Because of the nature of the way we work here when it came to remapping Ducati’s Diavel for the first time we needed a bike here for a week or so. We had one dropped off from a customer and were then able to spend some time on it.
Now the problems that owners have with these bikes seems to vary. We like to get a solid idea about what they feel is wrong so we can make improvements in the right direction specifically for them. There’s usually a pattern, but not here, maybe a little bit of snatchiness is the only common ground. Our advice to anybody that thinks they want an ECU remap is to make sure the latest Ducati map is in it first.
Remapping for the Diavel should be a last-case scenario, if you really feel you’ve exhausted everything. If you’ve got cans and a filter on yes, but don’t expect massive gains from a remap – they’re just not there. The emissions equipment does create holes in the engine’s power delivery and all are easily switched off, making for smoother running. You’ll notice a better riding experience but only a few horsepower extra here and there.
We’ve done two and what we did notice is that the fly-by-wire throttle butterflies – controlled by an individual ‘pot’ on each cylinder – seemed completely out of sync. When they were a mechanical linkage, via rod, adjustment and balancing was straightforward. The electrical system is adjustable but much more complex but we think there’d be a lot to be gained with time spent here. To be fair, that’s almost Ducati’s job on a bike so new…
Ducati’s Diavel will be smoother after an ECU remap, but don’t expect big power increase…
