BikeThrottle: Ducati unviels Diabolical Diavel

OK, this is clearly not a motorcycle blog you're reading right now.  It's CarThrottle. We prefer to smoke two or more tires at a time, and have an unusual attachment to sitting in our vehicles, not on them.  Still, every car guy has a little bit of bike respect or admiration in them.  Although my experience with motorcycles is pretty much limited to a 100cc 4-stroke dirt bike when I was 14, the two-wheel concept is intriguing to me every time someone rides by on one on a nice day.

So I do tend to keep abreast of news pertaining to our two-wheeled brethren.  I'd been hearing that Italian maker Ducati was developing a "power cruiser" - a low-slung mostly naked bike with a huge engine and a huge rear tire to boot.  This is not normally the sort of tomfoolery Ducati partakes in.  They like to make surgically precise sport bikes and sports tourers that make some sense.  I mean, they're not Buell.  But the first production images of this wicked Ducati dropped today, and if you have an interest in speed and a pulse, you're going to love this.

Of course, if you're a Ducati purist, you'll hate it.  Check some of the comments on (highly recommended!) bike blog Hell For Leather, and you'd think hell was freezing over.  One commenter says: "It looks like somebody drug a 500lb electric magnet through the Italian version of a J.C. Whitney catalog."  Ouch. Thankfully beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and for riders interested in bikes like the Harley/Porsche V-Rod or the Yamaha V-Max, this is another menacing, powerful option.

Power comes from Ducati's new Testastretta 1200cc 11° V-Twin, in this application tuned to deliver 162 horsepower and 94lb/ft of torque, which should be more than enough considering the regular Diavel weighs in at 463lbs.  An exclusive Carbon edition replaces some parts with, yup, Carbon Fibre and lowers the weight to 456lbs, as well as replacing the wheels with forged Marchesini units.

Unlike traditional cruisers, which are designed around making their rider look like a chest-thumping badass, the Diavel is made to both look mean and ride well.  On the look mean side of things: that hard-to-miss 240mm wide rear tire, the red-painted steel trellis frame, the raked handlebars, vertical LED turn signals out back, and the giant snaking exhaust pipes.  On the ride-well side: the foot pegs are where they actually belong on a bike, rather than putting your feet up near the front wheel and radiator, the seat height is a relatively low 30.3" for lower weight distribution, and this bike is stuffed with more electronics than you'd believe.

The throttle is a three-setting drive-by-wire setup (Two full power modes with aggressive or progressive throttle response, plus a 100bhp mode with relaxed response for city riding.)  The bike has defeatable 8-mode traction control (probably useful with 160+bhp).  The suspension and brakes are suitably serious as well - an upside down 50mm Marzocchi fork that's fully adjustable controls the front, and an adjustable Sachs horizontally-mounted shock keeps the rear in check.  Brakes are Brembo monoblocks with a huge 320mm front disc to stop.

The bike just made it's public debut at the EICMA show.  No word yet on when it'll go on sale, but a price tag of around $15,000 for this monster muscle bike is expected.  For a two-wheeled toy, that's pretty pricey.  For something this fast and mean, it's a bargain.  Ahh, the never-end motorcycle conundrum!