norseman
Supercharged
The Diavel was brought up in one of the welcome threads and I started to type a rant, but stopped myself because that's not what the welcome posts are for! Instead I'm going to post some thoughts here and see if I'm all alone in my opinions.
If you look up the Triumph Thunderbird, you find endless comparisons with Harley, Victory, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and all bringing high displacement low riding twins to the shootout. If you look up the Rocket, you find a couple of these... but for the most part our big beasties are being compared to the Ducati Diavel and Yamaha Vmax. Although I'm proud that an 800 lb Brit has the guts to enter that pageant, it doesn't seem like a fair fight.
Rake angle and seat height do not define a machine, they just describe wheelbase and frame shape. The Rocket is a cruiser, and a thoroughbred. It is spacious, at stock is quiet but with a warm rumbling cadence that is pleasing at highway speeds, and maintains unmistakable cruiser styling along with its undeniable cruiser attitude. It would be difficult to claim (even for the Roadster) that the Rocket was designed without CRUISING and touring in mind. It just happens to be the biggest, fastest, meanest cruiser in the world!! It should be stacked up against the m109 (which is also a fantastic machine), the Vrod, perhaps the Victory Hammer, and any other bike that was designed to provide comfortable cruising for the horsepower addicted hooligan.
The Diavel is an utterly fantastic machine, but a cruiser it aint. It's comfortable compared to a sport bike or even a naked, but cramped for long hauls (at least at 6'2" it is) no room for bags, it's got a great engine note but it's too high strung to really comfortably pack on miles, fairly short range on a tank of gas, and generally misses the mark on every element that defines the niche. It's a great competitor for the Vmax because it's a supremely powerful and excellently balanced 2 wheeled machine, but to compare it to the Rocket seems misguided. One is not clearly better than the other, they simply have different design goals. Invariably, reviewers side with the Ducati because it is lighter, more aggressive in corners, and has general performance characteristics not found on the Rocket. Am I the only one who doesn't understand this? Folks are calling the Diavel a "Power Cruiser" but there is very little cruiser to it. The bike was clearly not designed for cruising... doesn't that make it "not a cruiser"?
Really the same set of arguments apply for the Vmax, I just didn't include it throughout. The only things those 2 bikes have in common with any cruiser (from what I can tell) is rake angle and seating position. Does that really make them cruisers? If Harley took a sportster and cranked the seat up 20 inches, moved the controls to the passenger pegs and pulled in the front fork, would it be a supersport?
In the end, I bought the machine I loved most. I could have pulled the trigger for a Diavel or a Vmax, but whatever anybody calls it... cruiser... street fighter... I adore my Rocket. I may add to my stable as time goes on, but I can't imagine my garage without her generous proportions dominating the room.
If you look up the Triumph Thunderbird, you find endless comparisons with Harley, Victory, Suzuki, Kawasaki, and all bringing high displacement low riding twins to the shootout. If you look up the Rocket, you find a couple of these... but for the most part our big beasties are being compared to the Ducati Diavel and Yamaha Vmax. Although I'm proud that an 800 lb Brit has the guts to enter that pageant, it doesn't seem like a fair fight.
Rake angle and seat height do not define a machine, they just describe wheelbase and frame shape. The Rocket is a cruiser, and a thoroughbred. It is spacious, at stock is quiet but with a warm rumbling cadence that is pleasing at highway speeds, and maintains unmistakable cruiser styling along with its undeniable cruiser attitude. It would be difficult to claim (even for the Roadster) that the Rocket was designed without CRUISING and touring in mind. It just happens to be the biggest, fastest, meanest cruiser in the world!! It should be stacked up against the m109 (which is also a fantastic machine), the Vrod, perhaps the Victory Hammer, and any other bike that was designed to provide comfortable cruising for the horsepower addicted hooligan.
The Diavel is an utterly fantastic machine, but a cruiser it aint. It's comfortable compared to a sport bike or even a naked, but cramped for long hauls (at least at 6'2" it is) no room for bags, it's got a great engine note but it's too high strung to really comfortably pack on miles, fairly short range on a tank of gas, and generally misses the mark on every element that defines the niche. It's a great competitor for the Vmax because it's a supremely powerful and excellently balanced 2 wheeled machine, but to compare it to the Rocket seems misguided. One is not clearly better than the other, they simply have different design goals. Invariably, reviewers side with the Ducati because it is lighter, more aggressive in corners, and has general performance characteristics not found on the Rocket. Am I the only one who doesn't understand this? Folks are calling the Diavel a "Power Cruiser" but there is very little cruiser to it. The bike was clearly not designed for cruising... doesn't that make it "not a cruiser"?
Really the same set of arguments apply for the Vmax, I just didn't include it throughout. The only things those 2 bikes have in common with any cruiser (from what I can tell) is rake angle and seating position. Does that really make them cruisers? If Harley took a sportster and cranked the seat up 20 inches, moved the controls to the passenger pegs and pulled in the front fork, would it be a supersport?
In the end, I bought the machine I loved most. I could have pulled the trigger for a Diavel or a Vmax, but whatever anybody calls it... cruiser... street fighter... I adore my Rocket. I may add to my stable as time goes on, but I can't imagine my garage without her generous proportions dominating the room.
....not even close to the Rocket.
