Brazen thief steals Triumph bike on trailer in Melbourne Road

The sales manager said his just-restored bike was on a trailer hitched to his car parked just metres from the glass windows of Wodonga's Hadar Homes on Monday afternoon.

"This is the sort of thing I would expect to happen in darkness of the early hours of the morning - not at lunchtime on busy Melbourne Road," said Mr Cartwright, who didn't see the man stealing it.

"It's just amazing. The bloke who did it I think just happened to see it there, I don't believe this was a planned robbery, neither do the police.

"He just saw it there and brazenly unhooked it from my car, attached it to his SUV then drove away."

He said it was unlikely the thief had been "any sort of mastermind" who had been scoping him.

"I'm pretty sure it was just opportunistic, this bloke just happened to see it there that day," he said.

"I've never posted anything about it on social media, most people didn't even know I had the bike."

Mr Cartwright said he had spent months restoring the rare 2007 Triumph America and was planning to take the bike to the VicRoads to register it that afternoon so he could go on a weekend ride.

"To be honest, I'm not very handy, so this has been really hard for me to do and it's been really frustrating at times, but extremely rewarding," he said.

"For it to be stolen in a flash like that, right outside my office has devastated me."

IN OTHER NEWS:

Mr Cartwright said he wanted to issue a warning to people to lock up their belongings because they were easy game for thieves any time of the day or night.

Police interviewed staff at the business next door who said a "tall, skinny, bogan-like man who was missing one tooth" had asked their front counter attendant about the bike about 30 minutes before it was stolen.

"It appears the bloke who stole it thought the keys for the bike might be there and he was pretending he was picking it up and they said they didn't know anything about it," Mr Cartwright said. "Then he just unhitched the trailer, hooked it up to his car and off he went."

The alleged thief was last seen towing the bike down McKoy Street, Wodonga, in a silver Volkswagen Tiguan SUV at 2.45pm on Monday.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: