North Bersted woman pleads for return of bicycle

Johanna Shiu said: “That bike is one of the loves of my life but it will be of very small retail value for the thieves now due to its age.

“The gears, brakes and pedals are nothing special, definitely no disc brakes or fancy gear system on it like the newer bikes have.

“I feel sick to have lost it and think that someone else won’t value it at all like I do.”

The distinctive-looking bike has a red frame emblazoned with Kona on the lower cross bar and Caldera on the upper in black writing with white shading around it.

It has blue suspension forks with blue pistons, rubber handlebar grips, stubby silver bar ends and an unusual pale blue saddle post with a lady’s anatomical saddle.

It was also adorned with bottle carrier, full tool kit and bike lights.

The bike was sold to Johanna by friends who married in 2000 and rode their matching Kona Caldera bikes more than 3,500 miles from Canada to the Mexican border on their honeymoon.

Since they emigrated to Australia, Johanna has won an adventure race on it and ridden it around southern England. Details about the bike to the police on 101 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.