A BIKER who lovingly restored a classic motorcycle has been left heartbroken after vandals damaged it in an early morning joyride.

Ian Daft, of St Georges Estate Road, Portland awoke yesterday to find his beloved black and chrome 1959 Royal Enfield Twin classic motorbike had been taken.

The thieves left no clue as to how they broke into Mr Daft’s lock-up garage.

The lock was still in place and the other contents of the garage including a tool box and a couple of other bikes were left untouched.

Only three people had keys to the garage and all of them have been accounted for.

Mr Daft, 59, said: “It’s just heartbreaking. It almost seemed like the perfect crime. They didn’t take anything else, so why did they take that one? Maybe it was because my old one didn’t need a key.” He added: “I realised it was gone yesterday morning.

“They must have taken it overnight. They didn’t break in, they must have fiddled with the locks because it was locked yesterday morning.”

Mr Daft bought the bike five years ago from online auction site eBay and restored it. He took it to rallies and won prizes.

The bike was found in Weston Street, Portland one mile from Mr Daft’s house. He said he thinks the thieves must have got it going and driven it around as it was quite a long way to push it.

Mr Daft said: “They did some damage to it. They took a few bits that will be hard to replace like the black tail box lid.

“They have ripped some wiring out and for some reason they have broken a wing mirror.

“It’s not too bad, but it is bad when you have spent five years doing it up, it’s not good.”

He added: “Why would they do that and why would they treat a lovely old bike like that?

“When you work on a bike you spend far more hours on it than the bike is worth. It’s a personal thing, you feel proud of the work you did.

It’s a nice feeling, exactly the opposite feeling you get to when the bike is treated like that.”

Mr Daft, who has been riding bikes for 40 years on and off, said he didn’t know if the thieves will be caught.

He said: “I feel angry, very angry. But you just have to let the police deal with it. I don’t hold high hopes of the people being found but I will be asking around Portland.”