By Shannon Wetzel, Managing Editor

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Photo Gallery of 2009 Casting Competition Winners

The Polaris Victory Core concept motorcycle started as a sketch dreamed up a few thousand feet in the air on a flight from Arizona to Minnesota. Michael Song, Polaris lead industrial designer for Victory Motorcycle, had been visiting with motorcycle enthusiasts who were riding stripped down versions of the Polaris Victory Vision touring bike. Song, who was building his own custom bobber—a raw, basic bike in which everything not needed to run is eliminated—was inspired by the transformation of Polaris’ complex touring bike into a simple bare-bones machine.

Back at Polaris’ industrial design department in Medina, Minn., Greg Brew, director of industrial design at Polaris Industries, was easily sold on the idea.

“We were interested in the minimalistic approach because it is really hard to do,” Brew said. “It’s easy to make something look modern when it is complex.” Polaris wanted to produce a modern-looking bike that was at the same time stripped of the excess.

Part of the answer to achieving the minimalist design was hidden within the Victory Vision touring bike. The large production bike features a cast aluminum frame, and the design team knew the casting process was capable of incorporating further part integration, which would be just the ticket for a bobber-style bike.

“The Victory Vision was our first application of a cast frame, but the Victory Core incorporates five or six more things,” Brew said. “We wanted to show there was a lot more you could do with casting technology.”

With the help of Craft Pattern and Mold, Maple Plain, Minn., an experienced supplier of prototype plastic and metal components, Polaris was able to make the Core idea a reality. The backbone frame casting—one of five castings that makes up the concept motorcycle’s cast aluminum frame—serves as the main structural component and incorporates the gas tank, air inlet, air intake box, electrical routing, and seat and motor mounts. The casting process afforded the bike superior design opportunities over typical steel fabrication and assembly, leading the backbone part to be named this year’s Casting of the Year by Metal Casting Design and Purchasing and the American Foundry Society.