Anytime that you have a chance to cross an item off your bucket list is a good day. So when Ducati called with an invitation to come test the all-new 2019 Diavel 1260 S in Spain, I immediately starting packing in anticipation of the Spanish roads that I have spent years dreaming of.
The ride from the southern seaside town of Malaga up into the surrounding hills on the way to the mountaintop city of Ronda town lived up to, and exceeded, the expectations that had been formulated over several years. With everything from narrow, technical roads with tight corners to high-speed sweepers combined with dramatic elevation changes, the roadways of Spain left me inspired and already planning a return trip.
I am told the scenery along this route is equally amazing, but in all honesty the pace of the Diavel 1260 S required that eyes remain firmly focused on the never-ending sequences of entry points, apexes and corner exits. Spain isn’t going anywhere and one day I will go back for a more leisurely ride. In the meantime this was the perfect location to test performance of the updated Diavel.
While it would be impossible to try and encapsulate all the elements of the updated Diavel into this quick post, I will say that in addition to being one of the most visually stunning motorcycles on the road today, the combination of Ducati’s 1,262 cc Testastretta DVT engine, a refined chassis and an industry leading electronics package has created a motorcycle that performs as good as it looks. Of course, with a name taken from the Bologna Italian dialect that translates to Devil, it comes as no surprise that this motorcycle had the ability to draw out a rider’s inner hooligan and keep throttles twisting more and more open as the day progressed.
The complete review of the 2019 Ducati Diavel 1260 S will appear in the July issue of Inside Motorcycles, in mailboxes and on newsstands in May. In the meantime the combination of this motorcycle’s cutting edge Italian design set against the backdrop of these amazing Spanish roadways resulted in images that we simply couldn’t wait to share with you. We hope enjoy them.
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