 pounds lighter than the Suzuki. That lack of mass translates into a long, rakish bike that can actually manage corners pretty well. The turn-in is affirmative and precise but not too abrupt. You can heft the bike from right-side rail to left and not feel like you're getting behind in the twisties.
The other great thing about the Diavel is the riding position, which is upright and natural, with the footpegs directly under the seat and not stuck out forward. The seat height is low and comfortable.
Here's where it lands for me: I'm too old and too sane for a Ducati superbike. The tank-humping riding position is massively uncomfortable. The throttle response and braking of the race-bred bikes is just too frantic for me. At the same time, I don't want to ride some Rose Bowl parade float. The Diavel gene-splices the lean, rider-first nature of Ducati's hot-snot bikes with a more relaxed, livable bike configuration. And the whole thing is carved in strokes of Machine Age lightning.
An Italian cruiser. Who'd a thunk it?
Note the lightweight of the Ducati (456# = 207 kg), the acceleration of 0-60 mph (zero to 100 kph) in less than three seconds, the high price (cost of a small car) and high horsepower/torque: "162 hp at 9,500 rpm; 94 pound-feet at 8,000 rpm" as well as "slipper clutch" which I took to mean it provides more tactile feedback somehow when shifting.
Not a beginner's bike that's for sure, more of a middle-aged man's dream.
CP
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... ore_row2_2
RUMBLE SEAT
SEPTEMBER 24, 2011
Italy's Multicultural Motorcycle
From the nation of lean, chattery bikes comes a big, American-style power cruiser—that's still a Ducati
By DAN NEIL
Andrew Yeadon for The Wall Street Journal
2011 Ducati Diavel Carbon Edition
All technology is idiomatic. A German Leica camera has a feel and operation utterly different than a Japanese-designed Canon's, for instance. An LG front-loading washer doesn't beep or buzz when the cycle is over; it plays a cheerful musical phrase to announce the gifting of clean clothes, which is so Korean. And nothing makes a hole in the ground quite so roundly and fragrantly as an American Hellfire missile.
From the nation of lean, chattery bikes comes the Diavel, a big, American-style power cruiser--that's still every inch a Ducati.
Dan Neil has a review on The News Hub.
Italian motorcycles? We get them, don't we? They chatter at idle, rev to the moon, weigh nothing, cost mega-lira and are ridden by skinny leather-clad knee-grinding monkeys with a death wish.
Ah, but that's so 2010. Meet the Ducati Diavel, a "power cruiser" built by the Italian company famed for its scarlet sport bikes. As a rough analogue to a Harley-Davidson V-Rod, the Diavel is more than surprising; it's a radical exercise in multiculturalism.
Photos: An Italian Cruiser
View Slideshow
Andrew Yeadon for The Wall Street Journal
Perhaps you're wondering what, exactly, constitutes a power cruiser, also known by the vaguely homoerotic term "muscle cruiser." Essentially it's a huge and powerful motorcycle with a sinister technological mien—the Ducati looks like it was designed by the Borg—that is exceptionally comfortable and doesn't handle very well. This class of bike includes the V-Rod, the Suzuki Boulevard M109R, the Star VMax, the Victory Hammer S and a couple of other huge honking bikes I wouldn't be caught dead on.
Now, to be clear, the Japanese-brand bruiser cruisers came first, and Harley answered with the V-Rod in 2001. BMW also had a splendid power cruiser called the R1200C for a while. But all of these bikes targeted the American road and rider, which is to say, the American attitude. And thus the category's gun-slinging stance, big pipes, straight-line power and general lack of subtlety.
It's one thing when Yamaha builds a power cruiser. I mean, they also make pianos, right? It's another thing when a brand so focused and self-defined, so Italian, as Ducati lumbers into the cruiser segment. The purists' outrage is exactly what Porsche heard when it decided to build the Cayenne SUV.
My take? Deal with it, tifosi. The Diavel is a fantastic bike.
