2025 Ducati XDiavel Review | Motorcycle Test

2025 Ducati XDiavel Assessment

Motorbike Check

Sitting within the opulent environment of the Lodge Alcazar De La Reina for the 2025 Ducati Panigale V2 launch, nestled within the hilly countryside a half hour’s drive northeast of Seville in Spain, a anonymous, high-ranking Ducati official requested what I considered the XDiavel.

“It seems like one thing one of many unhealthy guys from Miami Vice would trip.”

As you’ll be able to anticipate, my try at humour didn’t go down as deliberate.

“Properly then, you’ll simply have to attend to see if we modify your thoughts,” was his curt reply.

Ducati’s XDiavel has been considerably the redheaded stepchild of the Ducati vary. The bike has occupied house on vendor flooring for 9 years within the previous 1260 format, however hasn’t been the gross sales success many in Bologna have hoped for.

The XDiavel (together with the bottom mannequin Diavel, for that matter) have by no means actually had any competitors from Japan or Europe. Maybe you may argue the Triumph Rocket III may very well be classed as a rival, however each the Diavel and XDiavel positively smoke it within the outright efficiency stakes.

We examined the Diavel V4 back in 2023 at the world launch in Dubai and beloved it.

The XDiavel V4 is basically the identical machine, save for the apparent much more outlandish type and angle that even for those who’re not aware of the model, you’d most likely guess was from Ducati.

The centrepiece of the $46,500 XDiavel V4 is identical 1158 cc V4 Granturismo engine that’s discovered within the base Diavel V4 and the Multistrada V4, which pumps out a claimed 125 kW (or 168 hp) at 10,750 rpm and 126 Nm (93 lb-ft) of torque peaking at 7500 rpm.

In contrast to the peakier high-performance bikes that home a Ducati V4 (Streetfighter and Panigale), the GranTurismo V4 is tuned for stronger mid-range energy, leading to a punchy, responsive really feel, particularly between 4,000 and seven,000 rpm. It’s solely from 7000 rpm that the extra sports-focussed Streetfighter and Panigale model actually will get going. Trev charges this GranTurismo drivetrain as the usual by which all others are judged. Excessive reward certainly…

Hammer the throttle and the counter-rotating crank (together with the myriad electronics) does its greatest to cut back wheelies and mash the drive into that fatty 240-section rear tyre and, earlier than you understand it, you’re fired in direction of your close to future at a wonderful velocity.

Acceleration from the 1158 cc V4 is irresistible whenever you’re on a transparent street with no vehicles to spoil your enjoyable. Get that motor spinning up in its mid-range, and it’s an absolute riot. There’s a lot mid-range torque on provide, and you’ll even see simply how a lot energy or torque you’re utilizing for a given rpm and throttle place by way of the cool little graphic on the left facet of the brand new sprint.

The short-shifter engagement shouldn’t be as easy as I’d have favored, particularly at low rpm. I needed to hold reminding myself that it is a superbike-derived motor (even whether it is now firmly ensconced within the touring camp), and as such, low rpm remains to be not its sport; the engine likes mid-to-high rpm shifts with all of the engine internals working at a quick tempo.

It’ll nonetheless do slow-speed shifting on the DQS, however I discovered utilizing the clutch for sub-60 km/h using made the expertise much more snug. Ducati’s rear cylinder deactivation in visitors additionally enhances trip consolation by decreasing warmth from the V4, which may be uncomfortable in sure situations. Nevertheless, given the virtually spot-on temperature situations in Colorado, it was laborious to really feel the distinction. A screaming sizzling summer time’s day in Melbourne could be extra the place to check it.

Like its much less swanky Diavel V4 brother, the XDiavel V4 comes with 4 using modes (Moist, City, Touring, Sport), three energy modes (Excessive with 168 hp/125kW, Medium with 168 hp/125 kW however a smoother throttle response, and Low with 115 hp/85kW with a sedate throttle response).

There’s additionally the standard Cornering ABS and traction management, wheelie management, energy launch, LED’s entrance and rear, cruise management, and turn-by-turn navigation as normal (good job, Ducati).

These methods are managed by means of a pointy 6.9-inch TFT show, the identical because the Panigale’s, that presents data in a transparent and intuitive format. Navigation, media, and name integration can be found by way of Bluetooth, with Ducati’s proprietary app providing extra performance like trip monitoring and system updates.

