To be honest, the Diavel, has been Ducati's worst kept secret in the history of Ducati. With the internet flooded with spy shots of all sorts (one of them even had a Diavel test bike crashed and the rider being taken to medical aids), we all knew how the bike would look in flesh. But as the saying "It's more that it meets the eyes", so, now my curiosity laid, as to what lies beneath that fleshy looking exterior.
To start with, the Diavel would be available in two variants - the 210.01 kg Diavel, and the 206.83 kg Diavel Carbon with Carbon Fiber body works.
No difference on looks and specs though for the two variants. So, let's move on to the other bits.
The Engine
The Diavel's brute force comes from the Testastretta 11 V-twin engine. The 11 in the Testastretta denotes the 11 degree of crankshaft's rotation during which both the exhaust and the intake valves are open. The 11 degree is actually a deviation from the 45 degree found on the 1198 engine doing the job on Ducati's Super bikes in order to optimize intake airflow at the bottom of the exhaust stroke.
Producing a top bang of 162 hp @ 8000 rpm and 127.5 Nm Torque @ 9500 rpm, the Diavel is truly on a sports mode and is a deviation from a normal cruiser one might think of it. Talking of the Diavel being on the sports mode, the Diavel features 3 Mode Power Drive Mode Selector on the left switch gear and viewed on the Tank Mounted Instrumentation panel.
Sport - True 162 hp ballistic.
Tour - 162 hp with progressive power delivery.
Urban - Power goes down to 100 hp (makes a lot of sense)
To make the engine response and the riding more sophisticated, the Diavel is comes equipped with the Ducati Traction Control which was up-till now present on Ducati's super bikes, but is not percolating to the street genre. Along with it you get the Ducati Ride by Wire which opens the butterfly valves for optimum power delivery.
Features
Apart from the Engine features like the Power Drive Mode Selector ,the Ducati Traction Control, the Ducati Ride by Wire, one of the most primary feature that has been put into the Diavel is the ABS. The Diavel gets the Bosch-Brembo ABS as standard fitment. The front bite is offered by 2x320mm rotors working with 4 piston mono-block Brembo calipers with ABS. The braking duty down rear is done by 265mm rotors with twin piston Brembo calipers with ABS.
The transmission is provided by Ducati's factory Slipper Clutch through a Six-speed gear box providing the final drive to the fat 260mm section tyre through chain.
Diavel's chassis geometry is based on the trellis frame withe the rear wheel being support by the single sided swing arm. With at rake angle of 28 degree and a wheel base of 62.6 inches, the Diavel promises to be as comfy as one can imagine for a street fighter cruiser. The front suspension is 50mm Marzocchi forks providing Pre-load, Compression and Rebound adjustments. Down rear the Diavel has Sachs shocks providing 3-way adjustability.
From Ducati
Here's what Ducati had to say about the Diavel -
Ducati President Gabriele Del Torchio at EICMA unveiling: “2010 has been a year of great opportunity for Ducati and despite the difficult market environment, we have seen our market share double in the last three years, from 4.3% to 8.6%. By the end of 2010 we expect a sales growth of 6% compared to last year, a growth that is testimony to Ducati’s capacity to react, even during a contraction in the market. Essentially, we owe this to the creation of specific strategies within our 2007-2010 industrial plan. We continue to base the pillars of our strategy on loyalty to our mission: To be specialists and segment leaders in the sport bike sector, while working with determination on the development of highly innovative new products. This mission enables us to expand into new market segments like the Diavel, which we unveil here at EICMA.”
“Engineering quality and excitement quality are key elements of our development process. The engineering quality of our product has grown significantly over the last three years and now positions us at the apex of European industry. The excellent excitement quality, increasingly important in this competitive environment, is demonstrated by the unmistakable Italian style of our bikes and by their performance which delivers enhanced enjoyment and safety for our customers, whether on the road or the track.”
Ducati General Manager Claudio Domenicali:
“We are here at EICMA this week with a series of important innovations that are totally in line with our strategic industrial plan and the Diavel is, without doubt, the most exciting innovation in our 2011 line-up because it represents a new concept of motorcycle. It is a naked because it is essential, light and agile; a cruiser because it is imposing and also comfortable with a passenger; and a sports bike because it has a powerful heart, muscles, and levels of performance that take your breath away.”
“Until now, no segment has ever captured these characteristics in just one bike. We are extremely satisfied with the Diavel, it represents the very concept of ‘sport’ and celebrates all that Ducati has achieved in recent years. If the Multistrada 1200 represents the perfect synthesis between functionality and performance, the Diavel creates a new interpretation of performance, this time combined with technology and design.”
“Engineering quality and excitement quality are key elements of our development process. The engineering quality of our product has grown significantly over the last three years and now positions us at the apex of European industry. The excellent excitement quality, increasingly important in this competitive environment, is demonstrated by the unmistakable Italian style of our bikes and by their performance which delivers enhanced enjoyment and safety for our customers, whether on the road or the track.”
Ducati General Manager Claudio Domenicali:
“We are here at EICMA this week with a series of important innovations that are totally in line with our strategic industrial plan and the Diavel is, without doubt, the most exciting innovation in our 2011 line-up because it represents a new concept of motorcycle. It is a naked because it is essential, light and agile; a cruiser because it is imposing and also comfortable with a passenger; and a sports bike because it has a powerful heart, muscles, and levels of performance that take your breath away.”
“Until now, no segment has ever captured these characteristics in just one bike. We are extremely satisfied with the Diavel, it represents the very concept of ‘sport’ and celebrates all that Ducati has achieved in recent years. If the Multistrada 1200 represents the perfect synthesis between functionality and performance, the Diavel creates a new interpretation of performance, this time combined with technology and design.”
Overall
Even though the Diavel does not match up with monsters like the Yamaha V-Max, but there's no doubt that it's no way less and given the Italian bombshell it is, Diavel is here to stay and dominate
it was pretty obvious that the "Spy Shots" were actually a choreographed PR push.
ReplyDeleteBut somehow, the Diavel leaves me with mixed feelings.
Rightly said, else I've seen no other manufacturer, two or four wheeled guard their secret so loosely!! Even Mahindra did a way better job in guarding the secret of Mojo.
ReplyDeleteTo me the actual menace of the Diavel would be uncovered only when someone actually puts it to test