The Diavel hits a lot of the power cruiser notes: a stretched wheelbase (62.6 inches, a whopping 6.3 inches longer than the wheelbase of the Ducati 1198), a 28-degree rake, a 30.3-inch seat height, a 41-degree lean angle, a hilariously fat 8-inch-wide rear tire. The Diavel design isn't quite as ludicrous as some of its classmates'—if the Star VMax were a men's cologne it would be called "Sex Panther"—but it's still pretty bonkers: Bleak, malevolent, a suicide machine like Kevorkian couldn't have imagined.
And it's also recognizably, still, a Ducati. The trademark trellis frame peeks out from underneath the bunched biceps of a gas tank, amid the sculptural shrouds and radiator faring. The single-sided swing-arm drives a gorgeous Marchesini forged wheel wrapped in a specially engineered Pirelli tire, a 240/45 ZR17 Diablo Rosso II—specially engineered because tires this fat make bikes fretful in corners.
On both wheels, Brembo calipers grip cross-drilled discs, abetted by an antilock braking system. A two-way-adjustable rear shock by Sachs comes with a preload dial. The heat-anodized downpipes wriggle out from under the frame to unite on the right side in a pair of massive alloy cylinders, the "silencers." Yeah, right.
2011 Ducati Diavel Carbon Edition
Price as tested: $19,995|Powertrain: Liquid-cooled fuel-injected 1,198-cc V-twin engine with desmodromic valvetrain; six-speed manual transmission with hydraulically actuated wet-plate clutch and slipper clutch
Horsepower/torque: 162 hp at 9,500 rpm; 94 pound-feet at 8,000 rpm
Length/weight: 88.9 inches/456 pounds (dry)
Wheelbase: 62.2 inches
0-60 mph: <3 seconds
Seat height: 30.3 inches
Speaking of noise, this engine—the same unit as in the 1198 Superbike and Multistrada 1200—snickers with Ducati's characteristic desmodromic valvetrain noise. The so-called Testastretta engine (90-degree twin, water-cooled, four-valve, throttle-by-wire) has been mildly retuned to produce more torque across a lower and wider rev band. Peak torque is 94 pound-feet at 8,000 rpm, and yet, in aural character, the Ducati has little of the molten flatulence of a Harley V-twin. This is still a pricey Italian sound: stressed, refined, musically mechanical, and loud.
Off Duty Italy Special
Italy's Multicultural Motorcycle
Horsepower is respectable: 162 hp at 9,600 rpm. On my test ride through the Mojave there were times when I wished for a little more throttle twist, another 500 rpm or so, so pleasant is the sound of the Testastretta being caned. The six-speed gearbox with hydraulically actuated multiplate wet clutch ascends through the gears beautifully and a slipper-clutch provides assurance as you ratchet down coming into a corner. Stick a pitchfork in the Diavel and it will accelerate from zero to 60 in under 3 seconds, and it will also pull the front wheel up with a well-goosed throttle. But what this bike does absolutely best is course serenely through the air of the high desert at 80 mph. Even the cacti turn around to look.
In one important respect, the Diavel flouts power-cruiser convention. It's lightweight, and not by a little but a lot. The dry weight of 456 pounds for the Carbon Edition, which I tested, is about 200 pounds lighter than some competitors and nearly 300 pounds lighter than the Suzuki. That lack of mass translates into a long, rakish bike that can actually manage corners pretty well. The turn-in is affirmative and precise but not too abrupt. You can heft the bike from right-side rail to left and not feel like you're getting behind in the twisties.
The other great thing about the Diavel is the riding position, which is upright and natural, with the footpegs directly under the seat and not stuck out forward. The seat height is low and comfortable.
Here's where it lands for me: I'm too old and too sane for a Ducati superbike. The tank-humping riding position is massively uncomfortable. The throttle response and braking of the race-bred bikes is just too frantic for me. At the same time, I don't want to ride some Rose Bowl parade float. The Diavel gene-splices the lean, rider-first nature of Ducati's hot-snot bikes with a more relaxed, livable bike configuration. And the whole thing is carved in strokes of Machine Age lightning.
An Italian cruiser. Who'd a thunk it?
