DUCATI DIAVEL (2011-on) Review - MOTOR GERR

We’re absolutely blown away by the Diavel. It’s so light, fast and sophisticated, so good handling and fun, it completely turns on its head everything we thought so-called cruisers were about until now.

Or, to put it another way: the Diavel does to the cruiser bike class pretty much – if not more – what Ducati’s Multistrada did to the adventure bike class. It adds a degree of performance and sports ability to a class of bike where it simply didn’t exist before.

The Ducati Diavel impressed MCN so much when it was released in 2011 that it won our Machine of the Year award that year. MCN Editor at the time, Marc Potter was blown away when he rode it.

He said: "There was no hesitation here because I've never known a bike exceed expectations by such a huge margin. It has massive presence as a cruiser and should clearly appeal in an entirely new market for Ducati, yet the performance is epic and the feel of the bike is fabulous."

The Diavel fought off tough competition from the BMW K1600GT, the six-cylinder tourer that had just been released at the time to take the UK's most coveted motorcycle award.We can’t quite get our heads around how Ducati has managed it, considering the Diavel’s long, low cruiser gait and fat back tyre, but this bike steers and sweeps and scratches and stops almost – almost – as good as a super naked. It’s that good.

It steers perfectly neutrally and holds its line without complaint or (amazingly) decking out – and boy we tried. Its ride is smooth and controlled and the brakes are simply awesome. Sports bikes WILL be humbled by the Diavel.

The ride can be further improved with the addition of an Ohlins suspension upgrade which is precisely what MCN did with its long term test Diavel.

We can’t quite get our heads around how Ducati has managed it, considering the Diavel’s long, low cruiser gait and fat back tyre, but this bike steers and sweeps and scratches and stops almost – almost – as good as a super naked. It’s that good.

It steers perfectly neutrally and holds its line without complaint or (amazingly) decking out – and boy we tried. Its ride is smooth and controlled and the brakes are simply awesome. Sports bikes WILL be humbled by the Diavel.

The ride can be further improved with the addition of an Ohlins suspension upgrade which is precisely what MCN did with its long term test Diavel.

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