'Like a horror movie with a happy ending': how one rider's run-in with a thief came good after his bike was returned in pieces

One round-the-world bikepacking odyssey turned into something with notes of horror movie after a cyclist's bike was stolen in Argentina.

After his Surly Long Haul trucker went missing from a hotel garage, Zsolt Lokodi was reunited with it three days later thanks to the efforts of local police. However, it was not quite the reunion he had hoped for – Lokodi's bike had been sawn into pieces.

The frame was in numerous pieces large and small and missing key components like the chainset, and his Brooks saddle.

Lokodi, a British citizen, who originally hails from Transylvania in Romania, had ridden the bike – named Ulysses by Lodoki after the great adventurer of Greek mythology – around 60,000km over the past two years before it was stolen.

However, in a happy twist to the tale, Lokodi contacted Surly in the US which said it would fly a new bike out to him. Surly will be sending him a Disc Trucker which he hopes to receive in a week or so, Lokodi told Cycling Weekly.

"I got in touch with Surly and told them my story," he said, "and they said, well right now we are in the position of being able to send you a replacement bike. So that cheers me up.

"This is one of those very rare situations where a horror story has a happy ending," he said.

Lokodi had worked as a carer in the UK for 20 years before decided to up sticks and raise funds to see the world by bike. He already had a fair bit of riding under his belt, including riding the length of the Rhine twice, and a couple of unfinished attempts on the UK End to End, which he still plans to finish.

By the time he reached Argentina, where he was separated from his bike by the thief, Lokodi had ridden from the UK down to Turkey before hopping across to Malaysia and touring the Far East. He had then flown to Los Angeles and ridden all the way down via Central America.

Lokodi theory behind his bike's violent dismantling was that the thief had used a saw to separate saleable components – the police simply found what was left.

He donated the salvageable parts – fork and wheels – to the local bike shop.

"The rim tapes were ripped off, but otherwise they were fine," Lokodi said. "So they were donated to a bike shop. Then the fork was another item that was still sort of usable, and some tyres. I mean, the tyres had already done about 6,000 or 7,000 kilometres…"

After staying in the hotel for the few days it took him to get what was left of his bike back (free of charge, the hotel was keen to make up for the theft, he said) Lokodi then returned to Chile – a country he had already ridden through and where, he said, bike shops are more prevalent and bikes are cheaper. It was there that he got the good news from Surly about the new machine.

In the continuation of the 'Odyssey' theme, he plans to name it Penelope after Ulysses's wife and Queen, and continue a journey that he hopes will eventually take him back through Europe and to India and Nepal before finally heading back to the UK.