Ducati Diavel V4 vs Triumph Rocket 3: Which Is Better?

mdsseducation.net – so this year Ducati announced a massive update to their super power Cruiser naked muscle bike the Diavel replacing its long-standing V-twin engine with a new V4 that’s trickled down from their panigale Superbike and I recently had the pleasure of riding it at the international press launch and it’s an absolutely phenomenal motorcycle but is it enough to secure its place as the king of the performance power Cruisers well in my

experience there’s just one bike that comes close and that’s the mighty Triumph Rocket 3. one of the most imposing motorcycles available on the market both in terms of stature but also its performance figures and so in this video we’ll go through all of our key scoring categories rate each bike and then at the end declare a winner now first up

we’ve got that brand new engine in the Diavel V4 their V4 power plant was first seen in the panigale sports bikes and it was a revelation in terms of performance being able to rev way harder and therefore produce way more Peak power than the V twins that came before it Ducati then went on to use it in their Street Fighter V4 naked

and the Multistrada V4 adventure bike before finally putting it to use in the Diavel power Cruiser now specifically this is the same V4 Gran Turismo variant as the Multistrada so it gets rid of the fiddly desmodromic valves that Ducati are so famous for in favor of the way more common spring actuated valve system now the trade-off is that it

can’t rev as high so Peak power is significantly reduced but the big plus is that the service intervals are massively extended to a super impressive sixty thousand kilometers or roughly 36 000 miles which is double that of the panigale V4 for example and yet despite that it still makes super impressive power figures so 168 horsepower Peak at 10 750 RPM and plenty of torque with 126 newton meters at seven and a half thousand RPM this thing is absolutely

rapid when you wind it up and it feels much more akin to a super naked than a cruiser style bike the acceleration is is phenomenal and the V4 soundtrack is super addictive [Music] plus the engine also gets a couple of neat bonus features like the counter rotating crank which helps with agility and handling but also the extended cylinder deactivation system which switches off the rear cylinder Bank automatically when you’re riding at lower revs in order to help keep the rider cool but also optimize for fuel efficiency and

Emissions now let’s take a look at the Rocket 3 though which is another incredible engine that makes humongous performance figures in fact this is the largest capacity production motorcycle engine currently on the market at two and a half liters and in fact the closest thing I could find is Harley Davidson’s 135 cubic inch crate engine that

translates to about 2.2 liters but you’ve got to pay another eight grand on top of the cost of your bike already to get that engine fitted so the rocket is an absolute monster and while the peak power figure of 165 horsepower sounds roughly equivalent to the Diavel that’s not the full story you see the engine is over twice the size in capacity and all that displacement means it can generate a huge amount of torque so again more than any production motorcycle currently

on the market at 221 newton meters and it makes it super low in the Rev range at just 4000 RPM that’s almost double the peak torque of the Diablo V4 and yet made almost half the revs now the other thing that makes this engine feel kind of special is the cylinder configuration so it’s an inline triple which is normally The Preserve of

middleweight sporty nakeds not a big bad Cruiser in a two and a half liter bike like this you’d probably be expecting a huge chugging V-Twin but the inline triple which is mounted longitudinally in the chassis feels smooth and easy to rev sort of like a giant Triumph Speed Triple it’s definitely unusual to ride a bike with that typical triple character but just with a massive bottom end of torque and a really beefed up sound at the exhaust too now both have their merits

for sure but I think I’ll have to hand this category to the Triumph just for those ridiculous talk figures and also the sheer Audacity Of Triumph to produce a two and a half liter motorcycle engine and make it a triple another downside though of such a huge lump is that it’s super heavy I mean look at this motorcycle it’s 99 engine and the engine is

massive I mean this was never gonna be a featherweight and despite the fact that they put it on a massive diet since the previous generation they say about 40 kilogram was shed it still tips the scales at 291 kilograms dry so that’ll be well over 300 when it’s fully fueled and oiled by Cruiser standards it’s not too bad I mean compare it to the equivalent Harley or

Ducati Diavel V4 vs Triumph Rocket 3: Which Is Better?

