It seems the days of Ducati's big-bore 1260 V-twin engines are numbered with the last holdout, the Diavel, moving to Ducati's V4 Granturismo engine platform in 2023.
Due to start arriving in Australasian dealers from April 2023, the Diavel V4 is currently priced at $44,937 and will be available in either Ducati Red or Thrilling Black.
While the twin-cylinder engine will be missed, there are a number of benefits to moving to the new V4 which is becoming an increasingly important centrepiece in Ducati's range.
Firstly, according to Ducati, the V4 model weighs significantly less than the outgoing 1260 Diavel, with a weight saving of 13kg for a dry weight of 223 kilos. It also helps that the Granturismo engine has massive service intervals and puts down a healthy 168hp backed by 125Nm of torque.
The overall styling keeps the muscle bike stature of the Diavel we've come to know, but in a nod to that V4 engine rumbling away at its heart, Ducati has bestowed the Diavel with a (sorry Ducati) rather ugly quad-outlet exhaust.
I get what Ducati was trying to do, and apparently, they put a lot of effort into making the new Diavel sound amazing, but it doesn't have the elegance of, say, MV Agusta's triple outlet pipes.
Other hardware includes a set of Brembo's 330mm discs with Stylema calipers to bring the Diavel to a halt and an inverted 50-mm fork matched to a cantilever-pattern rear shock absorber, both of which are fully adjustable.
Being a muscle cruiser the Diavel V4 gets the expected amenities including cruise control, rider modes and a TFT dash. A nice touch is backlit controls as well.
With Ducati rebirthing the idea of a V4 muscle cruiser, can we expect a certain Japanese brand to bring back theirs? Now that would be a grudge match I'd love to see play out on track.