Dancing the Polka

Country music is a viable art form. Hip-hop is a viable art form. Historically, however, when artists have attempted to blend these genres it hasn’t always gone well.

There, in 28 words, is my overall assessment of the Ducati XDiavel V4. It’s Florida Georgia Line all over again.

So, to try to fairly assess Ducati’s howling, V4-driven beast of a motorcycle, you must first try to ignore most of what Ducati says about it – and, to some extent, what you think it should be. Coming to terms with this was a lot more difficult for me than I would have imagined. I’m still not sure that I have.

Many years ago, when I got a chance to spend a few weeks riding the Ducati Multistrada 950, one of the thoughts that came to me over and over was: “Ooh, this is the sort of machine that Harley-Davidson would make if it made adventure-touring motorcycles.”

Ultimately, I wasn’t exactly right about that (turns out Harley was able to make something better), but I’d still argue that in certain ways both brands share a spirit. Brashness. Bragaddacio. An unapologetic nature.

Additionally, when I rode the Scrambler 1100, I was convinced that its air-cooled 1079cc V-twin powerplant would lend itself well to a light cruiser to compete against the likes of Indian’s Scout, Harley’s Sportster and Triumph’s Bobber. I was 100-percent sure, in other words, that Ducati had it in them to understand what a cruiser is and to make a fantastic bike accordingly.

So, these were thoughts that had been brewing for seven years when I showed up at the international press launch for the XDiavel V4 back in May. Admittedly, I had not ridden the previous-generation (ie, V-twin, as opposed to V4) XDiavel. Perhaps if I had, I would have been able to take Ducati’s marketing hype with several more grains of salt. Instead, I bought into the rhetoric that the XDiavel V4 is a “Ducati creation for cruiser lovers.” I was ridiculously excited about it. 

Then I rode it. And I went through something akin to the five stages of grief.

Denial: Wait a second. This is not a cruiser.
Anger: This is NOT a cruiser. 
Bargaining: This is not a cruiser… but maybe if it looked, sounded, felt, and rode differently…
Depression: This is not a cruiser. But I wanted sooo much for it to be otherwise.
Acceptance: This is not a cruiser. And, yeah, sure. Whatever.

Point is: this is not a cruiser. If you are a dyed-in-the-wool cruiser enthusiast, I’m pretty confident you won’t like this thing at all. That’s not an indictment of the bike or you; it’s simply that the bike you are looking for is not the bike that Ducati has made.

So, what has Ducati made? Let’s see if we can figure that one out together.

SOME NUMBERS

Staring price: £25,995
Engine: 1158 cc liquid-cooled 90-degree V4
Power: 124 kW at 10,750 rpm (168 horsepower)
Torque: 126 Nm at 7,500 rpm (93 lb-ft)
Fuel capacity: 20 liters (5.3 US gallons)
Seat height: 770 mm (30.3 inches)
Weight: 229 kg* (505 lbs)

SOME CONTEXT

The XDiavel name has been around since 2016, with the bike having previously been driven by a 1262cc V-twin. Built around the Diavel roadster, it was a model that never really sold well – to the extent Bike magazine joked that perhaps the XDiavel’s designers had “compromising photos” of Ducati’s CEO, which could be used as blackmail.

“How else could you explain its continued presence in the line-up?” they wrote.

So, when the boys and girls in Bologna announced earlier this year that they had completely reworked the XDiavel, equipping it with a snarling V4 engine, it raised a few eyebrows. Why would they do this? What’s the point? 

I guess those photos haven’t gone away…

A kinder (and probably more accurate) answer is that this bike is a labor of love for Ducati. That’s very clear; you can hear it in how everyone from Ducati speaks about it. The night before riding the XDiavel V4, I sat next to Ducati Vice President of Global Sales Francesco Milicia at dinner: Hoo-boy, I don’t think I’ve ever met someone with that much confidence in their product. As far as Milicia’s concerned, it seems, if Jesus had been an engineer instead of a carpenter, this is the motorcycle he would have made.

Ducati’s team delights in the distinctiveness of every detail, all the way down to the fact that one of the colors in which the bike is offered – Burning Red – is wholly unique. No other Ducati has ever been this shade of red. Indeed, this is the first red Ducati to not be painted in Ducati Red.

“We’ve created a category of one,” Head of Product Communications Giulio Fabbri told me. “It’s different from anything else. It doesn’t have any competition.”

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

It certainly looks different. And this is where the first “NOT A CRUISER” bell will go off in the minds of cruiser fans. The feet-forward riding position and that chunky rear tire are certainly nods to the cruiser aesthetic but, visually, it has a lot more in common with supernakeds like the KTM 1390 Super Duke R or Suzuki GSX-S1000.

