The Diavel rocks!

The Diavel is my new bike of the year. Not being a huge Ducati fan, when I was thrown the keys of this monster at Silverstone on Tuesday I was expecting an ill handling, weighty beast that would run out of revs and scare me to death. Well I couldn’t have been more wrong as I had an absolute blast. The sweet 1198cc motor revs rapidly through the gears to what seems like an instant 150mph cruise and then she’ll stop just as quick when corners loom. Ground clearance is if course limited so although very stable, quick steering with a 240 section rear tyre is never going to be an option. I love the clear features of the unique split dash and unlike some big Harleys in this class the riding position is super comfy. I wasn’t sure if I liked the Diavel when I saw the first images last year but in the flesh (and after my 1st ride) it really is the business. A few stats. Price: Base model from £12,995,1198cc 90-degree V-twin, 160bhp, tank: 17 litres, seat height: 770mm, weight: 207kg.

At eighteen years old I was frantically filling in drains with gravel on the new M876 Motorway near Kincardine Bridge while dreaming of one day owning a Yamaha RD350LC. I keep telling Taylor this but he says he can’t find any Motorway jobs at the moment so he is sticking to travelling the world riding in the 125cc World Championship. And if that wasn’t jammy enough he has just taken delivery of a new KTM 125 Duke. Back in the spring he was asked to be an ambassador for the baby Duke so now he has nailed his CBT test with Shires MT in Derby he's out and about at every opportunity. I had a quick try out in the back garden but fell over on the wet grass while attempting silliness so now I’m totally banned.   

Have a read of this letter received last week re Heathrow security from a VD regular. I've left plenty bikes there over the past decade and never had a problem so beware.

Hi Niall,

I bought your old S1000RR long termer (RO10 UYJ) through BMW used bikes in Feb of this year. Awesome bike - I can definitely see why you've got another one this year.

I commute a lot on my bikes as well as weekend rides and left the S thou at Heathrow in May this year to go off for an overnight trip. When I got back it had been nicked, despite being chained to a concrete pilar in the bike park with an Almax Series 3 chain. Turns out the thieves took an angle grinder to the chain in the middle of the car park at 9:30 in the evening in order to get the bike away. I was pretty unimpressed with the security at Heathrow having failed to do anything about this.

I wondered if you would be able to help generate some media coverage of the poor motorcycle security at Heathrow generally (no CCTV, lack of places to chain bikes too etc.) in order to try and get some changes made?

Cheers

Keith Thomas

By Niall Mackenzie