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Beside performance, handling and styling the sound characteristic of a motorcycle is a very important feature for the acceptance of the product by the customers and therefore the commercial success of a new product. Creating a special brand sound becomes more and more important to create a product that can be easily distinguished from competitor products and is therefore considered to be something special. On the other hand the legal limits in terms of pass - by noise allow for a very little margin for the creation of a special sound. During the product sound design phase the different perceptions of the rider wearing a helmet and pedestrians have to be considered. In passenger cars sound design has been known for a long time and the creation of a special sound for the driver inside the passenger compartment can be achieved with little influence on the exterior noise and therefore on the noise which is limited by legislation.

Diesel engines, especially CR (Common Rail) DI (Direct Injection) TCI (Turbo Charged Inter-cooled), share a wide acceptance in the passenger car market due to the enormous torque and flexibility at low engine speed. A pre - condition for the use of a diesel engine in a motorcycle is that the disadvantages like combustion noise and visible smoke are reduced or eliminated. Moreover the fuel economy and performance characteristics of a diesel engine are dedicated to be used in a touring or large displacement motorcycle. The AVL engine concept is the first high performance diesel engine to be specially designed for motorcycles in terms of packaging and styling. To compensate for the limited engine speed range a gearbox with a wide ratio spread is required. This leads to a manual transmission with at least 6 gears or an automatic transmission. For the AVL concept an AMT (Automated Manual Transmission) was selected.