That’s not a bad thing. The bike is a joy to look at. It’s the sort of machine you circle a few times after getting off it – taking it in from all angles. One of the things I particularly love is its enormous four-port exhaust. Modern emissions standards demand that manufacturers place ever larger exhausts on their bikes, so, why not make it a feature?

Throw a leg over, and the bike is initially very comfy. The rider seat is massive, cosseting, and reasonably well-padded. The passenger accommodation is equally large – certainly larger than it looks in pictures. Ducati says that it has increased the passenger seat 50 percent over the previous generation XDiavel, but because the seat is tapered at the rear (meaning there isn’t actually that much useable space) and there are no grab rails, it’s probably best to think of this bike as a solo endeavour. 

If you are desperate to bring along a pal, and willing to pay in excess of the £25,995 starting price, you can get accessory grab rails or back rests.

Hands fall easily to the wide handlebars. As a 6-foot-1 rider (and someone who appreciates the cruiser genre), I was perfectly comfortable with the reach to the pegs. I’m not sure how someone with a shorter inseam would feel, though. But the 30.3-inch seat height helps. For comparison, on an equally fat-tired Harley-Davidson Breakout, your butt is just 26.1 inches from the ground.

Looking forward, your view is unobstructed. That’s good and bad. The bike’s 6.9-inch TFT screen is very easy to read, but it is not easy to see when you are riding. You need to look away from the road to take it in. This can be problematic on a motorcycle that so willingly breaks the speed limit. 

Switchgear is uncluttered and the overall fit and finish of the motorcycle is considered and excellent.

ENGINE, BRAKES, AND TRANSMISSION

Fire up the XDiavel V4’s 1158cc liquid-cooled V4 Granturismo engine, and the second NOT A CRUISER bell will go off in your mind. The engine is loud (Ducati has a magic way of making bikes that sound like they’re violating noise restrictions without actually doing so), and there is a bass note in there somewhere. But it is overshadowed by a mechanical whirring reminiscent of the hunter-killer drones in Terminator.

There is a certain character to Ducati engines: a kind of rawness, an eagerness to pick a fight. They’re more honey badger than the bear of a Harley or Indian lump. And for higher-speed applications they are fantastic. I love a Ducati engine, and this V4 is certainly one of the manufacturer’s finest. But, pop quiz: what does a cruiser do? The answer’s in the name. The XDiavel V4, however, does not like to cruise.

Ride the bike below 4,000 rpm and it is very juttery. It hates going slow. And there’s your third NOT A CRUISER bell. 

When Harley-Davidson designed the Milwaukee 8 V-twin, one of the many considerations for its engineers was something the MoCo refers to as “parade duty” – riders’ fondness for including their bikes in community celebrations or crawling up and down a main drag in a modern-day promenade. Outside of Main Street USA, the ability to go slow smoothly is also pretty handy in urban situations. The XDiavel V4 isn’t having any of that. This bike actively despises you if you attempt to hold a steady speed below 35 mph. 

It shakes and jutters and kicks in a way that I found hard to believe. Initially I was convinced that I was somehow getting my throttle input wrong, but every other moto-journalist I spoke to said they had experienced the same thing. Admittedly, many found it less annoying than I did.

On the flip side of this, and ringing the fourth NOT A CRUISER bell, is the way this thing hustles. It is an absolute delight when the pace quickens and revs increase above, say, 4,500 rpm: smooth and happy to accelerate to ‘goodbye license’ speed with almost no effort. 

The transmission is reliable and reasonably smooth. The clutch pull isn’t as light as you get on a Triumph, but pretty close. This is good because the XDiavel V4’s quickshifter is not the best I’ve encountered. Sometimes it works well, sometimes it really doesn’t. I got tired of gambling after about 20 minutes with the bike and simply chose to change gears the old-fashioned way. I had no complaints about the transmission after that.

You do need to click up and down those gears more than I would have expected from a big-engine bike. Usually, an engine of even 800cc or more is forgiving of lazy shifting, allowing you to lug out of a second-gear corner in fourth without too much complaint. The Ducati is more insistent that you get things right.

The bike has four riding modes: Sport, Touring, Urban and Wet. I found Sport to be too juttery and generally kept to Touring, even when we hit heavy rain at the end of our day’s ride.

Brakes are powerful without being overbearing. It is always my feeling that the best brakes are the ones you don’t really have any observations about. They were there; they worked so well that I didn’t pay any attention. That’s a positive endorsement, as far as I’m concerned.

