2025 Ducati XDiavel V4 Review – First Ride

Ducati's effort at a cruiser is a confused use of an otherwise enjoyable platform

I am flummoxed by this motorcycle. So much so, that it has forced the first complete rewrite of my career.

I had submitted a 2,500-word review of the new Ducati XDiavel V4 – full of brilliant observations and clever asides – in time to meet a May 12 deadline. But feedback from the MO crew was that I had missed the mark. A 'stop press' decision was made. Better to do it right than fast.

The crux of the issue was that I'd focused too much on what the XDiavel V4 is not – and not enough on what it is. But, see, that's what's got me flummoxed. I don't really know what it is. To be honest, I'm not sure Ducati does, either.

2025 Ducati XDiavel V4

"We've created a category of one," Ducati's Head of Product Communications Giulio Fabbri told me at the bike's launch in Southern France. "It's different from anything else. It doesn't have any competition."

Ducati's marketing team, however, says the bike is a cruiser. When I spoke to Ducati Vice President of Global Sales Francesco Milicia he spoke about cruisers, and Harley-Davidson, and how this bike might compare against the MoCo's offerings. Ducati's website describes the XDiavel V4 as a "creation for cruiser lovers."

Hey, that's me! I love cruisers. I also love Ducatis. I'm in the center of that Venn diagram! I hadn't ridden the previous generation XDiavel (the one that was powered by a V-twin), but I was pretty sure that Ducati's bold, swaggering spirit would lend itself perfectly to the cruiser ethos.

Then I actually rode the XDiavel V4. And I was completely overwhelmed by what it is not. I couldn't think about anything else. It has forward controls, but that's where the cruiserness begins and ends. It doesn't really look like a cruiser. It doesn't sound like a cruiser. It doesn't ride like a cruiser. It doesn't handle like a cruiser. Repeat these points over and over again for 2,500 words and you have my first attempt at a review.

What the bike is instead... I'm not really sure. But let's see if we can figure that out together.

First Impressions

There's no denying that the XDiavel V4 is a sexy machine. It is the sort of bike you find yourself circling several times after a ride, taking it in from all angles. Ducati has put a lot of love into its aesthetic. There's no laziness; everything is well-considered. Not all of the design choices make functional sense, but, damn – it looks good.

The engine occupies most of the solid space of the bike, with the rest of the motorcycle seemingly wrapped around it like shiny Play-Doh. I'm particularly fond of the four-port exhaust. Modern emissions standards demand that manufacturers place ever larger exhausts on their bikes, so, why not make it a feature?

One of the criticisms riders had of the previous-generation (V-Twin) XDiavel was a lack of genuine consideration for passengers. To remedy this, Ducati has increased the size of the passenger seat by 50 percent. There is now quite a bit of surface area. Though, I'm not sure how much of it is usable since the seat tapers at the rear. Additionally, there are no grab rails on the standard bike.

This can be remedied by diving into the accessory catalog, where you'll find different seats, grab rails, backrests, windshields, luggage, and so on. Of course, doing so adds to the bike's already-salty $28,995 starting price.

The rider's seat is also larger than before and – initially – it is very comfy: big enough for derrieres far larger than my own, and cosseting.

As you would expect from modern switchgear, there are a lot of buttons to press. But somehow it doesn't feel cluttered. On the whole, the layout of said buttons feels intuitive.

Settle into the seat, and hands fall easily to the wide bars. If, like me, you are 6-foot-1, legs extend comfortably to the forward pegs. It's more of a stretch (pun intended) for those with less inseam. Seat height is 30.1 inches; compare that against a Harley-Davidson Low Rider ST, which puts your butt 28.1 inches from the ground.

Looking forward, there's nothing to block your view. The bike's 6.9-inch TFT screen sits just below your line of sight. It's very easy to read, but you do have to take your eyes away from the road to look at it.

The Engine is King

The grand new thing of the XDiavel V4 – its raison d'être – is its 1158cc liquid-cooled V4 Granturismo engine.

Fire it up, and it is definitely loud, but the sound is more mechanical whir than big-twin growl. A constant whining noise made me think of the hunter-killer drones in Terminator. I mean that as a compliment. There is unmistakable Ducati-ness in all this. Ducati engines have a kind of rawness – an eagerness to pick a fight. They're more honey badger than the bear of a Harley or Indian lump.

Ducati claims peak power outputs of 168 horsepower at 10,750 rpm and 93 lb-ft of torque at 7,500 rpm.

As is sometimes the case with V4 engines, you don't get all four cylinders firing all the time. Ostensibly for the sake of saving fuel and reducing heat, the rear cylinders deactivate under certain conditions. In the case of the XDiavel V4, those conditions are a little confusing.

In second through sixth gear, cylinder activation or deactivation depends upon a combination of speed, revs, gear position, engine temperature, and rider input (aka, are you hammering the throttle or being more sensible).

