Touring - Do You Name Your Bike?

Does everyone give their bike a name? I know some people think it's placing a curse on their bike to be stolen, but if you love something you gotta give it a name, right?

Due to my bikes lovely brown turd like colour, mine is called 'Richard the third'

What about yours?

My wife does. Not me.

no

Although I sometimes personify my bike other ways - by saying it's sad from being unridden for days, for example - I don't give it a name. That would just be weird ;)

I just call him Surly, I always try to think of a better name, but Surly is good. Maybe Paper

I made on Wii Fit Plus a Dog that is actually my bike, just so I can see his weight when I want, with whatever I have to carry.

I don't have a scale,

Edit: I just realized I did kind of name it, Bread Bike, I plan to get new head badge just for it, of a pretzel, I might try to make it or find someone.

I name my bikes. I think of touring in the same way as I think of a seaman exploring the oceans! I think of myself as the captain and the winds as either my best friend or my worst enemy. With this in mind it is a well know fact that any expedition on an unamed vessel is bound to fail! You must name your bike!

I too like the name of Surly for my LHT, it just seems to fit right? There is just one problem. My bike is most definitely a woman. I can just tell by the way she feels between my legs (insert innuendo here). Therefore, I have named her Shirley. I briefly considered breaking a champagne bottle on her before taking her on my first ride but that would just be silly!

not bikes, I did name my daughter.

http://www.aef.org.uk/downloads//NO%20at%20Heathrow.jpg

I've been toying with naming my LHT "Laurie" (lorry). So far, I haven't gotten it to stick, because I only have one bike and generally refer to it as "the bike."

I tend to wait for my bikes to name themselves. It seems to happen when I'm at my most exhausted, and I try talking to them.

never name something you might have to eat...

Why? It won't come when I call it.

Actually mine all already have names when I buy them, Secteur, Globe, Raleigh, Concord, Huffy and Schwinn.

My blue LHT = Babe, as in the (Paul Bunyan) blue ox.

My Trek Navigator, Excelsior, after the Longfellow poem.
My Trek 7.5 fx hybrid, Roark, after the protagonist of Rand's The Fountainhead.
My Surly LHT, Notung, after Siegfried's sword in Wagner's Ring.
My Yakima Big Tow trailer, the Wussy Wagon.

Nope, neither do I call my car, my house, my tent, my day-to-day bike something.
I kind of see a trend here.

mine has already a name "New World Tourist" I gave him a family name MERKAVA!!!

You mean like "Baby Blue" or "Big Bad Black Mother Trucker" ?
Nooooooo, never!

Yep, absolutely! I called my old MTB The Black Magic after I took it out on a three day tour on the Darling Downs, and it survived being trampled by wild horses without a scratch. It also developed a mystery flat tyre on the day my garage got broken into to prevent itself from being stolen. It's about to be reinvented as a single speed when I can find the time to do it.

My Hybrid (which will have new forks in an hour or so) is called The Blue Flame, after the colour of the frame. My new MTB is called The Blonde Assassin, because it has a black frame with a white top tube, and because I totally pwnd Mt Nimmel the first time I rode it.

No

Bikezilla

Bink, Blueboy, Blackie, Rat and Big Green

No. Well i just call mine Kona. Or "the bike". But thats not to say that it doesn't have a personality.

I named my Americano Perry Co-Mo just so I'd have an answer if anyone ever asked "What's your bike's name".

I have called all my bikes Moon Tears, after the song by Nils Lofgren.

roughstuff

Always. Tore, short for Toreador, and Hank.

I gave mine a new GREEN paint job and made a sticker for it "CARBON CREDIT" its seems to spark up some very interesting conversations, somtimes not even in my favour ;-)

I've got enough names to remember with traveling with four of us. To add three more names into the mix would be nuts!

My trek is named "my trek". My recumbent is named "my recumbent."

