The Ducati Diavel for Bentley confirmed the V4 cruiser’s position as Ducati’s most luxurious bike. But its history is long by now, and delving into it can bring up a relative bargain.
Last week’s launch of the Ducati Diavel for Bentley was also the launch of the most expensive production motorcycle of 2023 from a mainstream manufacturer. The ‘standard’ Diavel for Bentley costs £58,000, and the Mulliner version is £71,000. That’s barely a grain of sugar in the cake that is the £1.7 million Bentley Batur from which the Diavel for Bentley got its design inspiration, but for a bike, it’s a positively colossal price tag.
So, let’s take it down a notch, or 10, to the 2011 Ducati Diavel, the original version of this revival model. The one pictured here is up for £6,386, so less than one-tenth of the price of the Diavel for Bentley Mulliner.
Does that mean, then, it’s one-tenth of the bike? Well, if nine-tenths are accounted for by green paint, then yes, but otherwise, probably not.
On the subject of paint, this one is a rare non-red Ducati, but the Diavel actually suits black pretty well, especially with the matching black wheels. In this case, those wheels are fitted with white-walled Pirellis, which are probably intended to mirror the tyre stripes Pirelli paints on its F1 tyre sidewalls, but we think they actually make them look like soft-compound Bridgestones from the pre-Michelin era of MotoGP.
In any case, the black paint, the black wheels, and in this case the white sidewalls all combine with the red steel frame to create a truly devilish look. Fitting.
Being a 2011 model, this Diavel uses a V-twin, something Ducati is moving away from in its spendier bikes with its apparent desire to fit more or less anything non-entry-level with a V4. But that’s not an indication of the V-twin’s lack of potency: its 162bhp is only six ponies down on the Granturismo V4 that the modern Diavel uses, and the old twin-cylinder actually had around 3lb ft more torque than the new V4.
Add to that the aforementioned looks and it’s easy to see the appeal of the old Diavel. Combine that with a price tag which is around £17,000 less than a current Diavel straight from the showroom, and it’s hard to argue that what you’re looking at here is a genuine bargain.
Find all the latest motorcycle news on Visordown.
