Living with a 2015 Ducati Diavel

I picked up my new buddy yesterday afternoon from Cycles!128 in Beverly, MA. The dealership gets two thumbs up. Super easy to deal with and no BS.

I'll fill this out with more photos later but here are my initial thoughts after 160 miles in the saddle yesterday.

Pros:

Comfortable - Nice and upright with no strain on the wrists at all. I'm 6'2" and 200lbs, but my 5'8" friend could easily straddle it.

Noise - it's glorious. I'm surprised these are the stock pipes

Ride modes - Urban really does turn this thing into a puppy. Touring is awesome. Haven't tried Sport yet.

Looks - You'll get them. Make sure you get the special crow bar that pries women off without damaging the paint.

Holy crap the highbeam is incredible

Cons:

Matte paint shows EVERY FINGERPRINT AND PEOPLE WON'T STOP TOUCHING IT

Keyless fob has struggles connecting sometimes

Break-in - Too damn long. 600 miles before I can use more than 5k revs and another 1k miles before I can use it all.

All my bike friends want a go on it.

Oh, you lucky dog you. Looking forward to hearing more from you about living with the diavel.

That's the bike I most think about when I consider replacing the Road King. If I'd encountered one before the RK, things might have gone differently.

While I'm not a fan of his they look, I have to say the sound AMAZING and I'm sure they ride nicely.

More pictures or we might as well close this thread.

Day 2 update:

Mileage - 316

Avg fuel economy 37mpg

Comfort - Still good

Cons - Everywhere you stop people ask questions. Most of these people are cool. Some ain't.

Found a couple nice roads, spent some time sitting in traffic and generally had a grand time.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Na4Roi3psP4

Time for a distance ride. Sunday morning at 6:30am I departed my place in Revere and headed for my hometown of Springfield, Vt. The trip rule - no highway. I set the GPS to avoid freeways and let it roll.

It was 63 degrees when I left, and that's pretty chilly. My gear is all meant for hot weather riding and the dual radiators, which usually keep your legs nice and warm, weren't doing a thing since the engine was running along at 150 degrees. To make heat I would have to work the engine and to do that would put me at extra legal speeds in a hurry.

The ride was pretty uneventful and mostly meh in terms of fun. I stopped once for a coffee just South of Keene so I could warm up and rest my butt a little. The seat in the 2015 Diavel is much less scalloped than the prior models, but long rides still aren't its forte I'm discovering. It's not painful by any means, it could just be better. I'll look into solutions for that.

Between Rockingham, VT and Springfield the section of Route 5 is most excellent, and I got to wring the girl out a little (still constrained by my 5-6k rpm break-in limit). Man do I love this bike. It feels like a muscle cruiser when you're going straight, but when you find a corner you just pick your line and the bike says LET'S GO. Then when you're not going fast enough it calls you a Bob Costas. It really does egg you on.

Massachusetts is in a drought. Vermont isn't. Everything is so green!

Sunday was spent with family and Monday morning I departed once more.

It was raining over night, so we stowed the bike in the barn with the onions. City boy comes home to Vermont indeed.

This time heading a little North and East to my Alma Mater Colby-Sawyer in New London, NH. Before that though I stopped at my favorite New England Hillclimb Association hill, Mt. Ascutney.

$4 paid to the sleepy young man at the bottom and I had a run up the hill, which wasn't spoiled until I caught up to a truck 3/4 of the way up. He was going to slowly it was a struggle to keep the bike moving. Frustrating.

The top was worth it though:

I've never bought a brand new vehicle for myself, but the break-in period is pretty pronounced with this bike. Each mile had it running sweeter and sweeter. I started Sunday with 316 miles and ended Monday with 640. Time for the first oil change and a once-over at the dealership. I'll likely have them tune the dampers for me as well.

Still love it. It's a hoot.

In reply to DaveEstey:

I learned to ski on Mt Ascutney. My grandmother used to live just over the NH border in Claremont and my dad and I would make a ski trip or two up there every winter. It's been a long time now since I've been up in that particular neck of the woods, but I hear the resort hasn't opened in a few years now. Are the ski lifts still there? Heard a rumor they might have even sold them off a few years ago.

The resort is in shambles really. It's a shame. Poor management did it in. Not sure if the lifts are still there.

Amazing mountain biking though! Perhaps the best run and most fun trail network I've ever ridden, although I haven't been out west yet...