Bicycle (Cannondale Adventure 400): "Broom"
Motorcycle (BMW K75RT): "Kaype" or "Artie"

Does everyone give their bike a name? I know some people think it's placing a curse on their bike to be stolen, but if you love something you gotta give it a name, right?

Due to my bikes lovely brown turd like colour, mine is called 'Richard the third'

What about yours?

Sir Walter. http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/SirWalter

Hey Gus - where's the Monkey Mobile these days?

You don't name a bike. When the bike learns to trust you, it will tell you its name. That's when you really begin the relationship.

But what's with those people who name their kids? How weird is that?

You don't name a bike. When the bike learns to trust you, it will tell you its name. That's when you really begin the relationship.

But what's with those people who name their kids? How weird is that?

Should I rename my baby Pffrrrrrprprpr then? :D

That would lead to an interesting life.

No I don't name my bike because it's just a f'n bike that will be replaced by the next f'n bike when this one wears out. While I do have time on my hands, I don't have THAT much time on my hands. "I" take my bike on tours, my bike doesn't take me. It's not mythical, magical or even all that technical. It's made by a guy in Taiwan who just made a thousand just like it for his $2 dollars per hour and halfway to his next thousand for the day. It is sold by a shop that once my bike leaves the door they're thinking NEXT! So you see it's just a piece of commerce that means nothing except what "I" can acheive with it and then it's my achievement and not the bikes. It's a tool people c'mon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/33020157@N03/3550542418/sizes/o/
If it's not asking, "What's yours?' at happy hour, it doesn't get a name. My boat wouldn't get a name, except my marina requires it.

lover

I have two touring bikes. I call one "my old bicycle," and the other "my new bicycle." Sometimes, I use their nicknames: "my old bike" and "my new bike."

The bike in my avatar I generally refer to as "the orange bike". But the other day it basically named itself: I wasn't paying attention/was rushing while folding it, and sliced open my finger on what I believe was a chainwheel tooth. So now it's going to be called "Slice".

"The Purple Bike"
"The Red Bike"
"The Other Bike" (work in progress)

My Surly LHT, Notung, after Siegfried's sword in Wagner's Ring.


I like :). And since Rivendell names half their bikes on LOTR characters anyways, it wouldn't be anything too weird. Maybe my Paramount could be Gandalf's horse Shadowfax, a mountain bike could be Fatty Lumpkin (Bombadil's mount), and a BMX could be Bill the Pony or something.

Most of you disappoint me. My bike's "Rusty", because my bike's rusty.

To the guy who says he doesn't have time to think of a bike name: You do bike touring. That's maybe 8 hours/day where your mind wanders.

James

I only have one bike so far. It's a Schwinn hybrid. I fashion it a female, like a good boat or plane, so I call her Winnie.

Once I save up for my LHT, I think I might name it Bubba. Seems like a good name for a long haul trucker. ;)

I've named by road bike, "the other woman." When I get upset with the wife, I just go ride....

Should I rename my baby Pffrrrrrprprpr then? :D

Hey, I've heard worse names. :thumb:

No.
I don't name my cars, trucks and motorcycles either. Or any of my tools.
I did name the dog though, and my kids..........

Yes. My curb found Univega is called "Funky Blue Phoenix." My recently purchased steel 1987 Trek is called "Tangerine Dream."

My cherry red LHT is named porter - same colour as my favourite type of beer and it does carry my bags for me while on tour. My new black Thorn is called Negro Modelo - following the same beer theme.

the tank (trek SU100) is my city (SF) bike
the goat (trek 2.3) is my "mountain" bike for marin hills, santa cruz mountains, diablo range, etc.

(oh yea, and the tank would'nt be the tank without the huge orange milk crate on the back.. it's a life-changer)

my homies bikes are
the patriot (an old red white and blue trek rd bike with a milk crate)
and the rider (short for night rider, an all black madone 5.9 that was obtained for free from trek after an old aluminum lemond got a crack in the frame)

"don't *&$& with the tank and the patriot"
-ghandi

I named my Trek 520 Winnebiko. What else are you gonna call a two wheeled RV?