It's a US thing...

As a kid growing up, "purple nurples" was a common form of harassment...it's where a bully or older sibling grabs your nipple between their fingers and twists really hard....the purple part is because it usually ends up in bruised nipples

...well I was bored looking around at online bike shops, and lo and behold...I saw a purple nurple....BOOM AVATAR!

Hey, I've had a winged buffalo as my avatar in the past. That was a reference to the love of buffalo wings I have.

I've also had other odd avatars before. Someday I will find one truly fitting....but I haven't found anything odd enough. I might make a picture of myself wielding a front wheel and a fork like a gladiator into an avatar...but I need to get my camera fixed before doing that.