Let’s get right to it: This piece is about the magnetic pull of motorcycles in general. More specifically, it’s about the particular kind of appeal of Ducati – and of the XDiavel V4 in particular.

Because that thing? It’s something else. 

You know what they say: “Four wheels move the body. Two wheels move the soul.” And few things on this planet capture the thrill of stripping life down to the essentials like a motorcycle. The moment the wind makes your eyes tear up – the machine thrumming beneath you and the throttle buzzing in your hand – you know that quote’s more than just words. Motorcycles come wrapped in myth: forged from speed and steel, nature and engineering, beauty and danger. They pack life’s big themes into a few square feet of metal – and anyone who’s never straddled one will never fully grasp the magic, never feel that impossible, explosive sense of freedom when your heart seems to expand with every mile you ride.

Of course, it has something to do with physics: centrifugal force, radial force, pure attraction. You don’t need a degree to get it. It’s enough to be the first off the line at a green light, leaving the world in your wake. You don’t need to check your speedometer either. Your chest feels the pressure. The asphalt sings it. The wind screams it. The engine pounds it up your spine, through your heart, straight to your brain. In this world of torque and leather, there’s no room for small talk. Wanna chat? Drive a car. Just going from A to B? Take the train. Motorcycles were made for the lone wolves, the outliers. You don’t ride a motorcycle – you merge with it. With the wind. With the horizon. With the hammering of pistons and the rhythm of your pulse. On a motorcycle, you’re closer to life than any car could ever get you.

“You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other,” Robert M. Pirsig wrote in his 1974 classic Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. “In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame. On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”

The only question is: what are you riding? Some swear by Harleys. Others by the Japanese. You’ve got your Bavarians, your Brits – and then, of course, there’s Italy. But let’s be honest: the guys on Italian bikes have always been the coolest. Why? Maybe it’s the names that sound like poetry. Maybe it’s the style. Or maybe it’s that touch of Mediterranean magic. While the rest of us were still sipping drip coffee from a little metal pot (and only when the weather was nice), the guys on Italian bikes were tossing back espresso, setting their oily demitasses on the workbench before getting back to the wrenching. Ask a true Ducatisti what makes the bikes so special, and the answer might be: “Ducati is Königswelle, Desmodromic, Taglioni, Termignoni, Lafranconi.” Translation? Legendary machine parts, valve systems, iconic engineers, exhausts. Welcome to the Ducati universe – if you don’t speak the language, you’re missing half the story.

And yet, the brand transcends language. Sure, you can memorize the history, know that the company was founded by Antonio Ducati in Bologna in 1926. You can even quote the spec sheet like scripture. But you don’t have to. Because Ducati speaks to deeper cravings: for Italy, for precision engineering, for beauty, for joy, for intensity and elegance all rolled into one. Ducati is more than just dolce vita – it’s racing heritage, a love of detail, relentless innovation. All of which makes it easy to picture yourself, with a glass of Chianti in hand, staring into an Emilia-Romagna sunset and dreaming of a Ducati.

For some, that dream involves a full lean into a hairpin turn, knee sliders scraping, sparks flying. For others, it’s more of a cruise: feet stretched forward, relaxed but still fast. Not everything has to happen on a racetrack. Enter the Ducati XDiavel V4: a sport cruiser with forward-set pegs – a first for Ducati. It’s got the power: 168 hp, 1,158 cc, 126 Nm of torque at 7,500 rpm, and zero to a hundred in just three seconds. And it’s got the looks: Italian design dialed up to eleven. Performance meets poise in one seductive package. That long silhouette? Effortlessly sleek. That muscle? Impossible to ignore. That paint job? A pulse-raiser. Whether you go for Burning Red or Black Lava, it hardly matters – both colors were made just for this bike. And both make a statement.

Just like the whole damn machine. There are bikes you forget, with bland sounds and even blander looks. No offense. And then there are bikes you never stop looking at – even after they’ve flown past. The ones that leave a trail of awe behind them. The ones that burn themselves into your memory. Because they’re bold. Because they’ve got soul. Like the XDiavel V4.

PROTAGONIST: Daniel Fuchs
PHOTOS: André Josselin
TEXT: Wiebke Brauer
LOCATION: Amperium am Humboldthain, Berlin

rampstyle #35 There Is No Substitute

A title like an advertising slogan – but one that seems like a life principle. There are things in life that are unique. Irreplaceable. They stand for something – and not just anything. Not copies, but originals. And these things touch us. Just like this magazine. And the people whose stories it is about. Find out more