Why didn't Sirius need his motorbike anymore?

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 157764

--- "Eddie" <harryp at ...> wrote:
>
> Eddie:
> In PoA, Chapter "Marauder's Map", Hagrid says that 
> Sirius Black lent/gave Hagrid his motorbike and said 
> he (Sirius) wouldn't need any anymore.
> 
> Why?
> 
> Eddie
>


bboyminn:

See, there's a small flaw in you basic question. It's the 
'anymore'. Really, Sirius never need the motorbike at all,
certainly one of the most capable students to ever come
through Hogwarts can Apparate. He might even be able to 
Apparate /while/ he is on his motorbike.

Further, the motorbike is certainly an illegal improperly
charmed muggle object. Which probably accounts for why
a 'bad boy' like Sirius liked it so much. But also, it
probably provided him with a means to traveling 
effectively through the muggle world. 

So, parting with the Bike at Godric's Hollow is no big 
loss.

We do know Hagrid can travel by magic. He 'flew' to the 
Hut on the Rock. He vanished in the blink of an eye after 
putting Harry back on the train to the Dursleys. But it 
is a little unclear as to the exact nature of that 
magical travel. So, it might be reasonable that even if
an under-educated person like Hagrid could Apparate, that
he not try and Apparate while holding a baby. Especially
a baby who was probably injured and tramatized. 

So, Sirius offerred Hagrid the motorbike to help transport
Harry to safety. Sirius is completely able to transport 
himself around by other magical means. So, from a 
transportation perspective, the loss of the bike is 
insignificant.

Sirius claims he /gave/ the bike to Hagrid. Hagrid implies
at the beginning of SS/PS that he borrowed it from Sirius.
He says he needs to get it back to him. Though someone 
pointed out that this has been changed in later versions
of the books. Still those two pieces of information don't 
necessarily contradict each other since they are based on
the preception of the individual persons in a very
sad tramatic situation.

Hagrid may have interpreted Sirius implying that he should
keep the bike as merely the stress and dispare of the 
moment, and not taken him seriously. Sirius may have indeed
thought that all was lost, and having lost what was truly 
important to him, saw, in a sense, that 'the thrill is gone'.
The Bike he loved meant nothing compared to the people he 
truly loved. So, he just let Hagrid take it.

Of course, this is compounded by the gradually forming plan 
to extract revenge on Wormtail. I suspect in his dispare, 
he didn't care whether he lived or died as long as he was 
able to avenge himself against Peter. 

So while a lot of complications come into play, it is 
important to understand that Sirius didn't need the 
motorbike 'anymore' because he never needed it in the first
place. He liked it, but he didn't need it.

As to where the bike is now. I have always suspected it is
stored at or near Hogwarts. Hagrid was the last person to
possess it, and he considered it borrowed even after Sirius
was arrested. I suspect he put it away somewhere and just
forgot about it. I doobt that it was a very comfortable 
ride for him anyway, so he would have no reason to continue 
using it. And let's not forget that it is probably an
illegal magical object; also disincentive to ride it.

So, stored at or near Hogwarts is my guess. 

For what it's worth.

Steve/bboyminn