DUCATI revealed the above lightly updated 2016 Diavel Carbon this week. All very exciting, but it raises a question: if the Diavel still looks like this, then what was that belt-drive thing we saw in spy shots in August and again this month.
Most of the bike press guessed it was a new Diavel taking a more cruiser-ish direction – and we fell into the same trap.
But while they're sticking to their guns, we've reassessed. The updated Diavel Carbon lends weight to the idea that it is instead simply a new Ducati cruiser model and one of the nine new launches the Italian marque recently promised for the Eicma Milan show this November.
Announcing that news, Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali said: ‘Two of these will take us into segments in which we’re currently not present.’
A model targeting the cruiser market would certainly do that, since many see the existing Diavel as more of a super-naked hybrid.
The feet-forward riding position of the spied machine, together with its increased steering rake angle (best seen here), also point to a new cruiser model rather than a new path for the Diavel. The trellis steel frame looks different too, attaching to the cylinder heads as on the Monster 1200 and 821 instead of extending to the sub-frame as on the current Diavel.
If we’re wrong, and it is a new Diavel, then the updated Carbon suggests it’s not due to be launched until 2017, and we’ll know when there’s no Ducati cruiser at Eicma.
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