2011 Ducati Diavel Review

It’s only the middle of February 2011, but Ducati may have already given the motoworld the hottest bike of the year – the Diavel.
Rumors and spy shots of a fat-tired Ducati with strange styling surfaced in mid-2010. Some motorbike pundits dubbed the mystery bike Mega Monster. In the days just before the start of EICMA 2010, Ducati quit playing coy and unveiled the all-new Diavel.
The question then remained: Would this wildly styled, category-defying Ducati possess the supreme handling, potent stopping force and hallmark L-Twin power that for so many years have been the underpinning characteristics of Ducati’s sporting heritage?
In simpler, more colloquial terms, does the Diavel have what it takes? Can it represent, yo?
The short answer is yes – mostly.

Make up of a devil

While the Diavel is a new model, it nevertheless is comprised of many familiar Ducati components, the most prominent of which is its Testastretta 11° engine. This grunty, high-performance 1198.4cc 90-degree Twin (aka L-Twin) is sourced from the current model Multistrada. And with the exception of a new exhaust, it remains largely unchanged as used in the Diavel.

According to Giulio Malagoli, technical director on the Diavel project, the new Duc’s exhaust system, consisting of equal-length 58mm cross-section exhaust headers and dual stacked shorty megaphone cans, is the primary contributor to a 12 hp and 6.5 ft-lb increase over the Multi’s 150 hp and 87.5 ft-lbs. The Diavel’s airbox is marginally larger than the Mulitstrada’s, but the negligible increase in volume isn’t essential to power gains and is more a matter of technical needs. Additional revisions include different cam timing, as well as reworked intake and exhaust ports.
During the Diavel’s tech briefing Ducati displayed a dyno graph overlay with power and torque results for the 1198 superbike, Multistrada and Diavel
While the Diavel’s version of the Testastretta is in a race with the MTS, it handily out-powers the adventure-tourer after the 6500-rpm mark. The Diavel easily out guns the 1198 until around 7000 rpm where it manages to run almost neck-and-neck with the red racer until approximately 9000 rpm, at which point the 1198 stretches its superbike legs.
The Multistrada’s spread of torque is more evenly matched to the Diavel’s, until 6000 rpm at which point the new devil bike opens a large gap on the MTS and never looks back.
Taking the Ducati-supplied dynos at face value, the Diavel mops up against the 1198 in low-end torque production. Diavel twisting force is notably healthier than what the 1198 produces below approximately 7000 rpm. It’s only then that the race-bike-with-lights finally regains its ground (save for a short 500-rpm dip) and soon out-twists the Diavel by 9000 rpm.
What does all of this translate into?
Simply allowing the Testastretta in the Diavel to exhale more efficiently has created a nearly ideal engine: potent low- to mid-range force (right where most riders need it) with the ability to sprint like a sportbike.
A benefit from the design of the Diavel’s slipper-type oil-bath clutch is reduced effort at the clutch lever, as well as virtual elimination of rear tire hop during downshifts.
Despite my best efforts to upset the chassis with rapid-fire downshifts, the clutch would have none of my tire-hop-inducing antics, and instead allowed the engine to wind down smoothly rather than buck like a bronco.
A new, larger water pump impeller moves coolant through the Diavel’s dual lateral radiators. One radiator per side sits below the fully functional brushed aluminum air intakes and behind the narrow, vertically oriented clear-lens LED front indicators. The air intakes partially make up the shape of the Diavel’s prominent upper front half and blend in tastefully with the 4.5-gallon fuel tank’s covers that are crafted from steel rather than plastic.
New covers for the clutch housing (which includes space for an air gap used to reduce clutch noise), alternator and cam belts round out the changes to the Testastretta in the Diavel.

Risky business, profitable business
Bring the Diavel’s big tire into the discussion for a minute and you have to wonder if Ducati is anticipating a shift in the company’s core demographic. Are Duc fans getting older and maybe going the way of the cruiser crowd? Let’s not forget the Diavel’s strong sportbike lines either.
Where do we find the most lucrative and substantial cruiser market in the world, along with what was a robust sportbike market until recent economic climates cooled off both segments?
Right here at home, the U.S. of A.
Ducati North America’s John Canton says that outside of Italy, America is an important, leading market for the company, and that the Diavel will account for roughly three-fourths of projected growth in 2011 for Ducati North America. Yet when I asked if the Diavel is tailored primarily for the States and our cruiser-loving ways, Canton reaffirmed Ducati’s stance that the Diavel is a global bike in terms of its design and intent. 

Fair enough. But a safe speculation says that the American cruiser scene had a significant influence on the Diavel, from inception to the commitment to go full steam ahead and build it for a mass market.
Still, nothing’s a sure bet all the time, right? In light of Ducati’s bike development process that skips focus group studies and market research, Canton admits that the Diavel is a big gamble for Ducati.
The company has in effect dispatched with the usually sound marketing philosophy that says fit a product to a market, not a market to a product. Ducati has essentially done the inverse, moving ahead with little reassurance of the Diavel’s success.
However, the Diavel isn’t the first bike with which Ducati applies its market-needs-be-damned mentality. Think the Diavel is quirky? Then you’ve too quickly forgotten about the Multistrada, especially the first gen model. Or how about the Hypermotard 1100 and 796?
The Hyper and MTS weren’t mold-breaking in the sense that no market for such bikes existed. The MTS clearly falls under the adventure-touring segment, and the Hypers kind of followed in the BMW Megamoto’s footsteps as a big streetbike loosely modeled on the premise of supermotard machines.
Whether those two Ducs lack wholesale originality matters not, as Ducati attributes a good portion of significant sales growth in 2010 in the face of another year when the industry as a whole was down considerably – at least in the U.S.
Ducati says the new MTS comprises a 14.3% share of the market in its segment.
“It was its first year on the market and the Multistrada became the second world-best-seller,” said Ducati Chief Executive Officer and President Gabriele Del Torchio this January during Ducati’s annual Wroom ski and press event. And according to Canton, Ducati can’t build the Hypermotard 796 fast enough for its domestic market.
Response to the Diavel since its unveiling has been somewhat mixed, with internet forums abuzz with opinions running the gamut. However, Ducati has enjoyed success for some time now courtesy of its willingness to roll the dice on how many bold and brash designs riders and buyers will accept.
If the past and present successes are an indication of future response to the convention-busting Diavel, this new Ducati is poised create a devil of time for other manufacturers.