Indian and you might even say it looks pretty decent if at least competitive but certainly when you climb aboard it’s immediately apparent that this is a very big motorcycle that’s not to say it doesn’t handle well I think I’ve always been impressed by the way it goes around corners of course the weight is all slung pretty low and the chassis

components are top Notch you’ve got fully adjustable suspension from shower front and rear and also brembo’s top drawer Superbike standard stilemma brakes but it’s just never going to be able to compete with the Diavel in this field which is a much more slight and Nimble machine here we’re talking just 211 kilograms dry so 80 kilograms less which is just a massive difference I mean firstly for the same power figures you’re going to get much quicker acceleration just watch any rocket vs Diavel drag race on YouTube to see the difference but also stopping and turning are

both going to be quicker as well and the Diavel rides basically like a super naked just with a much more Comfort bias riding position now the running gear is comparable so you’ve got the same Brembo style Emma brakes you’ve got fully adjustable suspension two this time from mazaki and also relatively sporty Pirelli Diablo Rosso 3 tires but it’s just that huge difference in weight that’s really the major factor that separates these two machines and I think on a

good twisty Road pretty much all of us would choose the Diavel any day arguably though Triumph weren’t really aiming to build a Diavel when they made the rocket otherwise they would have given it the same engine as something like the Speed Triple now this is meant to be a big cruising weapon with some real Road presence and I think that

actually becomes a big benefit when you’re out doing decent miles it’s got that weightiness that irons out the road and you’ve also got this super command in bar position a big wide saddle and a choice of Peg positions in fact there are two model variants to choose from so you’ve got the r which is more like a roadster with mid pegs and a strip back spec or the GT which is more so meant for like long stints and

perhaps a little bit of light touring and so you’ve got a bit of a fly screen the stretched out forward Peg position and also a passenger backrest too plus you can choose your peg position from the accessories catalog if you so wish so you could take the GT model and fit mid pegs or vice versa now the Diavel isn’t bad at all I found it perfectly

comfortable to ride if you sort of think of it more as equivalent to like a Naked Bike that’s certainly more so where the foot Peg is position sits but you do get the cruiser-esque low and wide saddle and also the wide and stretch back bar position plus there are a few accessories in the parts catalog like the touring screen and the passenger backrest but

the thing is it’s just more of a bike that feels like it’s always raring to go rather than a low and lazy cruiser with a big dollop of bottom end and so on a longer ride I’d have to go for the rocket now from a tech perspective both bikes are pretty much stacked so the Diavel gets four riding modes of sport touring Urban and wet and there’s a six axis IMU which feeds lean data into the ride arrays of which there are plenty so there’s

Corner interaction control Corner in ABS wheelie control launch control and up and down quick shifter cruise control and you also get their multimedia phone integration which opens up turn by turn now if you have that accessory installed now I particularly like the TFT display on this bike which is super clear and easy to read and it

also gives you a little bit of that sporty panigale or Street Fighter Vibe the rocket gets a slightly more unusual Dash that does contain all of the functionality of a modern color TFT display but it’s just built into a more retro looking rounded form factor now it does work nicely there are some neat variations in the sort of screen layouts but naturally

you’ve got a little bit less screen space than the Diavel now on this bike you also get four riding modes plus lean sensitive traction control and abs and the cruise control the phone connectivity and navigation as well as Hill hold control and keyless ignition and so each bike has a couple of extra features here and there when you compare them like for like so I think I’m going to give this one to the Diavel just because it’s got that regular

rectangular TFT display which I think is actually easier to use and easier to read at a glance now from a star perspective they’re both imposing looking bikes with some awesome design features and specifically on the Diavel I’ve got to give a shout out to that tail light design but also the massively wide rear wheel on a single-sided swing arm

and also the quad exit exhaust system specifically actually the one in the accessories catalog I think it’s an acropovich race exhaust it just looks incredible but I think overall I’m going to give the point to the rocket here because to me it basically looks like a concept bike that’s made it to production and the proportions are just so huge with that

humongously wide fuel tank and the fat front tire plus the level of finish is exceptional down to the details like the fuel tank strap and the filler cap and I also love the triple headers coming out of the right hand side of the engine now on the prices the rocket 3r starts at 21 995 pounds with the GT Model starting at 22 695. now the diavos starts at 23

595 for the red model and you’ll also pay another 300 quid for the blacked out version and they’ve got to be one of the only manufacturers actually charging more for the black paint job anyway similarly capable bikes each with their own strengths but I’ve got to give this one to the rocket because it’s at least one and a half Grand more affordable so that makes it 4-2 to the rocket but that’s assuming

all these categories are equally important to you which they won’t be for most people the Diavel is an absolute blast to ride and I reckon a lot of people will value that super low weight figure and the resulting agility far higher than some of these more superficial and techy features so as always I’d love to know which one you’d pick down in the

comments below do let me know and if you want to see more of my favorite new Ducatis for this year I’ve made a list of motorcycle live link to it on the screen here so you can give it a click give it a watch let us know which bike could be your pick down in the comments on that video as well many thanks for watching today and we’ll see you in the next one