PERFORMANCE AND HANDLING

Ring the fifth NOT A CRUISER bell for the way the XDiavel V4 handles. The chassis constantly exceeded my expectations on the curving, undulating mountain roads of Southern France. The suspension offers the perfect mix of smoothing out road imperfections while giving confidence in corners.

Possibly a little too much confidence. It’s easy to forget that the bike has only 39 degrees of lean on each side. Less in actual application, because the heel of your boot naturally hangs lower than the peg in a feet-forward riding position.

Looking at some of the photos of the ride, I appear to have often been close to dragging a foot – my boot just a centimeter from the road. This makes me wonder if the standard Diavel V4, with its slightly higher, more roadster-like riding position, might be a better choice for aggressively tackling curvy roads.

Equally excellent are the bike’s aerodynamics. There is no weather protection – but somehow, possibly through dark magic – the wind blast never feels intense. Sure, you feel the wind and the rain and whatever else happens to be pinging against your jacket (bees, rocks, etc.). You are aware of your speed. But it is never uncomfortable. Even in excess of 100 mph. You don’t ever feel like a sail. Your legs never get caught by the wind and splay out.

With its suspension and aerodynamics, I would be inclined to see the XDiavel V4 as an all-day machine – the perfect tool for a sunrise-to-sunset exploration of good roads, and possibly a bit of light touring. But this is negated by the fact that things get uncomfortable after about 45 minutes in the saddle. 

I felt pain in my coccyx, lower back and shoulders. You might think that’s the result of the cruiser-style riding position, but I’ve ridden a lot of cruisers without experiencing that level of discomfort. I once rode a Harley-Davidson Street Bob from London to Prague and back without complaint. So, my theory is that the problem stems from the fact the XDiavel V4’s seat locks you in place; you can’t shift around.

While I’m complaining about the seat: there is a small depression in it – about 1 inch high, 2 inches wide, and 1-inch deep – that houses a Ducati logo. It looks cool, but when rain falls it turns into a little puddle that seeps through your jeans and makes you feel as if you’ve wet yourself (or, if you’re wearing waterproofs, it’s a puddle that makes your butt cold).

In fairness, the XDiavel V4 is not really a bike for wet-weather riding. Despite great aerodynamics, there is no weather protection; the bike’s massive air filter sits pretty much exposed behind the headlight housing, creating a risk of choking the engine in downpours; and the stock Pirelli Diablo Rosso III tires don’t inspire a tremendous amount of confidence on wet roads (though, they’re certainly not awful).

In the right conditions, this motorcycle can make your heart sing. But those conditions are limited.

BELLS AND WHISTLES

As you would expect, the XDiavel V4 is loaded with bells and whistles. Shockingly, for a bike that costs almost £26,000 – and to the dismay of many on our ride when we rode through the cool of a mountain morning – heated grips are not standard. Chalk that one up as more evidence that Ducati’s perceived use case for this motorcycle is somewhat limited.

You do get cruise control, however, as well as the riding modes mentioned above, cornering traction control, cornering ABS, and something called Ducati Wheelie Control. I wouldn’t think you’d be likely to lift the front end of a bike this long, but Francesco Milicia assures me it’s possible. He’s done it.

“You can wheelie anything,” he told me. “If you can, you can.” 

The TFT dashboard offers all the information you could ever hope for, and serves as an interface for smartphone connectivity allowing you to read text messages, control music, and use turn-by-turn navigation via an app.

CRITICISMS

Speaking of that enormous, not particularly well-protected air filter, I get the sense that basic servicing on this bike would be a ball ache. I think that you might be able to replace the air filter by removing a single panel and being particularly dextrous with a screwdriver. But the oil filter is impossible to find.

No, really. I spent several minutes looking – lying on the ground and prodding around the engine – without success. Convinced I was being an idiot, I brought other moto-journalists over to assist in the search. They, too, were unsuccessful. Then we brought in a Ducati guy, who brought up an image of the Panigale V4’s engine on his phone.

“Oh, yes,” he said, pointing at his phone but conveniently not showing us. “It’s right near the exhaust head.”

I dropped to the floor and looked again, but without success. By this time everyone else had gotten bored and gone to lunch. One assumes that the XDiavel V4 has an oil filter, but I get the sense you’ll have to pay someone to find it.

More relevant to day-to-day riding is the fact that performance is so horrible at slow speeds. I suspect that part (but not all) of the problem is the fact that the bike’s rear cylinders deactivate in certain conditions. It is incredibly variable, depending on gear, throttle input, engine temperature, speed, and the rider’s astrological sign (OK, one of those things isn’t true) but very broadly speaking: it’s two cylinders below 4,000 rpm and four cylinders above 4,000 rpm.

