Touring - Does anybody name their bikes?

I hope it's not a weird thing to do. If so I'm weird.

Pee-Wee
Iron Horse
Fankenbike
The Greg
And one mountain bike that refuses to be named.

Until a few months ago, I only had one bike and really didn't have a reason for a name. When I talked about my bike everyone knew which bike I meant.

Now that I have a wonderful 2006 Trek 520, I find that I want names in order to be able to talk about the bikes and distinguish which one I'm talking about with my other crazy biking friends. It just doesn't do the bikes justice to say "I'm riding my touring bike today" or "I'm riding the road bike".

I keep thinking that the Trek 520 will get a name after going on its first tour this weekend. Something is bound to happen that will bestow a name on it . . .

Cherry Bomb

My bicycle is Robocop.

I have a Specialized Rockhopper w/ an Xtracycle & 2 child seats on the back, it's called "The Limo"

I also ride but don't own a Bacchetta Cafe that's called "The Chopper"

Of course -
I got my Trek 8000 the week Lucille Ball passed away -
It was bright red - -
No question about the name - -
"Lucy"

My Bianchi Eros is named Bianca (yeah I know, real creative...)
82 Univega Fixed is named Ruby (it's red) after a dog I had as a kid
I've got a no-name MTB frame that's waiting to be built named Oscar the Grouch, since it's essentially trash :p

I hope it's not a weird thing to do. If so I'm weird.

Pee-Wee
Iron Horse
Fankenbike
The Greg
And one mountain bike that refuses to be named.

I have always called my bike "Moon tears" after the song by Nils Lofgren.

roughstuff

My new, Red, Bike Friday New World Tourist is called "Red Rover".

I named my bikes bike #1, bike #2, and bike #3.

my trek 520 is named rosinante after don quixote's horse...

Surly Dan (the LHT)
Devil Sled (Schwinn corvette)
a couple of rides haven't earned any names except piece of S^&T

I like the Don Quixote reference. I have a Trek 520 as well and was going to name it "The Mighty One" after the Motorcycle Diaries but I figured I'd never go on to start a peoples rebellion in several countries like Che, so I didn't.

However, after I painted it neon yellow and orange with polkadots, rebuilt the wheels (48 spokes), put on new cranks/chainring, a saddle and trekking handlebars it now looks like something built by a committee - the platypus of the bike world - hence the Frankenbike (not Fankenbike).

I have an old Trek 990 with a chromoly frame that I named "Steelizabeth". I was considering "CrowMolly" but that doesn't flow off the tongue quite as nicely.

The names I use for my bikes depends on the terrain. On those long grueling climbs they respond to "b**ch" whereas on downhills they are "yo momma".

I called mine "dumb #$%*)$%^&&* #%^&*()" numerous times on my last tour each time I broke a spoke....

I'm Machka ... he's Machak! :)

http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/machka999/album?.dir=/e090&.src=ph



(how do you attach a thumbnail?)

Tank (my main touring bike)
Allie (as in All-Terrain).

My Bridgestone RB-1 is "Ribby"
I call the rough road tourer I built from an old steel Giant MTB "Sasquatch".
KHS Milano tandem is "The Red Shark" (don't look in the trunk)

Dawg

I named my Fuji World 'Mariko' after the heroine in James Clavell's 'Shogun'.

Oh sheesh...the things bikers will admit doing...

specialized road bike - Dancer - cuz she just dances across the surface of the road
miyata - little grey bike - cuz that's what the last owner called her
Mtn bike - Autumn - test rode the bike when the leaves were falling...was a xmas gift from dh
Lemans - tank - self explanatory
khs tandem - somehow escaped naming.
Santana Arriva - Kermit - It's green. On the test ride I said something about Kermit the frog and it stuck

Of course -
I got my Trek 8000 the week Lucille Ball passed away -
It was bright red - -
No question about the name - -
"Lucy"


My commuting Bianchi is named lucy, but it's short for "lucia", because she glows at night :)

racing Pinarello is named Monty.

like another poster on this thread, I've got a mountain bike that refuses to be named.

My "new" 1984 trek 400 soon-to-be-fixie is going to be named Michael, I think.

Nah. I thought about it, but I never got around to it. So it must not be my thing.

Koffee

my trek 520 is named rosinante after don quixote's horse...

That was also the name that John Steinbeck gave to his truck that he used to travel the country as described in "Travels with Charley."

My LHT is "Green Machine"

Sure...

Silver
Blue
and Blackie

My son named his Old Yeller.

Yes, she has a name, but it's a secret she and I share.

My bike treated me exceptionally well during my 2,500 mile tour this past summer. But my girlfriend didn't: she dumped me half-way through my tour. So I named my bike "Desdemona," who is one of my favorite characters (and a remarkle woman) in literature. She's a character from Othello by Shakespeare.

