Ducati Diavel Carbon 2017 — Specifications

When Ducati decides to invent a category, the rest of the industry takes notes. The Italian power-cruiser didn't exist until Bologna unleashed the Diavel, and this motorcycle has since set its own rules. The Ducati Diavel Carbon represents the step above, the one for whom the standard version is not enough, and you quickly understand why as you approach the machine.

The 2017 model year marks Euro4 compliance, but this administrative detail weighs little against the stylistic evolution engaged since the Ducati Diavel Carbon 2016. Red, the historical color of the brand, has ceded almost all ground to black. Frame, stripes, fairings: the dark monochrome has digested what remained of the traditional palette. The exhausts receive a Zircotec ceramic treatment, the seat changes upholstery, the rims offer new graphics. It’s not a revolution, it’s an assumed radicalization towards something darker and more tense.

What justifies the Carbon prefix is first the presence of carbon fiber parts on the front mudguard, the tank and the seat cover. But the most concrete gain comes from the forged aluminum Marchesini rims, which shave off 2.5 kilos in places where every gram counts for dynamics. On a motorcycle that displays 205 kilos dry weight for 234 kilos full, this work on unsprung mass is not cosmetic. The surface treatment that makes the aluminum shimmer within the black mass of the rim is an attention to detail that few competitors know how to apply at this price, even if 22,890 euros clearly positions the Ducati Diavel Carbon in the premium segment without seeking to apologize for it.

Under the 17-liter tank, the 1,198 cc Testastretta 11° twin-cylinder engine develops 162 horsepower at 9,250 rpm and 130.5 Nm at 8,000 rpm. These figures, combined with the 240 mm rear tire mounted on a single-sided swingarm, define the personality of the machine: muscular, imposing, but capable of a precision that its size does not suggest. The 50 mm DLC-coated Marzocchi inverted fork and the fully adjustable Sachs monoshock with remote preload complete a steel trellis frame that keeps its promises up to the announced 250 km/h. Dual ignition per cylinder and multiple electronic aids make this power accessible to a rider who is not necessarily a track racer, but you need to have your license to serenely dialogue with 162 horsepower on a 770 mm seat.

The Ducati Diavel Carbon is aimed at a rider who wants exclusivity without sacrificing efficiency, who prefers matte carbon to gleaming chrome and ostentatious discretion to tricolor decals. Faced with a Yamaha VMAX or a Kawasaki Vulcan S, the Diavel plays in a different court, closer to muscle than traditional cruiser. For those looking for a used Ducati Diavel Carbon, the model years from 2011 to 2019 form a coherent lineage whose resale value remains sustained, a sign that the market has definitively validated the concept.