Roadster – Comparison test Diavel, B-King and Vmax: watts and show off! – The big mouths

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Comparative test Diavel, B-King and Vmax: watts and show off !

Roadster - Comparison test Diavel, B-King and Vmax: watts and show off! - The big mouths

As exuberant as the Yamaha Vmax but claiming the behavior of a roadster, the Ducati Diavel shakes up the muscle bike category … Site pits it against the Yamaha monster and the virile Suzuki B-King: comparative test 100% testosterone !

The big mouths

The least we can say is that Ducati did not do things by halves to challenge the Yamaha Vmax on its ground! With its monstrous look, its moss dimensions and its XXL rear tire, the surprising Diavel announces the color even in its name, which means "Devil" in the dialect of Bologna….

With the Diavel, Ducati has decided to position itself – against all odds – on the very elitist and ostentatious muscle bike market. A segment that the Hyper-custom rital intends to shake up – or even revolutionize – with its dynamic claims hitherto considered incompatible with this kind of motorcycles, which we often reduce to queens of the standing start.

Ducati obliges, the sharpened cycle part tends towards the sport (pies kept proportions!) And claims sufficient rigor to approach serenely the small winding roads, without the enormous potato of the twin directly propelling the machine and its crew in the scenery.

Devil beauty

Undoubtedly, the Diavel has a real "mouth" … which will not necessarily please everyone as it pushes the stopper of exuberance far! In addition, the uniformly black color of the machine made available to us does not highlight its original lines and the compactness of its rear part as much..

In the eyes of the Site’s editorial staff, her red dress further emphasizes the brutality released by its huge tank and its twin-cylinder shoehorned into its trellis frame. Nevertheless, even in black, the Diavel still stuck chills on the arms of a biker crossed by chance during our driving: we like it or we don’t like it, but the Ducati undoubtedly gives off "something".

The two competitors of the Diavel are not left in question look! Despite its certain overweight, the Vmax is still a phenomenal success, both with the connoisseur biker and the uninitiated person..

It must be said that the Yamaha is one of those rare machines (like the Hayabusa or the Goldwing, for example) whose aura goes well beyond the small world of motorcyclists. As for the B-.King, it is clear that alongside these two muscle bikes licked in their every detail, it arouses less curiosity and admiration from passers-by..

Long, broad (especially shoulders) and angular, the Suzuki nevertheless has a real visual identity, daring and to say the least impressive! But the soft lines of its taillight disappoint a little, while the whole appears a tad too "plastoc".

With its double Yoshimura outlet instead of its bulky stock exhausts, the Suzuki in our test appears much more desirable. This option has often been adopted by the 1,500 French owners of B-King, whose commercial career ends this year (read).

In addition to their brutish faces, the three monsters rely on their exceptional mechanics to amaze the gallery. Because a real muscle bike is not just a bloat! These motorcycles must be force-fed with horsepower and torque to atomize everything that rolls between two fires !

To stand up to the 200 hp of the Yamaha V4 and the barely moderated 185 hp from the B-King’s Hayabusa, Ducati dug into its organ bank: rather than designing a huge 1500 or 1600 cc twin , the Italian manufacturer was "content" to use the L-twin of the 1198 and other Streetfighter.

Heavy artillery

But by sticking to the Testastretta huge exhaust manifolds, the Italians have managed to turn it into a torque-fed engine that outputs 162 hp! And you can hear French bikers from here sighing in their corner: "200 hp, 185 hp, 162 hp … My eye yes, rather 106!"…

Diavel, B-King and Vmax assume and claim loud and clear their differences compared to the bike of mister everyone. It is even precisely their business and everything differentiates them: look, dimensions, geometry, equipment, etc..

In this little game, the most "normal" is still the B-King (read our). Despite its colossal fairing sides, it remains a big roadster with more or less conventional equipment and dimensions. It also offers the most natural driving position, as on a "normal" roadster with a light pressure on the handlebars..

Clearly less conventional, the Diavel offers unprecedented ergonomics on such a long and low motorcycle. The pilot has even more tendency to become embedded "in" the Diavel than to really sit "on" it..

The low saddle of 770 mm, hard and above all very deep, almost gives the impression of taking place on board a dragster! But the comparison with the kings of acceleration stops there: the Italian Devil is much thinner in the crotch and requires slightly bending the knees … almost like on a roadster !

Finally, the arms are relatively stretched above the long tank to get the handlebars rather high perched. It’s a rather particular position, confusing at first glance but not necessarily unpleasant … at least on not too long journeys..

Compared to the first Vmax which cubed "only" 1200 cc, the new 2009 version of the Yamaha 1700 cc (read) seems almost twice as long and wide: it is a truly imposing motorcycle which does not hide its 310 kg at dry !

If its saddle height may seem reasonable (775 mm), it is however penalized by an excessive width which significantly spreads the legs of the pilot. Suddenly, those less than 1.75 m will have to approach low speed maneuvers with caution….

For the rest, the position is relatively natural, between roadster and custom, even if the handlebars deserve to be a little wider in order to offer a better lever arm..

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