David in PA

No matter what I name my bikes, they never come when I call. So what's the point...

Sometimes I call my bike "Mule" , sometimes "Jackass".
It's just an extention of myself.

That was also the name that John Steinbeck gave to his truck that he used to travel the country as described in "Travels with Charley."

note to self: read that book...

My yellow and black ORC3 is "bumble bee" and when I buy a touring bike it will be "Francis" since it will be my "mule". If you are under 50 years old the last name will go straight over your head. ...........Sam

I bought my tourer barely used, and it had allready been painted "Richard's dream" along the crosstube. I fealt bad about re-painting, or covering up the stencil for a long while, but finally just covered it over with a "crazyguyonabike" sticker recently.

It looks neat/clean, though I'll probably put some clear tape over that sticker. Now I won't be mistaken for "Richard" (who sadly sold his dream), but just another "crazy guy on a bike".

I guess my bikes name then is "bike". :)

My yellow and black ORC3 is "bumble bee" and when I buy a touring bike it will be "Francis" since it will be my "mule". If you are under 50 years old the last name will go straight over your head. ...........Sam

Not So!! I'm only 40 & I get it, besides "Francis" was way cooler than Mr. Ed.

Oh, mine is called "Mule" as well.

As my bikes get older I've called every part of them a name at some stage.

I don't name my bikes - a bike is a machine and a tool, and nothing more, no matter how much I love it. A machine must be truly exceptional to earn a real name. Besides, it's not like I have any difficulty telling them apart. My touring bike is "the Miyata" or "my Miyata." My Austrian Sears three-speed POS is "my three-speed."

That's not to say that people who name their bikes are wrong to do so, it's just not my thing - it feels very weird and not quite natural, and so I just don't do it. I can tell them apart without proper names, anyway.

My 1994 Cannondale T700 is blue; I added various panniers over the years which were also blue; my cycling jackets were blue; I called (call) this bike Big Blue. I still do...

I don't name my bikes - a bike is a machine and a tool, and nothing more, no matter how much I love it.
I couldn't agree more.

My bikes name is Oscar. My LHT is bright green (not sage) like Oscar the Grouch. It's a Surly bike. ;)

My cannonondale super v which I toured mexico and cuba on is known as "coyote loco" Name came about the day after a coyote came up to me as i was in my sleeping bag fast asleep. I awoke to feel a little tugging on the bottom of my bag, kick my feet a little. a few seconds later i was dragged a couple feet til i screamed like a schoolgirl and the coyote ran away. next morning asked some locals and they said there was a rougue band of coyotes nearbye. My bike and I were then christianed "Cyote loco".

I have 3 bikes right now. Two of them, I haven't named. But the third... which I just picked up a few days ago to re-build and give to a friend for christmas, yeah... I named that one "Pretty Hate Machine". It's a cruiser I'm gonna re-build using NIN as my inspiration.

not recently but, I think that it isn't wierd. especially if you get attached.

Horse

Joe

I named my bike Gwaihir the Windlord and Shadowfax.

Mostly to annoy some of my coworkers who happen to be Lord of The Ring fans. :) But I do think they're cool names for a bike. Sometimes I even whistle for my coworkers, uhh I mean Gwaihir. :D

I just started naming them this year.

My "new' bronze coloured '84 Trek 520 is "The Bronze".

My '90s red Raleigh Century mountain bike is "Rubeus" because it's twice as heavy as a normal bike.

I need to find a very honourable name for my '80s silver Panasonic road bike - my now semi-retired, staunch and stalwart main commuter for the past 14 years and 20,000 km.

Robert

GODZILLA!!! it's a monster...

GODZILLA!!! it's a monster... Is that for your bike, or were you responding to my request (post #44)? If the latter, not bad!

That's my bike's name, but you're more than welcome to use it yourself! I'm thinking about getting a Godzilla toy and putting the head on as my head-tube badge... :)

I don't name my bicycles, but I know someone who came up with a showstopper of a name for a tiny Italian-built frame loaded with Campy components: “il duce” (the leader) after fascist dictator Benito Mussolini (1883-1945).

My bike was custom assembled to my specks so the frame had no logo on it. I rode it for a while and then decided that like a boat it should have a name.

I brought up the subject at the pub one Thursday and the men's committee (those present that evening) agreed that the most appropriate name was:

Kyoto Accord

If you have to explain it, the message is lost.

"He spent four days deliberating over what name he would give the horse, for (as he said to himself) it was not right that the horse of so famous a knight should remain without a name. So after having devised, erased, and blotted out many other names, he finally decided to call the horse Rozinante - a name, in his opinion, lofty, sonorous, and significant, for it explained that he had been only an ordinary hack before he had been raised to his present status of all the hacks in the world".

Miguel de Cervantes, "Don Quixote", 1605