Victory Motorcycles, the cruiser-producing arm of U.S. powersports giant Polaris, showed the world another mold-breaking concept bike at the International Motorcycle Show in New York City on January 16th. Unlike the Vision 800 concept Victory showed in 2005, this bike is a stripped-down sport cruiser that looks much closer to a real motorcycle.
The CORE is based around a sand-cast “core” frame made from tempered aluminum alloy. It’s composed of five major components and like Buell’s XB and 1125 series of motorcycles, the frame also functions as the fuel tank. An inverted 48mm WP fork centers an 18-inch wheel, equipped with radial tires and radial-mount brake calipers. The rear 18-inch wheel is rigidly mounted, a perfect match for the carved African mahogany solo saddle. Comfy!
The motor is much less of a fantasy than the original Vision’s 800cc CVT-equipped unit. It’s Victory’s Freedom 106/6 V-Twin, a 1731cc design that’s already in much of the company’s model line. It’s in the “stage 2” configuration, rated at 97 hp and 113 ft.-lbs. of torque. Exhaust is via high-mounted scrambler-style pipes that exit under the rider’s thigh. Claimed dry weight is a feathery 469 pounds. Combined with a 64-inch wheelbase, low bars and mid-mounted footpegs, the bike should live up to its mission of being elemental and sporty.
The lack of suspension and that wooden seat probably mean this isn’t intended as a daily driver (although there are rumors of an accessory touring seat made of balsa wood), but that’s not the point of the exercise. Victory took one of designer Michael Song’s (who also designed the Vision concept and Vision touring bikes) concept sketches and turned it into a three-dimensional motorcycle to demonstrate the company’s commitment to cutting-edge, forward-thinking design. As Song said in a press release, “we wanted to make a statement beyond ‘custom’ and create something completely unique.”
There is no word whether this bike, or anything similar to it (with a more practical seat, for instance) will be put into production.
