Jenius Biker: 2011 Ducati Diavel Carbon

The Ducati Diavel is a beast of a street bike! Like my FTR1200 there are no other motorcycles in it’s class which is why I have wanted to own one for some time. These amazing Italian machines have over 160 horsepower and a huge 240 rear tire. I have put a few hundred miles on this baby and there is nothing like cracking open the throttle and hearing the carbon race exhaust roar as the Diavel powers it’s way down the road.

First ride with the baggers. SF-Gilroy-Santa Cruz-Gilroy-SF

I picked this one up below market value because it was in need of some TLC and more importantly a dreaded Desmo service. This bike represents one the biggest mechanical projects I have undertaken to this point, but with all my experience I was confident it was something I could accomplish.

First on my list was replacing the tires. I bought a No Mar tire changer not too long ago and figured this was a great time to test it out! The No Mar worked great on the front tire, but that 240 rear was a real pain in the a$$ so I took an extra set of hands to get that monster mounted. I also chose to try the “dynamic” balancing beads instead of the usual static balancing technique. Before re installing the wheels I replaced the front brake pads.

Ready for new shoes

Huge 240 rear

240 battle with No Mar

Looks like a car wheel!

“Dynamic” balancing beads

Polish the spokes

Upgraded the Plate Mount

New Pads installed

Rubber and Brake Pads Changed

After the fresh rubber was mounted up I went a a nice long ride to try out the dynamic balancing. The ride started in San Francisco down to my friends house in Gilroy to meet up with a few baggers. From there we rode over to Santa Cruz for lunch then back to Gilroy to watch MotoGP. After MotoGP I rode back to San Francisco. This ride confirmed a few things for me. One, the Diavel is like no other motorcycle I’ve ridden to this point. Two the Dynamic beads worked in balancing the tires.

After the ride I committed to the Desmo service by ordering up a bunch of parts which included a Barnett racing clutch, Shell oil, oil filter, belts, and plugs. The service itself wasn’t difficult, but was time consuming due to the level of disassembly required to access the engine. Basically all the bodywork needs to come off along with the exhaust and the tank needs to be lifted out of the way. The fortunate aspect of this service was that all the valves were within spec. The local dealer starts at 10 hours labor for a similar service so tacking this myself save me at least $2k! The only part of the Desmo service I can’t perform is resetting the Service indicator, why does Ducati make this unchangeable by the owner?