Product review - Ducatti Xdiavel

Normally, I don't do product reviews; but, this is deserving of one.

My friend Cliff said I might like to do a demo ride of the new Ducatti XDiavel, a new offering that only hit the streets 2 days before Daytona Bike Week.  In fact, only 3 dealerships even have them.  They sold 3 this weekend.

These young ladies were happy to register us and get us riding.  They also have very nice umbrellas to see us out the gate with.

Ducatti arranged a 45 minute ride to showcase these bikes.  Normally, they would do it in 30 minutes; but, traffic is horrible and they really wanted riders to enjoy the bike, not have a ride like you'd find at an amusement park, where you can only go so fast and are tethered in place by some mechanical something or other.

So, from the ground up...

The tires are wide; very wide.  They have a nice gentle curvature to them and they stick to the ground like an electromagnet.  Roll in and roll out are very gentle and as fast as you'd like it.  The bike will lean 40 degrees and there is no feeling of impending doom when you approach that much lean angle.  I don't know where Ducatti came up with 40 degrees.  It feels like I could lay that bike right over and there would be no issues whatsoever.  There doesn't appear to be anything stopping someone from taking it further.  The tires provide more than adequate traction.  This might also have something to do with the suspension.  The wheels seem to provide unbreakable traction (not tested thoroughly).

Forward controls.  This in my opinion was an engineering disaster; but, Ducatti was going after the Harley V-Rod in this offering, so they wanted forward controls.  This bike screams to have standard controls, or even controls that are just behind the riders pelvis.  I saw more than one rider struggle with this.  I didn't have an issue with it; but, when you're cornering this bike at high speed, the forward controls prevent you from leaning over the inside handlebar as you would like.  Perhaps this has something to do with the published 40 degree lean angle.  Perhaps it's just not safe because the rider can't achieve the correct riding position.

Engine wise, this bike has 156 HP and 95Ft lbs of torque at 485 pounds.  It's a little torque monster.  I managed to get behind our group a little at a red light and after shifting into second, accidentally pulled the front wheel off the pavement.  When I realized what I had, I applied slow constant throttle all the way up to the rev limiter (9000 RPMs).  At that point, the rev limiter cycles very fast and the front end goes back to the ground very gently.  We found some nice sweeping corners that allowed plenty of lean in.  At 100 mph in a turn, this bike is as stable as a train on a rail.  I don't recommend any of this and highly recommend doing this sort of thing on a track with a professional instructor first.  User satisfaction in this situation will vary wildly depending on users skill, road conditions, bike configuration, etc.

Noteworthy is the fact that for such a little windscreen, you don't note any wind resistance.  That alone is remarkable.  At no time, was I "tucked in," and was not holding on for dear life, like I would my Harley with a comparable wind screen.

Instrumentation on this bike is plain.  It's simple.  Perhaps, the display is a wee bit small.  I'm 49 and that's not an excuse, it's a demand to put displays that the riders of this bike can appreciate.

I did not get into the configuration possibilities with the foot controls (3 positions), traction control or ABS (if it even has it).

45 minutes on this bike was a full blown therapy session.  The soul was happy.  The smile was evident.  It's a fast, well engineered machine.  My ONLY wish for it would be standard foot controls.  The forward controls are a miss in my humble opinion.