If you’re riding in an urban situation, you’re going to be constantly wavering above and below that magic number, which means the rear cylinder’s constantly activating and deactivating, and, possibly, getting the bike confused. I didn’t encounter this, but several other journalists had situations at slow speed where the bike effectively lost power and shut itself off.

Add all this to the uncomfortable seat, the inadequate passenger accommodation, and the fact that, you know, it’s not a cruiser.

THE COMPETITION

The XDiavel V4 is a unique motorcycle – in a category of one, as Giulio Fabbri says. So, if it has competition, the most obvious contender is the Diavel V4 – the same motorcycle but with a roadster riding position. Within that context – relatively comfortable bikes that are very fast – you’ve got a lot of competition. The Triumph Speed Triple, BMW S 1000 R, Suzuki GSX-S1000, Honda CB1000 Hornet, Kawasaki Z H2, Yamaha MT-10 and so on.

All of those cost less than the XDiavel V4; you could buy two Hondas, for example, and still have enough money left over for either a 60-percent deposit on a third Honda or an extravagant European vacation. Most, save the Suzuki and Honda, have more power. Arguably, however, their riding positions are less relaxed, and, more concretely, they don’t look as good.

On the power cruiser side, the only real contender these days is the Triumph Rocket 3 Storm R, which is, in my opinion, a better bike all-around, despite weighing considerably more (317 kg wet). It’s more powerful, sounds better, notably better at doing the cruiser things, has shaft drive (the XDiavel V4 is chain driven) and costs (slightly) less.

VERDICT

I will admit that the XDiavel V4 is not my cup of tea.

I expected a cruiser. This bike offers very little of what I like about cruisers. Whereas everything that I love about the bike – its engine and handling – can be found elsewhere in a better, more affordable package. 

I am willing to accept the validity of contrary opinions, though. If you want to tell me that this is the greatest motorcycle in the world, my response is: Good for you, I’m glad you’ve found something you like. And I can very much see why people would like this. It’s sexy and fast and kinda cool. I’m happy that someone still apparently has those compromising photos of Ducati’s CEO. The motorcycling world needs bikes like this. 

To that end, my chief criticism of the XDiavel V4 isn’t connected to the bike itself. What really spoils the bike for me is the way Ducati pitches it, and the latent disrespect that marketing tack implies. This bike doesn’t look, sound, feel, or ride like a cruiser. That Ducati calls it otherwise suggests that it either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about the cruiser genre. I find that frustrating.

In the video I did for Motorcycle.com on this bike, I made the observation that, “perhaps the people who designed this motorcycle didn’t really like cruisers.”

And, hey, if that’s how you feel about the cruiser genre, OK. You don’t have to love everything. If you’re a manufacturer, you don’t have to make something for everybody – despite what internet pundits say. But don’t then turn around and try to offer something to cruiser riders. Delivering a bike whose only concession to the genre is a feet-forward riding position feels cynical and insulting.

It’s like a Country music performer thinking: “Hip-hop is bullshit, but it sells well, so I’ll add a few heavy beats as a concession and maybe ask Nelly to talk over it a bit and that will be good enough.”

Calling this a cruiser suggests that Ducati feels cruiser enthusiasts are wrong for liking the things they like, that their preferences should be dismissed or ignored. As someone who really likes cruisers, that annoys me.

THE THREE QUESTIONS

Does the XDiavel V4 suit my current lifestyle?
In the sense that being a dad means I don’t get to ride a lot, sure. The XDiavel V4 is a very limited-use machine, needing sunny, dry days and short distances for proper enjoyment. However, it would be ill-suited to the bimbling speeds I often enjoy in my speed-camera-laden county.

Does the XDiavel V4 put a smile on my face?
In isolation, yes. When the conditions were just right and this bike was in its element – and I wasn’t contemplating all that it isn’t – I found this to be a thoroughly enjoyable machine.

Is the XDiavel V4 better than my current motorcycle, a 2012 Kawasaki Versys 1000?
If you were offering this engine platform in the (more affordable) Multistrada V4 package, the answer would be an easy yes. In this context, however, I’m almost inclined to say no. Sure, it’s got more tech and more power and oodles more style, but because it fails so completely in its primary mission of being a cruiser I’m not sure it’s actually a more enjoyable motorcycle. Especially since it’s so impractical. As weird as it might sound, if I could only have one in my garage (and I weren’t allowed to sell it to buy something else) I’d choose the 13-year-old Kawasaki.

GEAR WORN

Helmet: HJC RPHA 70
Jacket: Hideout Touring
Gloves: Aerostich Elkskin Competition Ropers
Jeans: Pando Moto Boss 105
Boots: Red Wing Spirit Lake