On July 30, 2022, Royal Enfield released the first of two extremely short teasers heralding its upcoming bike launch, which is scheduled for August 7, 2022. Using the hashtags #AShotOfMotorcycling and #AShotOfAgility, neither teaser actually gives us a moment to glimpse the bike in question, even in a reflection.
However, both teasers point to two qualities that Enfield seems keen to stress with this new model: Ease of use in heavy traffic on crowded city streets, and timeless charm and appeal. Let’s examine what Enfield is showing us in these two clips.
The first teaser starts with a shot of a woman sitting on a front stoop of a building on a city street, loading photographic film into a camera. Next, we see a man scooping up the woman in a big hug, in the midst of a crowd of people on the street, and swinging her around joyfully.
After that, we see a guy smiling and taking photos of people out on the street with the camera from the first shot, in front of a wall filled with posters and graffiti. The posters all read “Bullet Meri Jaan” and the date 05.08.22, and are filled with images of Eicher Motors CEO Siddhartha Lal. Is this talking about a new Bullet? Is more than one new Enfield on its way in August?
The “Bullet Meri Jaan” is a direct pull from a vintage Royal Enfield Bullet television advertisement, where that phrase appears in the lyrics to the song that plays throughout. Here, take a look:
Next, we see a person riding in profile, grinning under their full-face, retro motorcycle helmet. The sun is going down, and the music is swelling over this image. The single lyric we get in this 10-second clip rings out, “You know that tonight the streets are ours.” The closing shot features the focus ring on a camera moving around the Royal Enfield logo, on black, with the date 07.08.2022 integrated into the ring. That’s different than the date found on the posters in this teaser. Is that poster some kind of red herring, or is something else happening on August 5 that we need to keep an eye out for?
The second teaser is 11 seconds long, and it definitely gets the adrenalin pumping. It’s shot from a first-person point of view, and you can clearly hear that Enfield thumper sound, as we’re zipping through congested city traffic along with the rider in this video. The bright neon lights, nighttime riding, and speed at which the rider is weaving through traffic give it an almost video game-like quality, a slight remove from reality.
Much like the first teaser, this second teaser wants us to keep an eye out for a big launch announcement coming on August 7, 2022. In the descriptions of both videos, there’s a link to a signup page where you can input your email address to get the news directly from Enfield as soon as it’s announced. There’s also a countdown clock.
It’s clear that Royal Enfield is excited about this launch—there's even a live video on its YouTube page that you can sign up to be notified about. The title is “Royal Enfield | A Shot of Motorcycling Live From Bangkok,” and it’s scheduled to stream at 6 a.m. on August 7, 2022. Are you excited to see the newest Enfield(s) take the world stage?