One space that boggles the thoughts is that, on this close to $47K bike, Ducati hasn’t given the rider heated hand grips as normal. Nor do you get radar-assisted cruise management, digital suspension, or perhaps a preload adjustment knob for the rear suspension.

That half, together with the grips, I discover gorgeous, particularly given it is a bike you’ll most likely wish to use to cowl some fairly huge miles with a passenger and possibly even baggage. Thus, having to alter preload setups with the collar doesn’t meet the usual of the remainder of the machine.

Anyway, shifting on.

One space that’s spectacular is that the motor’s valve test is now out to a whopping 60,000 km, and the oil adjustments are 15,000 km aside, thus bringing down the price of possession.

Ducati has completed wonders to make a motorbike with an arse so fats, deal with in addition to it does.

With its lengthy wheelbase and fats 240-section rear tyre, you would possibly anticipate the XDiavel V4 to be a reluctant companion within the twisties. However as soon as underway, the XDiavel V4 is remarkably cooperative. Flip-in is easy and predictable, the bike holds a line with confidence, and it does so with much less rider enter than on the previous 1260 XDiavel.

You’re sitting fairly low at 764 mm seat peak (Ducati has an aftermarket seat that provides you with an additional inch of leg room, and belief me, for those who’re over 178 cm tall, you’re going to need it,) and the XDiavel V4 comes normal with forward-mount foot controls within the conventional cruiser type.

This, nevertheless, proved incompatible with me after 45 minutes on board. The mix of the ahead controls and the acute curvature of the seat put an uncivilised quantity of strain on my decrease again, to the purpose the place I needed to demand that Ducati match the $300 further mid-mount controls, or else I’d be taking the bus again to the lodge.

This put the XDiavel V4 again into the identical trip place because the Diavel V4 I examined in Dubai, reworking the machine right into a bruiser bare bike, one the place I may get my weight over the entrance finish and make it steer with a bit extra pace and much more precision.

It additionally took 70 per cent of the burden off my decrease again and made the trip much more snug. If I had entry to the taller seat, I feel I’d have hit the using place candy spot.

That being stated, the handlebars are 20 mm decrease and 15 mm nearer to the rider than beforehand, so the attain to the handlebars is snug no matter what foot place you could have chosen.

The suspension setup contains a 50 mm inverted fork up entrance and a completely adjustable monoshock on the rear. In normal setting for a 93 kg rider akin to myself, the trip consists and fairly snug (when you’ve acquired your toes place sorted), though you’ll get a little bit of a shock up by means of the seat for those who hit square-edged potholes at any respectable pace.

In sooner corners, the massive ’ol wheelbase of 1620 mm and the 240-section rear tyre make for a little bit of a sluggish preliminary flip, however once more, it’s a must to anticipate that with the territory.

Given the bike’s dimension and size, it’s outstanding how nimbler the XDiavel V4 is. It received’t maintain a candle to any sporty nakedbikes, however handles with extra precision and has a larger pace of flip than a motorbike this dimension has any proper to.

Braking efficiency is robust as you’d anticipate with Brembo Stylema four-piston calipers biting down on 330 mm entrance discs with a Brembo radial master-cylinder supplying you with loads of really feel on the lever. When backed up by Cornering ABS and that includes the large 265 mm rear disc, braking may be very troublesome to fault.

The XDiavel V4’s styling is a significant pillar of its id. Let or not it’s recognized—this isn’t a refined bike. The aggressive stance jogs my memory of nightclub bouncers with ’roided up traps. The distinctive lighting signature, the XDiavel V4, extra so than the Diavel V4, is designed to show heads.

The quad-exit exhaust system, tucked neatly on the correct facet, is each a visible and auditory spotlight. The sound is wealthy and deep at idle, and transforms right into a feral bark underneath acceleration (Ducati even has a full race exhaust for this bike that was modelled on the Spitfire WWII airplane that should sound extraordinary).

For riders in search of a cruiser that’s about so far as you will get from the Harley-Davidson/Indian Motorbike definition, the XDiavel V4 is a compelling possibility.

Bringing collectively the emotional attraction of Italian design, the brute pressure of the high-performance V4, and the sort of technological polish that’s now a trademark of recent Ducatis.

The XDiavel shouldn’t be a motorbike for everybody, however for individuals who perceive the language, this bike speaks volumes. Even Miami Vice villains…

2025 Ducati XDiavel V4 Specs

2025 Ducati XDiavel V4 Photographs