Harry Potter's motorbike

Sirius Black's motorbike is an ordinary-looking Muggle motorbike with a sidecar, though this is deceiving: it is much larger than its average counterpart, emits a very loud roar, and can fly. It is large enough to accommodate Hagrid, a half-giant, and still can carry an ordinary-size person in its sidecar, and can fly fast enough in to compete in speed with a broomstick. It has a kickstart.

As in the books Hagrid is twice as tall as a normal man, the motorbike would have had to be magically enlarged to twice the size to fit him: an engine capacity of 600 cc or a bit more would become around 5 liters, as big as in some trucks.

Sirius Black and James Potter (1977)
In 1977 both Sirius Black and his best friend James Potter used the bike while being chased by Muggle policemen for unknown reasons, likely to be speeding. Their chase came to a close when they were cornered in an alleyway by the policemen, but Black and Potter escaped by flying over their heads and away on the bike.

Rubeus Hagrid and Baby Potter (1981)
The motorbike belonged to Sirius Black, but it was lent to Rubeus Hagrid shortly after Lord Voldemort attacked and killed James and Lily Potter and attacked Harry Potter, saying he would not need it anymore. At first, Hagrid found this to be very odd as, according to him, Sirius "loved that motorbike", and before Sirius was shown to be innocent suspected it had something to do with his alleged betrayal of the Potters. Hagrid used the motorbike to retrieve Harry from the Potter's house and brought him to the Dursleys at 4 Privet Drive, where Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall were waiting.



Rubeus Hagrid and Harry Potter (1997)
Sixteen years later, when Alastor Moody leads a group of members of the Order of the Phoenix to Harry Potter from the house of his relatives shortly before his seventeenth birthday, Hagrid is chosen to drive Harry and his possessions to the home of Ted Tonks. Arthur Weasley had helped Hagrid modify the bike with various buttons that could shoot out magically-produced traps from its exhaust pipe in case of a chase. This turns out to be useful, as Hagrid uses buttons to produce a large net, a solid brick wall, and dragon's fire, each expanding out of its exhaust pipe, to deter the Death Eaters. However, during the chase, the motorbike was heavily damaged, made worse when Hagrid tries to use Reparo to fix it, breaking it more. Hagrid has to dive off the motorbike to keep the Death Eaters from taking Harry, and ultimately they arrive at the Tonks house. Mr. Weasley hides the bike in his backyard shed in hopes of fixing it afterwards.

After the War
After the Second Wizarding War was over Mr. Weasley fixed the bike up and later returned it to Harry.

Behind the scenes

 * The motorbike used in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was a white 1959 Triumph 650 T 120 Bonneville.
 * The 1959 Triumph 650 T 120 Bonneville is also used to represent the motorbike in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows but this time it has a white side car attached.
 * Harry was first brought to the Dursleys' home by Hagrid riding the flying motorbike, and left Privet Drive permanently sixteen years later the same way. Additionally, Hagrid takes him on both trips. This is proven not to be coincidential in the film, as this is the reason why Hagrid takes him during the Battle over Little Whinging
 * The buttons might be a reference to James Bond's gadgets.
 * In Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Hagrid accidentally crashes the bike into Number 4 Privet Drive's flowerbeds.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
 * Harry Potter Prequel
 * Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Motorbike Escape

Notes and references
Moto de Sirius Black