BMW bike stolen in Edinburgh to be reunited with German owner

Biker Jorg Lorenz and wife Mishe were devastated after his “pride and joy” was taken from outside their Newington hotel just over two weeks ago.

But after an appeal, the 32-year-old BMW bike - nicknamed Bertha - was found and set to be reunited with Jorg.

“For those of you who followed the story of my husband’s bike Bertha - the German whose bike got stolen - I have happy news to report,” messaged Mishe.

“We have our motorbike back thanks to the heroic act of one person in particular and the many acts of kindness from all of you and your friends.”

Jörg was spending the final night of a two-week holiday in the Sonas Guesthouse when he got home from a meal out to discover the 1987 BMW was gone.

The 58-year-old had spent two weeks in Scotland with a friend, Matias Vogel, travelling around the country by motorbike.

They started their adventure in their hometown of Recklinghausen, driving from there to Amsterdam, where they caught a ferry to Newcastle.

The pals then rode the bikes up to Edinburgh and started a tour of Scotland which took in Dundee, St Andrews, and Inverness.

They also took the ferry from Aravasar to Mallaig and up to the Isle of Mull.

Stopping off in Edinburgh on the final night of their holiday, they planned to ride back to Newcastle the next day before finding Jörg’s bike had been stolen.

Mishe told how the story of Bertha’s theft set in motion a chain of events which quickly led to the bike being tracked down after they offered a reward.

“Due to the high number of shares, the very sweet article in the Edinburgh Evening News and the support from the Edinburgh police, we were contacted by people who knew who had the bike,” she said.

“They told me everyone in Edinburgh was talking about Bertha. Suddenly the motorbike was ‘too hot to handle’.

“In any case, they got their reward and we got the motorbike. A bit worse for wear and tear, but the big bits are okay.”

Jorg is now planning to head back to the Capital next month with Mishe to pick up Bertha and pledged to “smile at everyone who walks by.”

And he was full of praise for Scotland - the “friendliest” country he has ever visited.

“I want to thank everyone in the Edinburgh community for passing on the word about my motorcycle,” said Jörg.

“I also want to thank Sargent Marc Copland who was very understanding when he took my report. And Stuart, who works at the B&B where it was stolen.

Mishe added: “The guilty will get away this time but as I said in the message I sent to them, you can only get away with stuff for so long before you have to pay the price.”

“We are planning to come back, next time with our camper and our border collie and Bulgarian street dog so that Jörg can show me all the beautiful places he visited.

“Wishing you all a wonderful 2019 with not so much crime and breaking incidents and thanks you so much for your help.”