The Surly Karate Monkey bike and all of his gear would have amounted to more than $8,000.

He has cycled the length of the United States, taken on trails through Australia, but after just six hours in Palmerston North a Swiss tourist's bike was stolen.

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Lukas Aufschlä​ger, 58, has completed many bike tours around the world, but Tour Aotearoa, the Cape Reinga to Bluff ride, may be his last.

The long-distance cyclist arrived in the city about 11pm on Thursday after riding 275 kilometres in one day.

He had travelled 1185km out of the 3000km journey since February 21.

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But as Aufschlä​ger treated himself to breakfast before the next leg of his journey to Wellington his bike was taken from the Princess St McDonald's about 5.30am on Friday.

The $8000 Surly Karate Monkey bike had the lock wrapped around its wheels so Aufschlä​ger thought it would be safe.

He only took his eyes off it for a moment when he went to the bathroom – five minutes later it was gone.

SUPPLIED Lukas Aufschlä​ger rides his bike on Australian bike trails. It was stolen on Friday in Palmerston North while he ate breakfast.

The McDonald's manager searched through security footage for clues and called police to report the crime, Aufschlä​ger said.

Palmerston North man Mike Christensen, 51, heard about Aufschlä​ger's troubles and took him around the city's bike shops and to Cash Converters searching for the bike.

None of the stores had it in their possession, Christensen said.

"Someone comes to New Zealand from far away and gets his bike stolen, for goodness sake. It's probably the end [of the tour] for him.

"It's an expensive bike. Because of it's profile it will be quite hard to shift."

The bike and Aufschlä​ger's gear would be worth about $8000.

"It's a very special bike," Christensen said. "Fortunately he had a lot of his personal possessions on him ... [and] people are helping him to get back on the road."

Long-haul bikes like Aufschlä​ger's are created especially for the rider, so even if he was given another bike it wouldn't be built to his needs, Christensen said.

SUPPLIED Swiss man Lukas Aufschlä​ger wants his bike back to complete his pilgrimage to Bluff.

"You can imagine biking 2000km on a bike [that's not yours]. It wouldn't be that comfortable."

Bikes in the tour have location trackers so others can see where the cyclists are around the country and how far they've travelled.

Aufschlä​ger's bike blip stopped at Morris St, about 20 metres from the McDonald's it was taken from.

"I imagine they would have just picked it up and carried it off," Christensen said.

The pair spoke to residents down the street, but couldn't find the bike.

Aufschlä​ger said he didn't care who stole it or if police caught them, he just wanted to continue his tour to Bluff.

"I want my bike. The rest doesn't interest me."