from the ride-by-wire
throttle in each of
the three modes, the
velvet glove/iron fist
cliché, all done with
a cheeky smile like
a young Sean Con-
nery. The spread of
torque is good for
those that don't like
to move the left foot
so much, as you'll
cruise happily along
in fifth gear for miles
without the need to
jump to sixth, which
is not an overdrive as
such, but certainly
taller than any of the
proceeding five cogs.
But there's no quick-
shifter on the XDiavel, which,
for my money, robs the bike
of another chance to further
pound traditional cruisers
into the tarmac. Cruisers'
crappy gearboxes are a
trademark, and even though
the XDiavel's shift isn't in any
way harsh, a QS-equipped
gearbox would be a nice
touch.
A nice touch is indeed
how well this machine steers
with that car-sized rear tire
on the back—although this is
no great surprise. The Diavel
broke new ground five years
ago in how a chassis could
steer with such a massive
ass, so even though the
low and lazy stance of the
XDiavel dictates it should
steer like a taco truck, the
the XDiavel's speed of turn
is more akin to Mugello than
Milwaukee. There's still a ten-
dency to push the front that
naturally comes from some-
thing this low to the ground,
but the fact of not carrying a
substantial amount of weight
(a claimed 545-pound curb
weight with a 90 percent full
gas tank) allows the XDiavel
rider to pick and change
lines when leaned over at the
claimed 40° max angle much
faster than traditional cruising
will allow.
And no, for the first time
ever on a bike dubbed a
"cruiser," I did not manage to
ground the pegs. Not once.
Not even I can believe I just
said that.
I'm not a big one for
traditional cruiser riding
FIRST RIDE
P86
THE DVT-EQUIPPED
ENGINE LUMPS TORQUE
TO THE NOW GATES
BELT-EQUIPPED FINAL
DRIVE WITH STUPENDOUS
FORCE, THE KIND OF
THUMP THAT ONLY
COMES FROM MORE
INCHES AND NOT FORCED
INDUCTION.
It's easy to see
how close the
sketches were
to the final
design.
DUCATI XDIAVEL
fact it doesn't is no big deal. It's
not perfect—the initial turn is slow
as the bike rolls over the arch in
the center of the tire and into the
corner, but in the cruiser segment,
