The term power cruiser has been adopted to describe that bike that doesn’t really sit in any particular category as such and is what can most well, describe as a mix of sports bike and cruiser. A bike with plenty of horse power but is larger and far more rider friendly than a sports bike and is well at home mixing with traditional cruisers on long runs and rallies.
The earliest examples of the Power Cruiser would be the Yamaha V Max, Moto Guzzi Californian and the like and in the later years it was the Honda VTX 1800 and Suzuki Boulevard. It wasn’t until the introduction of the Harley Davidson Vrod that Australians widely accepted the hybrid style of motorcycle and you find many riders have a new found respect for the power cruiser and this is particularly true for anyone who has ridden one of the forementioned motorcycles but if you really want to get your rocks off book yourself a test ride on the Ducati Devil (Diavel).
Ex pat pommy dirt (flat) track rider, stock driver and Secretary of the NSW Ducati Owners Club, Vinnie B owned a couple of Harleys back home in pommy land and gave it all up for a new life here down under. He now has a thriving hospitality business, a restaurant, does a lot of business in the registered club industry, owns a building business and importation business out of Asia and with all this going on says he still has time for his bikes (Diavel and the second a Ducati Strada).
Many hours and man power and let’s not forget around $60,000 has gone into this beauty and Vinnie says there is still more to come.
So what do you get for around $60K? All the red bling is from CNC Italy, rear sprocket, brake and clutch covers, Moto Corse Titanium foot pegs, levers and mirrors, Rizoma fuel cap, handle bars and bar ends (Vinnie replaced the bars because he wanted more depth in his riding position) and all the carbon fibre was also imported from Italy. The seat was also changed because Vinnie found the seat uncomfortable due to his height.
The standard 162bhp 1198 Testastretta motor has been fitted with a Rextor chip and tuned up to drag and is capable of 0-100 in around 2-3 seconds and puts out around 167 bhp at the rear wheel. A set of Moto Corse Evoluzione full titanium pipes (first in Aus.) were also fitted. The clutch cover was changed out for a see-through CNC cover given onlookers an inside look of the inner workings of the clutch and it has also somewhat muffled the noisy dry clutch, the sound Ducati are noted for.
The bike started life the original black and Vinnie was getting bored with the bike’s appearance when as luck would have it he dropped the bike at speed and so took the opportunity to reinvent the bike and had it resprayed by Marc @ Sydney Custom Spraypainting, Guildford. Vinnie came up with a design and Marc ran with it. Vinnie wanted to use the Italian flag as inspiration, red, white and green, added some metal flake and Marc laid down some carbon fibre with metal flake as highlights. Originality was a high priority for Vinnie and he was able to get Marc to guarantee he wouldn’t lay down another paint job in those same colours on another bike.
Once sprayed, Vinnie made the wise choice of adding a screen for wind resistance and is happy with the results especially when travelling at speed, he also decided to keep the standard Marchesini rims and rather than replacing the original rims with the carbon fibre alternative rims, he had them polished up so as to blend in with the titanium components.
It’s evident just by looking at the bike the time put into it and Vinnie had a lot of people to thank, starting with Dean and Sean from D-Moto, for all the engine work, Frasers Concord for taking care of him and all the folks from the Ducati Owners Club who kept him sane whilst the bike was off the road.