Update: Current Mileage 830 I brought the bike in for it's break-in service with 716 miles on Wednesday. Two hours later I was good to go, but while I was waiting they sent me out for a ride on a new 2016 XDiavel. Nice guys these blokes.

Review of the 2016 Ducati XDiavel: Comfy, but the forward controls thing feels really odd to me. The exhaust is much quieter than the standard Diavel, and the engine is tuned to be even less peaky. Still, it's a bike that doesn't take naturally to being a cruiser and wants to GO. NOW.

Would I buy one? Nope. Like my standard Diavel so much better. Can I see it attracting Harley owners? Nope - it's not relaxed enough for them. This bike is for the cruiser rider who wants to harass sport bikes. Constantly.

Nothing unusual was uncovered in the the first service of my bike, so they sent me on my way with an oil change and chain adjustment and told to have fun.

OK.

Today I took a little ride up to Cape Neddick in Maine - a nice ride if not for all the construction and traffic in Portsmouth. The view as nice though.

Since I'm out of the first break-in period I can now use up to 7k rpm (redline is 9500). This bike is good under 5k. Above 5k it's amazing. I also put it in sport mode for the first time and HOLY E36 M3. The front end can be lofted in 1st and 2nd with a quick twist of the wrist and third can easily clutch the front end up.

The exhaust note above 5k rpm is also worth of any Ducati. Bellisimo!

After several long trips I decided a backpack is not the way to go. So today I did this:

The mount went super easy and seems rock solid. I'll put it to the test with an overnight trip today.

Finished off my vacation having put just over 1,400 miles on this beast, including 300 with a passenger and loaded bags. Increase the pre-load on the rear and you barely notice.

I'm now pretty free to ride the bike as I please, and holy hell is it a rocket. Unbelievable roll-on power from 3k rpm on up. We needed to get past a car doing 40 in a 55. Sitting in 4th at just over 3k rpm we rolled on and were at 90mph before we got past the car. Incredible.

Also, big thumbs up for SENA bluetooth systems. Having intercom with the passenger really made the trip that much better. Two big thumbs up from me.

1,900 miles now and a few things of note:

The turn signal button sucks. It's just a bad design. Signaling right is easy, but left often means you push the cancellation button at the same time, which means no signal. No bueno. And it's not that I have small hands - they're proportional to a 6'2" 200lb guy.

The Givi bag setup is a game changer. So good and makes longer rides so much more pleasant.

Riding two up - great in the country, less great in the city. The riding position doesn't give the passenger much option but to put all their weight on you while braking. This was expected.

The engine is fully broken in now and MOTHER OF GOD. What an incredible powerplant. The sound. The power that is available EVERYWHERE.

I hate you.

After having the bike for a couple weeks this is pretty much how I feel https://www.youtube.com/embed/46kXH6GGtT0

So I decided to dress it up a dash. Here's a preview photo from the vinyl guy.

Colors are pearl white and matte red (relatively true to Ducati Corse colors). There will be red Ducati emblems in the wheel lips as well. I pick it up later today.

Before photo for comparison

That's going to look really good.

That white is going to look sweet

That looks amazing!

It visually minimizes the things that I don't like about the design of the bike and accentuates the things I like.

Good Job!

Yeah I think it makes the bike look much less bulky. I need to get a photo in the sun because the pearly white really comes alive.

2,800 miles in. No issues. Finally got a rear stand - big thumbs up for Pitbull stands. Very nicely made and in 'Murica!

Makes chain maintenance super easy. Also makes it far easier to clean that massive rear wheel.

I think, after my month of ownership, that I've figured out what class the Diavel is in. Power Tourer. It's a cross between power cruiser and sport tourer.

Well, I got a flat on the highway this morning. I guess I'll be able to regale you all with the costs associated with replacing a 240mm rear tire on a Diavel

Nice job on the chicken strips! Can you get away with using a plug or patch to fix it?

I haven't had the time to even look to see what I picked up. I had to ride it 1/4 completely flat to get to a safe pulloff though so I'm assuming the tire is junk.

Called the dealer about there tire and got a quote of $348 out the door. That's a big nagatory, smokey. I can get the tire for $190 shipped from Revzilla and get the tire mounted for another $40 elsewhere.

I suppose some people are willing to blindly accept what costs they're given, but in my case the dealer gets nothing because they were being too greedy. If it had been within $30 I'd just give them the business.