Tuesday 25 November 2014

Wizards ride Royal Enfield

Hagrid's motorcycle in Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows was a Royal Enfield
You might be thinking wizards have a monopoly over broomsticks and that is the only mode of transportation they prefer. Well, you need to think twice.
For me the only stint of the wizardry world was from the Harry Potter books. And boy was it a fine piece of creation. As a teenager I was completely enthralled by every adventure and occurring of the wizard world. But as I grew, I started parting my ways with the fictitious and mythical stories. Then when the Harry Potter movies came out, I realized that our beloved Royal Enfield was used by the half-giant Hagrid in the Deathly Hallows. So I did some digging in and got my hands on some pretty neat facts.
Hagrid riding Triumph Bonneville ( HP 1 )

A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky – and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air…

Yes, you guessed it right, this is an excerpt from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone. It is when Rubeus Hagrid lands his motorcycle at 4 Privet Drive. This bike was an actual belonging of Sirius Black and was borrowed by Hagrid. Enough of Harry Potter trivia, lets jump to the motorcycle part. From the book itself we can't make out what was the motorcycle which J.K Rowling had in mind while penning these lines. But in the movie adaptation of the same, a white 1959 Triumph 650 T 120 Bonneville was used.

16 years later in the Battle of the seven Potters, Hagrid is given the responsibility to drive Harry out of Privet Drive. Hagrid uses a motorcycle which was slightly modified by Arther Weasley. The bike was heavily built and had a sidecar. I am not sure whether Arther Weasley was somehow familiar to MI6's weapon development team, but he made an adjustment that made the bike capable of throwing traps and dragon fire from it's exhaust, at the push of a button. Which indeed came handy.

The Royal Enfield used in The Deathly Hallows Part -1


In the movie adaptation of The Deathly Hallows Part - I, The Triumph Bonneville wasn't used, in the motorcycle escape scene. Originally the team contracted Royal Enfield, while in the look out for a sidecar. But when they looked at the whole rig, they used the Enfield instead of the Triumph. Thus, the motorcycle that Hagrid drives in the Deathly Hallows, while Harry is sitting beside him in the sidecar, is actually a light blue Royal Enfield.

Check out this video, to find out some behind the scene footage and some neat insight regarding the bike used


I hope you rekindled with your childhood memories too while reading this post. Feel free to comment, share and suggest ideas if any (especially pertaining to Royal Enfield). Thanks!

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