The 2010 black and red Hayabusa was busted out of her locked garage in Fraser on April 21 - but the thief had no idea what he was up against.

The combined forces of the police, eagle-eyed Canberrans and social media led to the recovery of the bike last Friday, May 20, just short of a month later.

And it added another chapter to the story of Canberra as the city with a heart.

Everyone from ACTION bus drivers to other motorcyclists to her fellow dog rescuers reported sightings of the bike.

"How amazing was Canberra?" Heidi said.

"I've been talking to friends outside Canberra and they've said, 'I can't believe how everyone rallied'. And I said, 'I can'."

It started with Facebook when Heidi's first post about her stolen bike was shared more than 6000 times.

"That's Kardashian territory," she said, with a laugh.

The exuberant manager of media services at the National Museum of Australia had owned the bike for four years but Hayabusas for 15 years.

"It's part of who I am. I've always been Heidi with the Hayabusa," she said.

"It's just a beautiful bike. It's big and it's black and it's cool just standing still.

"It's a bit like the relationship girls have with their horse. You put your life in the hands of this damn thing and you love it."

Another key moment was when a friend, Mark Stephenson, on May 16 found himself side-by-side at southside traffic lights with the stolen bike - complete with rider - and managed to fire off a few shots on his mobile phone.

Another friend, Anne Brightman, then drew up a flyer, which was put up at work by Nick Brightman, and then posted to Facebook. That went nuts as well, leading to sightings across the city.

"It was like the whole of Canberra was on the hunt. It was like a great big game of 'Where's Wally?'." Heidi said.

"Some poor guy riding a Hayabusa in Wagga was stopped by a member of our club and had to prove it wasn't my bike."

A breakthrough came last Friday night when she got a call from a police officer saying the bike had been retrieved in a raid. That sparked an impromptu street party, climaxing when the bike arrived back home on the back of a tow truck, still dusty with fingerprints.

"We were all screaming and cheering and high-fiving each other and the driver and he sort of got out and went, 'Mm. Never get that kind of reaction'." she said.

"We were like kids, it was like Santa Claus had come into the street." She also put on another party the following night to thank everyone who had helped.

Heidi said the police were "incredible". An ACT Policing spokesperson said no arrest has been made regarding the theft, but "investigations are ongoing. Police are following all lines of enquiry".

In the wake of the theft, Heidi installed CCTV cameras and alarms, which upset her.

"I don't want to live in a world where you have to have alarms and CCTV but this has proven to me that I don't. I live in a world where the whole of Canberra has come together and said, 'No. Stop it'. That's the world I want to live in."