Ducati’s new Diavel X, the feet forward touring muscle cruiser!

This is the Diavel X, the newly-tweaked feet-forward cruiser version of Ducati’s Diavel. The bike will cost £15,795 for the standard model and £18,392 for the higher-spec, S model.

Ducati boss Claudio Domenicali said: “This is even further away from the Ducati range. This is black. The red is a typical Ducati posture.

“When we started to consider black as a colour then for us moving to black was a paradigm shift. We started to consider things we never did before, we started to really think about new design aspects like how to enjoy the motorcycle at low speed, for example… and we came to this product.”

The Diavel X gets belt drive, the first time on a Ducati that belt drive has been used.

The figures show how Ducati has shifted the Diavel motor to suit a more low-down and mid-range muscle cruiser. The bike delivers maximum torque of 85ft-lb at just 5000rpm and that torque sits in a flat curve from 2100rpm which means that the bike should feel like a wave of ooomf when you crack the throttle.

There are 60 ergonomic combinations with adjustable footpegs and seat/handlebar accessories. The bike will be provided as standard with an extended back rest for the pillion. The XDiavel has a lean angle of 40 degrees, the standard Diavel can be leant over to 41 degrees.

All the hoses serving the bike’s cooling and lubrication have now gone from view with the bike’s water now contained inside the motor. The bike gets a 240 section rear tyre with fully adjustable suspension front and back and a tubular steel swingarm. Brakes are Brembo monobloc.

The Diavel X also gets Ducati Power Launch – look for the small, red three letters on the right handlebar – which is effectively launch control. The system puts the bike into a soft mode so that you can fire the bike off the line in a non-fluffit, no wheelspin way.

There will be two versions of the bike, an S version which is the glossier, tricker option and the standard model.

The S version comes with glossy black paint on the motor, machined engine parts and exclusive machined wheels. Domenicali was at pains to point out that the S version looks much more like a factory special. The S version also gets an LED daytime running light which will not be on the standard version.