XDiavel V4
Ducati's new XDiavel V4 is a machine that defies labels. We rumble along the fabulous Route Napoléon in search of what this imposing device is really all about
By Chris Cope Photography Ducati
Identity is a difficult and sometimes contentious thing. When I lived in Wales, for example, it came up a lot in conversations. ‘What does it mean to be Welsh?’ people seemed to ask themselves. ‘And how can I prove that being Welsh makes me better than the English?’
Ducati’s new XDiavel V4 is a motorcycle going through its own identity crisis. Ducati calls the feet-forward machine a cruiser, but… ah… well, there's the contentious bit. They’re wrong. Or, at the very least, they’re confused. Another Italian of confused identity was Napoleon Bonaparte. So, on a stretch of road in southern France that honours him, I’m spending some time trying to figure out what the XDiavel V4 is and isn’t.
‘Wait,’ I hear you say. ‘I know American schools are not the finest, but surely they taught you that Napoleon was French?’
They did. But he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte. In Corsica – an island under French control for only a few months before his birth. Hitherto, it had been governed by Italian speakers. Napoleon’s parents had roots in Tuscany and Lombardy. He didn’t properly speak French until he was nine years old; thereafter he spoke with a Corsican accent.
In fairness, though, you find a lot of tributes to him in France. For example: the spectacular Route Napoléon, a scenic ride from the French Riviera to Grenoble. The route loosely follows a famous march that Napoleon undertook in 1815. You’ll know from reruns of Sharpe that Napoleon had been exiled the year before to the island of Elba. Because people of the time didn’t have motorcycles to keep them entertained, they amused themselves by making bad decisions. They exiled a charismatic, self-appointed emperor to a not-far-away island with enough resources to form a 1100-strong fighting force. What could possibly go wrong?
Route Napoléon starts in Golfe-Juan, where Napoleon and his merry men arrived on 1 March 1815. It moves into the southernmost part of the Alps on a zig-zaggy and seemingly directionless course that perhaps reflects Napoleon’s desire to avoid confrontation with troops loyal to King Louis XVIII.
The first several miles are largely skippable, rolling through urban and suburban landscapes with patience-testing speed limits (20kph at some points – that’s 12mph). Although, it is a setting that provides strong evidence that Ducati either doesn’t know or doesn’t care what a cruiser is. For the sake of avoiding muddling ourselves, let’s collectively agree that cruisers, and the qualities and characteristics of cruisers, are good. You don’t have to believe that, but many people do. And if you are going to sell ‘a Ducati creation for cruiser lovers’ (their words), it makes sense to expect the XDiavel V4 to possess some or all of the qualities and characteristics that make cruisers good. Like the ability to rumble smoothly and easily through urban and suburban landscapes at low speed.
This is not the XDiavel V4. This bike hates going slow. It hates you for making it go slow. Shuddering and convulsing through rush-hour traffic in Grasse, I am convinced that at any point profanities are going to pop up on the bike’s 6.9in TFT screen, cursing me for lack of pace. Rarely have I encountered a motorcycle so ill-suited to cruising.
How we got here
» 2015 Ducati had launched the Diavel in 2011, a hypernaked-cruiser thing with a swollen V-twin and caricature looks. Yet despite its huge rear tyre, the Diavel handled – editor Armitage recalls being on a GSX-R and being thrashed by one (admittedly ridden by James Haydon). Four years later, Ducati show the new XDiavel at EICMA. Driven by a 1262cc Testastretta DVT V-twin engine, it’s a more foot-forward and cruiser-like variant promising ‘low-speed excitement’. A mood board showing inspiration for the bike contains no cruisers.
» 2016 XDiavel arrives. In our September 2016 issue, Armitage describes it thus: ‘Overwhelming engine output and a track-ready chassis while in the body position of an arse-dragging water-skier.’ An S version is soon revealed, promising a handful of blingy upgrades.
