I went to the unveiling of the new Ducati Diavel at my local motorcycle dealer last night, and had a great time. After an hour of schmoozing, they pulled the tarp off the beast and these are my first impressions:

It is, in a word, ugly. It’s quite possibly one of the ugliest motorcycles I’ve seen. I thought the B-King was pretty ugly, but this is put a bag over it’s head, turn out the lights ugly. Turn people to stone ugly. You have to look at it in a picture or a mirror to escape with your life ugly. Even the Devil — which it’s named after — is saying “I look better than that!”

From the wee hardcover book they gave us for the launch:

It’s even worse from behind. There’s a small tail that goes with the massive tank. Nothing’s proportioned quite right. Don’t get me started on the stupid over the wheel license plate holder.

There’s a lot of col technical bits to the bike. The LCD color screen that allows you to access the suspension control (there’s a sport, touring, and urban settings), it’s got a very nice mill (the Testatretta from the 1198) punching out 162hp on a 441lb machine, Brembo brakes, LED lighting for the turn signals, license plate holder, etc. The wheels are very nice. the carbon fiber bodywork is very slick. I like the Ducati badge on the front fender.

I can see why the dealer was telling me no one was queueing up to drop deposits on this beast. It’s odd-looking in the magazines; it’s worse in person. Most of the curious parties want to see the thing in the flesh, first. So if you want to drop $20 k on a butt-ugly but fast bike that will most likely be unique in your town, the Diavel is your bet.