Well nobody posted up to go to the X Diavel Test Ride at Bandimere, so I went with the wife.
on up and did the 11 am test ride, a nice 35 min loop up in the canyons west of Morrison.
BTW these bike can be ridden two up however these were pre-production models and the passenger backrest could not be mounted and their insurance would not allow two up riding without the back rest. Bummer! My wife was a good sport and hung out in the typical Ducati lounge one would expect at these sort of gigs.
Pre-Ride Jitters! Notice the forward controls and the belt drive.
The X Diavels wait while the riders get a safety briefing.
Not to bad looking, this bike was the S model selling for north of $20K
Can we get going already?
The test ride went well, my opinion of the bike is as follows.
First the bike is approx 156 hp set up in the touring mode, which is how it was set up.
It had great acceleration as you would expect.
The handle bars seemed to transmit a good deal of vibration to my hands which were tingling in the first few minutes of the ride.
The bike handled ok, not what I am used to riding my ST3 or Multistrada. the brakes of course were awesome.
The bike had cruise control, self canceling turn signals, an urban riding mode (~100 hp and tuned differently) and some sort of launch control mentioned during the safety brief, and we were told we would not be using these features. I tried to change the mode while stopped in traffic going through Morrison with no success, guess I am not a techie. I did figure out the self canceling turn signals....oh yeah there was nothing to figure out there...duh.
The forward positioned controls were very comfortable, however I could see the seating position causing back issues on longer rides.
Overall it was a positive experience.
Would I shell out $20k + for one?
Not a chance, I am still a cheap bastard.
But great first attempt at a cruiser style bike for Ducati.
Well if you want to test ride this bike they will be there Sat and Sun 9 to 5 Bandimere speedway at gate B.
