The Charging Bullet
one man and his electric motorcycle
I met Fred in a mirky Yorkshire pub in 2010. He was finishing an engineering degree and my filmmaking career was just begun. Over a few, we discovered a mutual appetite for adventure - but it wasn't for almost another decade that an opportunity to collaborate would present itself.
Since graduating Fred had moved to Hereford, and as he migrated nnorth each year for Christmas we would get together and catch-up. In late 2017 Fred arrived, excited by what had recently arrived in his workshop.
It was a beaten-up, 1961 Enfield Bullet - or a motorbike if, like me, you’re uninitiated. Built in Redditch and shipped as a kit of parts, the bike had spent nearly its entire life hard-worked in India. After its repatriation the bike fell into Fred’s hands and rather than fettling it back into form as just-another vintage petrol bike, Fred had a far more novel idea.
The well-worn engine and gearbox were retired and replaced, Frankenstein’s monster style, with an electric motor and lithium batteries; salvaged from a knackered Nissan Leaf. The result is a peculiar juxtaposition: a low-riding, chunky, chopper-style bike that purrs whisper-quiet, electric hums.
With electric vehicles on the cusp of commonplace status, we could see the relevance in our story. Over gallons of tea in the workshop we shared stories about the other green transport tech we found interesting. It wasn’t long before a line could be drawn, joining these dots together on a map. And the trajectory was obvious: a diagonal from southwest to northeast - a meandering skirmish, traversing the most iconic overland journey in Britain. So I challenged Fred to get his 50-mile-range commuter bike in painstaking increments from Land’s End to John o’Groats.
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The expedition was going to be ambitious. I’d drive a support vehicle filled with my filmmaking apparatus, a miniature workshop of Fred’s tools, and all the cooking and camping kit we’d need to survive a month on the road; while Fred charged out ahead on his electric steel-horse. We scraped together some cash for our no-frills adventure with a crowdfunding campaign. A bit of researching, writing and itinerary planning later we found ourselves at Land’s End on a brilliantly sunny, early October morning.
Fred's blog has a wonderful write-up of the bike build and voyage, and you can see the film right here:
The Charging Bullet made the official selection at the Santa Cruz Moto Film Festival, Adventure Travel Film Festivals in the UK and Australia, and was nominated for Best Independent at the International Motor Film Awards.
