VOLUME 56 ISSUE 35 SEPTEMBER 4, 2019 P99
fueling has been improved, there's no longer a
snatchy pickup from a closed throttle in Urban
mode, which is now very usable outside town if
you just want to chill out and go with the flow on
the Diavel 1260 in a less stressful way.
Indeed, there's no trace of the transmission
snatch the first generation/Gen 1 Diavel had
between the 1500 rpm off-idle pull away from rest,
and the 4000 rpm mark when the engine really
starts to motor strongly. Use the power-shifter to
keep it revving in the 5000-6000 rpm happy zone,
and you'll be rewarded with muscular acceleration
and constant thrills, with no need to rev the Diavel
1260 motor anywhere near its 10,500 rpm limiter.
There's now an even flatter torque curve low
down, and the new Diavel is cleaner and more fluid
in the way it gains revs so that it's happier running
in a line of traffic at part-throttle at low rpm than the
original bike was, and not just in Urban mode, either.
Be nice, not sensible
Touring mode is preferable practically anywhere in
normal use, though there's undoubted extra zip if
you select Sport mode, in which case the Diavel
1260 is still better behaved than before at slow
speeds, but asks you to hang on very tight indeed
when you gas it up hard off a stoplight, or simply
give a healthy twist of the wrist exiting a slower
turn. Then there's a crisp but controllable response
which will make you glad you had Ducati's very
As a cross-country beast, the Diavel makes a tasty proposition.
