Canyon Carving On A Ducati Diavel
I took a spin on a Ducati Diavel yesterday, thanks to Alan. Ducati did a demo ride thing but it was a bit different than the standard demo riding. It was by invitation only, and because it was in conjunction with Cycle World magazine, the invitations went out to Cycle World subscribers. Alan subscribes and he got a card in the mail and he followed up on it. He got in and they let you bring a friend, so he called me. Then the next day, I got a card in the mail, too, because I’m a subscriber as well. But I was already in.
Me on the Ducati Diavel with one of the Ducati girls standing by.
We headed out to ride, but first they took photos of each of us with one of the three Ducati girls standing by. Pretty silly in my opinion, but oh well.
One thing that was different with this demo ride than others was that they explicitly did not say “no passing.” This is fast motorcycle and they did not want the true go-fast guys to feel frustrated because they were behind slower guys, and therefore not have the chance to really run the bike. Alan and I both figured we belonged at the slow end of the group, but the bike I got was right in the middle. I mentioned this to the head guy and he told me to just pull off when the bikes pulled out and then jump in at the very end, right behind Alan. That suited me fine because I don’t like being in a tight group anyway.
We took off, snaking our way out of the metro area to Coal Creek Canyon and then started blasting. The Diavel can lean as far over as 41 degrees so they told us to push ourselves a little and trust the bike. I did and it handled superbly. And it was a pretty nice ride altogether. The seat height is only 30 inches so I could plant both feet firmly on the ground. It’s an upright riding position with the pegs beneath me, which I like. They said it could be considered a sport standard, which seems about right. Another descriptor was “sportbike that’s comfortable.”
We rode up Coal Creek a ways and then, at a small crossroads we turned around to head back down. A young guy came running over to me with great interest, asking what model it was. Guess he thought the Diavel looked pretty dang cool. I’d agree. Your first impression may be uncertain–mine was–but the more you look at it the better you like it. Or at least I did.
Back down on the prairie, we blasted back to the airport on 120th and hit some high speeds. Without a windshield I found it worked best to lean way forward and hit the wind with the top of my helmet, rather than my chest. And oh my, what power. The Diavel has 162 horsepower and weighs only about 450 pounds. That is one powerful motorcycle.
So anyway, back to the starting point and get off the bikes, then fill out a brief survey. Yes I liked the bike, no I won’t be buying one any time soon. I already have two motorcycles and I can’t afford a Ducati, no matter how much I like it. Then as a thank-you they gave us some very cool Ducati-branded flash drives with a lot of promotional material on them and copies of the photos they took of us on the bikes with the Ducati girls. Nice touch.
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Tags: Ducati Diavel