» 2018 The XDiavel receives a suspension upgrade, improving the experience for rider and passenger – but stays a surprisingly sporty proposition. The pricier S version is offered in some fancy new colours.
» 2021 Ducati unveil the XDiavel Dark and XDiavel Black Star. Apart from minor changes brought on by Euro5 regs, the overall experience is unchanged from previous versions. ‘In truth, the new found horses aren’t noticed,’ muses Armitage (May 2021 issue).
» 2022 The line-up now consists of the XDiavel Dark, XDiavel S, and XDiavel Nera. The latter is limited to 500 units. In terms of differences from previous versions, the second verse is (pretty much) the same as the first. The XDiavel remains a device unlike anything else.
» 2025 XDiavel V4 launches. Belt final drive has been replaced by a chain, and rather more significantly the V-twin has been replaced by the ‘MotoGP derived’ V4 Granturismo engine. More tech and less weight than previous generations. Still not a cruiser.
When I have, it’s often been a Ducati. This bike’s powerplant is very Ducati: raw, aggressive, eager to pick a fight. And, obviously, the issue isn't actually low speed, it’s revs. The engine doesn’t want to get out of bed for anything less than 4500rpm. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to wait long. Immediately outside Grasse there is a steep hairpin turn. The bike’s un-cruiser-like suspension handles it without effort, and we are off, screaming skyward on roads with vistas that inspire jealousy – why can’t I live here?
Other testers have observed that it ‘goes like stink’. They’re not wrong. The XDiavel V4 is so happy when you’re on the throttle that you easily find yourself riding at a more spirited pace than intended. Meanwhile, because the bike is long and low (a bit like a cruiser), it plays tricks with your mind. I’ve ridden a lot of cruisers over the years; I’m familiar with the feel and fight of their weight through corners. Heading into a sharpish left hander, the Ducati’s physical presence mixes in my brain with my speed and I feel a surge of panic. I am convinced I have overcooked it. ‘Oh. Hell. I’ve done a wrong,’ my cruiser brain laments, observing that just beyond the curve is a cliff, nothingness, and inevitable doom.
With prayer and purpose, I throw everything into hopefully – somehow – avoiding that cliff. The bike responds by happily dancing through the corner with nimbleness and ease. So much so that I need to re-correct to ensure I stay on the right side of the road. As I power out of the corner, I realise I could have gone in so much faster. Once again: the XDiavel V4 is not a cruiser. Its suspension offers a perfect mix of smoothing out road imperfections and giving confidence in corners.
Not that you want to get too confident. There is 39° of lean angle on each side. In application, though, you have less. The feet-forward riding position means the heel of your boot naturally hangs lower than the peg. Your foot is most likely to kiss the pavement before the bike. Which is a great way to end up with a broken ankle.
For the most part, the corners of the Route Napoléon aren’t overly technical. Many of them you can roar through in fourth gear, occasionally even fifth. I love this kind of riding: engaging but not mind-melting. I’d be happy to spend all day doing this.
Unfortunately, around Escragnolles, I’m feeling uncomfortable. Ducati say the XDiavel V4’s seat is 50 per cent larger than on the previous-generation V-twin XDiavel – and the passenger accommodation is, too. Initially, the seat is comfortable and cosseting. But perhaps too much. You get locked into place. Depending on how much natural padding you bring to the bike, you can start to feel aches and pains in as little as 45 minutes. Thankfully there’s good news here as the scenery and small towns of Route Napoléon provide plenty of incentive to stop. Escragnolles, for example, has a very nice public water fountain and a large mural dedicated to hometown hero François Mireur, a 1700s general who is credited not with writing La Marseillaise but being quite good at singing it.
At Castellane, a little further down the road, I detour to follow the enticingly azure-green Verdon River as it twists and turns through one of Europe’s deepest canyons, Gorges du Verdon. The river is far below me, the road seemingly hanging off the cliff at points. The beauty is other-worldly. According to the internets, people didn’t know about this place until the 1780s. I find that highly unlikely. Humans have been stomping around France for tens of thousands of years. How could they possibly have spent most of that time not spotting a massive cut in the earth that is almost half a mile deep? But maybe this is a magic place, somehow invisible to most.
