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Motorcycle Of The Year 2016 finalist- Ducati XDiavel S | BIKE TESTS

First of all, welcome to the party. Over the course of 12 busy months it can be hard to savour the hits and highlights as they happen, so for us the Motorcycle of the Year award is a welcome chance to revisit and celebrate our favourite bikes.

This year we selected eight wonders: the Kawasaki ZX-10R, the Honda Africa Twin, the Triumph Thruxton R, the Aprilia 1100 Tuono Factory, the MV Agusta Brutale 800, the Ducati XDiavel S, the Yamaha MT-10 and the KTM Super Duke GT. They come from across the spectrum of bike genres: adventurers, tourers, café racers, nakedbikes and out-and-out track weapons.

What they have in common is that they all stood out from the two-wheeled crowd in 2016. Each scored an invite to AMCN’s annual MOTY ride, which this year took in the Great Ocean Road and some of the best scratching roads in the Otway Ranges. Saddle up…

Ducati XDiavel S

Ducati deserves extra praise for its efforts in 2016. Arguably the most deserving new model to miss the cut for MOTY 2016 is the Multistrada Enduro, a highly impressive debut for Ducati in the adventure market. The Panigale 959 is also worthy of special mention, as a highly accessible real world supersports bike.

But topping the list of Bologna’s finest for 2016 is the genre-splitting badass black brilliance of the XDiavel. If you think you know what cruisers are all about, be ready to be blown away – just like any sportsbike rider who underestimates this devilishly deceptive force of engineering.

Feet-forward riding no longer means you can’t carve it up with the boyracer brigade, because this cruiser was built for cornering as well as corralling attention. These two design targets have been pursued with equal vigour and passion, bringing Ducati’s formidable flair for fashion and performance engineering expertise together in a daring attack on the cruiser market’s antiquated conventions. Cruise control is the most mainstream of the XDiavel’s electrickery. Launch control, cornering ABS, and eight-level traction control (letting you blacken the road with impunity), are not your standard cruiser fare. And neither is the 40º of  heel-dragging lean angle which is willingly delivered.

Of course, the XDiavel is never going to be a populist model in the mould of Harley-Davidson’s massive sales successes in Australia. This is partly due to its high-performance and hi-tech position in a market sector which is inherently anti-modernistic in many ways, and partly due to the price tag. But, considering what you get for your cashola when compared to other premium-priced cruisers, the XDiavel punches well above its lithesome, very un-cruiser-like weight.

At first the feeling is completely unfamiliar, and it takes time to figure out the XDiavel’s capabilities in terms of sharpness of steering, potential lean angle, and grip. But the more you push, the more the XDiavel reveals an abundance of all these attributes. There isn’t the understeer you might expect, and even bump-induced steering deviation in cornering – the bane of over-tyred bikes – is barely noticeable. Keep pushing and the XDiavel keeps giving.

Cruisers trade on the promise of being badass, which more often than not presents itself in the form of plainly bad road manners. And the bigger the differential between front and rear wheel sizes, generally the worse the handling gets, to the point where some customised choppers are virtually unrideable. That’s why the XDiavel is a wonder of mechanical engineering. With the largest rear tyre available on a production motorcycle, a regular supersport sized front tyre and cruiser ergonomics, this low-slung, well-hung show pony simply shouldn’t work. But it does, and some.

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Second Ops

Damien Pelletier

I’ve never been a fan of cruiser-style machines, for their general lack of dynamic ability and ground clearance. Although they’re comfortable, it’s pretty much impossible to have my idea of fun on them due to the constraints of the chassis. The Ducati XDiavel takes those prejudices and flushes them down the toilet. In the cruiser segment it’s an absolute game changer, with performance from both the chassis and engine that were hitherto unheard of. The engine is slightly muted for this style of bike, which is a little disappointing. Other minor gripes are that the seat and suspension transfer too much shock into your bottom and spine, as I found out on some particularly jarring bumps, but that’s the trade off for the chassis performance.

Chris Dobie

The surprise package of MOTY 2016. A brilliant and ballsy move by Ducati to build a bike like nothing else on the road. But I think Ducati has made a mistake naming the bike the XDiavel, because people mistakenly think it’s the 2016 version of the Diavel. The two bikes are very different. Where the Diavel is just big, brutish and ugly, the XDiavel is stylish with a hint of brute. Its Panigale-style electronics take a bit of effort to work out, but owners will master the system in no time.

Paul McCann

If you’re not satisfied with the ergos, Ducati has provided the means to adjust the riding position with 60 alternative options for ’bar, seat and footrest layout. There’s also a classy little back rest for the pillion that will win plenty of fans from owners’ better halves. The belt drive and 30,000 clicks between service intervals make this a bike that you can happily notch up the miles on. This adrenaline cruiser blows the competition into the weeds. A future classic? Undoubtedly.