Cruiser meets superbike in Ducati’s new XDiavel
When Ducati dropped its 1158cc V4 Granturismo motor into its all-new Diavel muscle bike two years ago it seemed logical to expect the feet-forward XDiavel cruiser would be hot on its heels in getting the same powertrain. It’s taken longer than expected but the XDiavel V4 has now been revealed and should reach dealers in the middle of 2025.
This isn’t just a case of slotting the V4 engine into the existing XDiavel. That V-twin powered machine, the last surviving bike to use Ducati’s 1262cc Testastretta DVT motor, was a holdover from an earlier generation of twin-cylinder, desmodromic-valved, trellis-framed Ducatis, while the new XDiavel V4 joins its modern siblings by adopting not only a V4 engine but a cast alloy monocoque chassis.
The V4 Granturismo engine is already familiar from the Multistrada V4 and the Diavel V4. Larger than the 1103cc unit used in the Panigale V4 superbike, it’s a much more conventional design that ditches desmodromic valve operation (where additional rockers and cam lobes positively close the valves as well as opening them) in favour of the valve springs that have been universally accepted as the norm in four-stroke engines for decades. It’s a change that limits overall revs and the potential power of the engine, but on the flipside requires less maintenance and is simpler and cheaper to manufacture. Since the XDiavel doesn’t need the same outright performance as Ducati’s superbikes, the Granturismo engine is the logical choice. Valve clearance adjustments are needed only every 60,000km, double the interval of the old XDiavel 1260, and even oil change intervals are wide-spaced at 15,000km or every two years.
It’s not weak-kneed, either. At 168hp at 10,750rpm its peak is 8hp higher than the old XDiavel’s 1262cc V-twin could manage, and max torque is the same at 126Nm, arriving at 7500rpm. Thanks to a lightweight design – the whole engine weighs only 68kg – the V4 is lighter than the previous XDiavel as well, despite hitting more restrictive emissions limits and having two extra cylinders, registering 229kg against the previous model’s 233kg (measured without fuel).
Even though the engine doesn’t have Desmo valves, it’s still superbike and MotoGP inspired, with the same reverse-rotating crankshaft and ‘twin pulse’ firing interval that’s used on Ducati’s racers and V4 sport bikes. The reverse crank helps offset gyroscopic forces to make the bike more flickable than it would be if the engine turned in the same direction as the wheels, as most conventional designs do.
The engine slots into an aluminium monocoque chassis similar to the design used in the Diavel V4, with a cast alloy seat subframe, and while Ducati has shifted away from single-sided swingarms on its latest generation of superbikes, the appearance-oriented XDiavel retains a single-sider – not only showing off its wide, 240-section Pirelli Diablo Rosso III and machined rear wheel to best effect but also making space for the four-exit exhaust that terminates at the front edge of the wheel on the right-hand side.
The bike’s style clearly takes notes from the Diavel and the previous XDiavel, but side-by-side comparisons show it’s a substantially different design to either of them. Longer and lower than the Diavel, its seat is just 770mm off the ground. It’s 15mm higher than the old XDiavel but 58mm thicker, while the passenger pad is 50% longer and 30% wider than before to add comfort for two-up riding. A bolt-on passenger grab handle is supplied with the bike, but easily removed if you want sleeker style.
The bars are pulled back further and lower than the old XDiavel’s, making them easier to reach even at full steering lock, and while the footpegs are forward-mounted as standard to make the XDiavel Ducati’s only cruiser-style machine, there’s now an option to shift them rearwards with a bolt-on accessory mounting kit if you’d prefer a more conventionally sporty riding position.
As usual, there’s a huge suite of electronics to help tame the performance and handling, including cornering ABS and cornering traction control, informed by a six-axis IMU, as well as wheelie control and launch control. An up-and-down quickshifter is standard, too, as are an array of riding modes – Sport, Touring, Urban and Wet – that alter the settings for the rider aids and the engine response. In Sport and Touring you get all 168hp, albeit with softer throttle response in Touring mode, while the Urban and Wet settings drop the output to 115hp.
On board, the bike gets a 6.9-inch TFT dash, borrowed from the latest Panigale V4, with the usual phone connectivity and the option of turn-by-turn navigation.
The suspension is much like the Diavel V4. With 50mm USD forks and a monoshock at the rear, both ends are fully adjustable for compression, rebound and preload, and the brakes are the usual Brembo Stylema calipers on 330mm discs.
Unlike the old XDiavel, there’s no ‘S’ version: just one variety of XDiavel V4 will initially appear in the range, in a choice of red or black paint. In future, we’d be surprised if Ducati doesn’t occasionally offer more expensive, limited-edition variants, as it has in the past.
