Canberra man has dreams for Dakar race ruined by motorcycle theft

But it wasn't any old motorcycle - it was Mr Arthur's custom-made, uninsured ticket to the famed Dakar Rally 2020, a cross-country, off-road endurance feat hosted in Saudi Arabia.

"It's a disaster," Mr Arthur said.

"We put a lot of time and effort into building this bike."

He didn't want to share exactly how much he'd spent on the bike, lest he give the thieves an idea of what they were riding on, but he said it was in the tens of thousands.

Mr Arthur is a builder by day but motorcycle racing is his big hobby.

"I came to a point with my racing where I probably can't keep up with these young guys because of the intensity," he said.

But the Dakar, which runs for 12 days over 10,000 kilometres, offered Mr Arthur a chance to explore, test his navigation skills while feeding his competitive side.

"For me Dakar is the ultimate test of man and machine: mechanically, physically and mentally. It's the ultimate motorcycle challenge," he said.

He started putting the bike together with his friends at Canberra Motorcycle Centre and hadn't had much time with it since finishing it January.

"It's a specialist bike. It's not just something you can buy," he said.

He did a few test runs in January and competed in the Condo 750 in April in western NSW, a two-day, off-road navigational rally on a much smaller scale than Dakar.

Mr Arthur said he would need to compete in similar events in Africa, Europe or the United Arab Emirates to qualify for the Dakar.

"I just can't afford not to get the bike back. If I don't get the bike, plans change," he said.

Mr Arthur said he was offering a reward for the bike or information provided to police leading to its recovery, and had already had several people come to him and the police with information.

He said what he'd pieced together was a group of men had pulled up beside his ute, slashed the straps tying it to the tray then drove it "at a rate of knots" out of the car park at Canberra Hospital.

People had seen it being ridden in Moncrieff but Mr Arthur couldn't be sure. He said the bike is too unique to miss - orange and white, with "Simmo" written on its sides.

"Anyone who sees the bike or any parts from it will immediately know what it is," Mr Arthur said.

ACT Policing was contacted for comment.