That would explain why they don’t appear to care about child labour laws. At a roadside restaurant, I am served by a boy who looks to be about nine years old. He is wearing an Aston Villa top and speaks no English. He offers no menu, but I guess from looking at other diners that lunch is a three-course affair. He is probably too young to have yet formed a solid opinion about Americans, but I do my country no favours with my impatience. ‘Is there more food?’ I ask after finishing my salad.
‘Sweet,’ he says, nodding politely.
‘No, I don’t want anything sweet. Not yet,’ I respond. ‘I want, you know, fooooood.’
He gives a cheery thumbs up and walks off. Almost as soon as he is out of sight it dawns on me the word he used had been ‘suite,’ as in ‘tout suite’, as in, ‘it’s on its way, don’t worry about it’.
I smack myself on the forehead and decide to do something constructive. Like stare at the XDiavel V4. It really is a sexy bike. It stands out on a showroom floor, but it is absolutely stunning here in the wild, where there’s little else like it. The bodywork wraps around its 1158cc liquid-cooled V4 Granturismo engine like shiny, expensive clay. Every curve and line is right. C’est magnifique. Che bello. I’m particularly fond of the gargantuan four-port exhaust. It looks like the cannon on a Starfighter. If environmental regulations are going to force you to have an exhaust the size of a rubbish bin, why not make it a feature?
I can see the influence of supernakeds in most of its aesthetic. Think the MV Brutale 1000 RR, or the aggressiveness of the KTM 1390 Super Duke, but with softer lines. Ducati probably weren’t thinking this, but I also see a nod to American homemade performance culture in the wide rear tyre. It makes me think of Busas and Gixers with extended swingarms and underglow lighting, tearing up the street in impromptu drag races on a summer night. Or, maybe Ducati are going for that look. The XDiavel V4’s tail lighting has the look of an underglow strip. Whatever the case, outside of the engine, the styling is more ‘improved’ than ‘new’. The XDiavel name has been around since 2016 and what you see here isn’t unrecognisable from what Ducati produced almost a decade ago. Those previous versions didn’t look like cruisers, either.
It’s pretty, but it’s not perfect (and not just because head-on it looks, to me, a bit like a scooter). Like every Ducati, it needs to spend time warming up if you want to avoid stalling. Water pools in the seat even in light rain. The massive air filter is mostly exposed, making it susceptible to bugs, rocks, and wet weather. The oil filter is so deftly hidden that you will almost certainly need to pay someone to find it. And heated grips do not come standard on this £25,995 motorcycle.
For the most part, though, this bike’s biggest problem is its marketing. It doesn’t look like a cruiser, doesn’t handle like a cruiser, and doesn’t cruise like a cruiser. If you want a cruiser, you will almost certainly hate this motorcycle. I can’t help feeling that it exists only because someone, somewhere, observed how much cruiser riders are willing to spend and thought Ducati could cash in by offering a single concession (riding position) to a segment of riders. That’s cynical and almost insulting.
When you ride the bike, however, it’s easy to forgive. Whatever the hell the XDiavel V4 actually is, it’s definitely fun. Especially on roads like this. To that end, I wonder how much use this bike would get in the UK. You need the drier weather of south-east England and the open roads of Wales or Scotland without the challenge of travelling between them. I suppose if this bike tickles your fancy, you’ll find a way to make it work.
Further up Route Napoléon, Laffrey is home to one of the most famous moments in Napoleon’s return: when he stared down the army that had been sent to stop him. ‘Soldiers of the Fifth regiment, do you recognise me?’ asks Joaquin Phoenix’s Bonaparte in the 2023 film Napoleon. ‘I miss you. I’m melancholy for my home… I want to come home.’
History suggests he only said the first part of that quote. But the latter part is a sentiment I can relate to. With aching back and hips, I am melancholy for the hotel bar.
