Pumped up for the cycle search

Huw checks out some two wheelers in a bike shed

By Huw Williams For BBC News Online Scotland

"Spend the day in Edinburgh", they said. "Find that missing bike", they said. "That bike", of course, was the custom-built, £1,200 bicycle that belonged to fire-eater and chicken hypnotist Emily Harris

Belonged to her, that is, until she rested it just inside the door of an Edinburgh charity shop.

She thought it might get stolen if she left it outside. But, as the world now knows, that was a bad mistake. Someone from the shop sold it. For just £10.

Emily Harris found her bike had been sold

So, the obvious place to start was at the British Heart Foundation shop on Nicolson Street in the capital.

Shop supremo Ellen Boyle told me they pride themselves on giving good value.

Even she admitted this was going a bit far. But she did give me my first clue.

The lucky purchaser - who, of course, has done nothing wrong - was a middle-aged gentleman of Asian appearance, with a short haircut.

Outside the shop, most passers-by had heard the interview with Ms Harris on Monday's Good Morning Scotland programme on BBC Radio Scotland.

Many thought it was a funny story. But no-one had seen a man fitting that description, pushing a posh bike and looking rather chuffed with himself.

Loads of bikes, chained to railings, benches, and each other, but none of them the one I was looking for

One cyclist told me she couldn't understand why customers for the charity shop didn't use the cycle racks on the pavement. Which was a good point. But didn't help me track down the missing two wheeler.

Inspiration came from hearing a newspaper seller advertising copies of the Edinburgh Evening News.

It didn't take long to track down the paper's Head of Classified Advertising, Caroline Blythe. And she was happy to confirm that loads of people use the small ads to try and trace missing items.

And good value too, she couldn't resist pointing out, at £15 for three days or about £30 if we want a photograph.

But so far no mysterious ads from a gentleman trying to find the original owner of his new bike.

So, no joy there. And none from the boys in blue. Adrian Sprott looks after lost property for Lothian and Borders Police.

Bike-noculars: Huw focuses on the task

That means he handles about 70 found bicycles a month. But he only manages to reunite between six and a dozen of them with their rightful owners.

And, no joy on the streets of Edinburgh, either. Loads of bikes, chained to railings, benches, and each other, but none of them the one I was looking for.

So, back to Nicolson Street again to quiz passers-by on what THEY would do if they suddenly found the bike they had bought for a tenner might be worth a hundred times as much.

Some said they would take it back, a few did not know what they would do and one or two were honest enough to admit they would keep it, or sell it on for as big a profit as possible. So not much hope it' will ever turn up.

Except that the calls HAVE now started coming in, including one to the Radio Scotland travel desk. (Bicycles. Travel. I suppose there is a link. Of sorts.)

Some people think they might be able to help, with new information.

So, the hunt goes on. Like the Mounties, I'm not giving up until I get Ms Harris's bike back.