Ducati Diavel

“Hi-tech, high power and high-class”

£8300-£13,000 160bhp 159mph 210kg (dry) 1198cc V-twin

Ducati’s Diavel is half cruiser, half sportsbike and half supernaked. Yes that’s three halves, but it really is a bike and a half. It’s certainly a more complete motorcycle than Triumph’s Rocket III, which offers nothing beyond the fleeting novelty of its distended engine capacity. Ducati’s power cruiser is a fully developed machine. It too has a gargantuan 240-section rear tyre, but one purpose-built by Pirelli to work with the Diavel’s considered geometry and adjustable suspension. So it actually goes round corners – and with 40° of lean angle on each side, surprisingly briskly. The details are sophisticated too: fold-down pillion pegs and pull-out grab-handle; keyless ignition; floating numberplate hanger; the first colour display on any Ducati. And it even has ABS, traction control and engine modes.

But best of all is that the Diavel packs more firepower than the Rocket. Simon can quote his capacity and torque figures, like a politician clutching to a single set of election results in willful ignorance of the world falling apart around them, but the Diavel has an extra 20bhp and 20mph. Down a quarter-mile drag strip the Triumph can almost keep up for the first 60ft, but by the chequered flag it’s more than a second behind the Ducati. Just like it is in every other respect.