A US tourist whose motorcycle was stolen just hours after arriving in Dublin is hoping to get back in the saddle with the help of the Irish biker community.
Noah Horak (28) had travelled thousands of kilometres on a round-the-world trip but had his motorcycle stolen shortly after coming to Dublin last Thursday.
Mr Horak has been travelling since last April, when he quit his job as an electrical engineer to take his bike on the road.
He had parked at the junction of Talbot Street and Talbot Place at 1.30pm to check into a nearby hotel. When he arrived back to retrieve his bike at about 4pm thieves had clipped the padlock on his 2010 KTM 690 Enduro R motorcycle and made off with it.
However, Mr Horak said he has been shown great kindness from Irish bikers since and has been offered the loan of a replacement bike to complete the Irish leg of his trip.
“The motorcycle community has been very helpful, taking me for coffee, giving me rides to wherever I need to go, particularly Peter Bookey who is the owner and instructor at Aaron Rider Training in Dublin. I’m staying at his house in north Dublin, and he’s given me the loan of a bike for the next couple of weeks.”
Mr Horak reported the theft to the Garda last week, but his bike has yet to be recovered. The bike had been modified, and has a Minnesota plate, 1207 1MH. The frame is orange, the engine black, the bodywork white and the names of the places he has visited are marked on the outside of the cockpit.
There were reports that the bike had been located in the Finglas area, but it turned out to be a different motorcycle.
Mr Horak said he will stay in Ireland until Sunday in the hope of recovering his bike, but if it is not found he will travel to Britain next week to buy another.
He hopes to travel next to Norway and Sweden before moving up to Georgia and Russia for the winter.
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