040 JULY 2019 →TOPGEAR.COM
t felt great! When me and Rishaad are
chasing each other like this on motorcycles,
we’re usually under the strict super vision of
race control and have the chequered flag in
mind. But this time, there were no points to
be won, no trophies, no celebration. This time we were just
two mindless teenagers wth not a care in the world. And it
felt great! Until I looked down at the speedo, that is.
All this while, our pace felt like a quick 80 - 100 kph. But
a quick glance at the speedo proved that to be ver y, ver y
wrong. The digital display was reading all kinds of numbers
north of 140 kph!
Something this big has no business being this quick
and fast. Of course, one might argue that the previous
generation of the Diavel was ever y bit the same kind of
monster. I’d agree too. In fact, it still remains one of the
quickest motorcycles I have tested with it hitting 100 kph
in just over three seconds! But, this new Diavel is quicker,
faster and corners even harder! I know! It’s hard to believe.
There is a lot of work that has gone into this motorcycle
that makes it the work of art that it is now. And to start
with, we need to look at the design.
It is unmistakably a Diavel. Think of it this way – from
the original Diavel, the design became sharper when
the XDiavel came around. And with the new 1260 , the
design folk at Bologna have taken things a step further.
There are minimal amounts of plastic being used and a
lot more brushed aluminium and cast metal. The frame
remains a central part of the design like in most Ducatis
but a lot of bits and bobs have been redesigned – like the
LED indicators that have now been integrated into the
body work and borrow Audi’s lighting tech for some trulyI
This Diavel gets the whole
suite of Ducati electronics.
Everything except SkyhookThe engine has now been
pushed back a bit for
better weight distribution