SO WHAT ISSUES DOES IT HAVE?
I struggled to find any. And I looked.
And I rode, and I looked, and I rode
some more. I took the Diavel up
Thunderbolts Way to Walcha and
back. It’s been up and down the Putty
a few times and done the Wollombi
loop when I’ve been in a bad mood.
I expected it to hunt at low speed
and be kinda rough and gargly. Nope.
Variable valve-timing and
superb fuelling make the Diavel
smoothness incarnate.
I’ve had it belting along at speeds
well over 200km/h and noticed it
powers past 160 to 220 just as crazy
eager as it surges from 60 to 160
from 4000rpm in top. It just… well,
bangs. There’s no other word for it.
Overtaking anything is a giggle.
It’s over before you’ve even noticed it’s
begun. That engine doesn’t so much
make useable power as creates it from
the very bedrock of torque itself.
What niggled me was the seat.
It’s lovely and comfortable, and
made out of some classy suede-
like stuff. That’s not the issue.
The issue was no wriggle-room.
I certainly understand why there
isn’t any.
You got no business wriggling
when you’re accelerating hard
enough to trigger seismic shift.
So you really do need that bum-
cupping thing going on under
acceleration. And the Diavel is the most
sit-in-it-not-on-it bike I’ve ever ridden.
So that’s great.
But long stints – and I’m talking
800km days – had me wanting to
move around on the seat and swearing
to put more time in on the squat
rack. Interestingly, you can easily ride
it standing up for long stretches,
and even sit yourself for a while on
that wide pillion area of the seat.
So I guess I am really nit-picking.
And I will extend that nit-picking
to the headlight. It’s nice and
wide on high-beam, but it could
throw a bit further. I assume there
are no kangaroos in Bologna,
so I will forgive them that.
Oh, and the horn needs to sound
like Satan yelling. It doesn’t. Damn
shame – if you’ll pardon the pun.
And don’t go bellowing about the
cost of servicing. The service interval
is excellent. You only have to service
the Diavel every 15,000km and do
the valve-timing every 30,000km.
KIWI RIDER 45