#testastretta

There are lots of motorcycles trying to get your sport-touring attention. Somewhere in that space Ducati is fighting to grab some attention, drawing upon a name from its past in hopes to lure those who may recognize it. The name, of course, is the Ducati Supersport, and though we’ve featured the bike on the MO pages before – most recently during our staff trip to Laguna Seca – we’ve only ever tested the S model Supersport, complete with Öhlins suspension and the quickshift up and down feature. 

What do the Diavel and the XDiavel have in common? According to Ducati, aside from six letters in their names, only brake calipers and tires. So, despite the similarities of the names – and even in profile – Ducati calls the 2016 XDiavel the company’s first true cruiser. Don’t think of this as a boardroom construction meant to fill in a particular check mark on a manufacturer’s list of necessary products. As Claudio Domenicali, the Ducati Motor Holding SpA Chief Executive Officer, said just this morning over breakfast, Ducati doesn’t focus-group its bikes to death. Instead, the company builds the bikes it wants, the bikes that scratch a creative itch, and lets the chips fall where they may.

Introduced at EICMA 2014, the Ducati Diavel range, which includes the standard Diavel and the Diavel Carbon, is bolstered by the limited-edition Diavel Titanium. As the name suggests, the Diavel Titanium takes advantage of the lightweight and sturdy metal, and combines it with strategic doses of carbon fiber to create an elegant yet sinister looking new member of the Diavel family, of which only 500 will be made.