That last point is the key here, because the magic number is 4,000 rpm. With all the above factors in consideration, especially throttle position, roughly 4,000 rpm is when the ECU decides whether to turn the rear cylinders on or off.

The transmission, meanwhile, is smooth and reliable, with clutch pull reasonably light. A quickshifter comes standard but... ah... we'll get to that.

What It's Like to Ride

According to my spellcheck, "juttery" isn't a word. That's news to me, but I am a product of the Texas education system. Let's pretend it is a word: a combination of judder and stutter. On the XDiavel V4, if engine revs are below 4000 rpm the bike is very, very juttery. Disconcertingly so. I can't remember encountering a motorcycle so ill-suited to laid-back cruising.

That said, a number of the MO team have pointed out that this V4 Granturismo engine's performance in other applications – eg, the Diavel V4 and Streetfighter V4 – is markedly better than its V-Twin predecessor.

Because slow-speed performance was poor quite a bit below the magic 4,000 rpm mark – eg at 3,000 rpm – and the issue was arguably worse on a previous iteration of this bike – one without four cylinders – I'm disinclined to say that the jutteriness here can be blamed on cylinder activation/deactivation. I wouldn't want to claim to be certain either way, though. To properly diagnose the issue and its potential causes I'd need to spend considerably more time with the bike. All that said, it is worth noting that the issue generally goes away above 4,000 rpm.

So, I suppose your best bet is to just keep things at about 4,200 rpm or higher. But this is problematic in slow-speed or urban situations. Higher revs generally mean higher noise levels. You're not going to win a lot of friends in your town by always riding like this.

Seemingly unrelated to the bike's slow-speed juttering was a surging that occurred with steady throttle. The issue was sporadic and its cause difficult to isolate – fortunately it was more distracting than problematic.

And while we're nitpicking, the XDiavel V4 is like every other Ducati I've encountered in the sense that it really doesn't like being cold. Several members of my group had their bikes stall in the first quarter-hour of our ride. The problem went away once engines were warm.

All that aside, the XDiavel V4 experience is thoroughly enjoyable above 4000 rpm. The engine is (mostly) smooth, generous with its torque, and happy to accelerate to 'goodbye license' speed with almost no effort. It is perfect for fast, sweeping fourth- or fifth-gear curves, as well as rocketing forward in a straight line.

A quickshifter comes standard, but it's not the best. Sometimes it worked brilliantly, sometimes not so much. Editor-in-Chief Ryan Adams says he experienced something similar on the Streetfighter V4. Fortunately, the transmission is friendly enough that it doesn't matter. Shifting gears the old-fashioned way isn't taxing.

You do need to be accurate in your gear choices, though. I found myself clicking through gears more than I would have expected from a big-engine bike like this. Usually, an engine of even 800cc or more is forgiving of lazy shifting; you can, for example, lug out of a second-gear corner in fourth without too much complaint. The Ducati is more insistent that you get things right.

Meanwhile, I have zero criticisms about the XDiavel V4's chassis. At 505 lbs wet, the bike is nimble and flickable, but secure. Its suspension offers the perfect mix of smoothing out road imperfections while giving confidence in corners.

The bike's agility makes it easy to forget its somewhat limited at 39 degrees of lean angle. I can't help but wonder if the standard Diavel V4, with its slightly higher, more roadster-like riding position, might be a better choice for aggressive canyon carving.

The Ducati's aerodynamics are equally laudable. There is no weather protection, but you don't really notice windblast. Yes, you're aware of it, but you don't fight against it - even above 100 mph. I suspect dark magic is involved.

By now, this bike is sounding like a great choice for all-day exploration of backroads, right? Maybe even a bit of light touring? It could be, but remember when I said that the seat is initially comfy? After about 45 minutes, that changes. I felt pain in my coccyx, lower back and shoulders.

"That's just the result of the classic cruiser riding position," I hear you say.

A reasonable assumption. But I've ridden a lot of cruisers, and I've ridden them far. All without this kind of discomfort. I once rode a Harley-Davidson Street Bob (a bike that Ryan uses four-letter words to describe its riding position) from London to Prague and back without complaint. So, my theory is that the XDiavel V4's seat is too cosseting. It locks you into place, so you can't squirm around.

Another quirk of the seat is that it has an inch-deep depression in it that houses a cool Ducati badge. This depression collects water if you happen to get stuck in the rain.

Technowhizzbangery

As you would expect, the XDiavel V4 is loaded with gidgets and gazmos. Shockingly for a bike that costs almost $29,000, heated grips are not on the list of standard items. You'll need to head back to the accessory catalog if you want those. Heated seats are not an option.

You do get cruise control, though, and a suite of rider aids, including cornering traction control, cornering ABS, and something called Ducati Wheelie Control. I wouldn't think you'd be likely to lift the front end of a bike this long, but Francesco Milicia assures me it's possible.

"You can wheelie anything," he told me. "If you can, you can."