Usually after I get home I say a silent thank you to my bike for helping me get home safe...sometimes I even pat it on the saddle or head tube, as if it were a horse. I keep it in my room near my computer desk, and every time I look at it I smile on the inside.

Anyone else feel this way towards their bikes? I think I might just need a girlfriend

When you put the bike in your bed is when you need to find a girlfriend. Good thing is the bike never complains about you riding it daily so there is that!

Makes about as much sense to me as naming a bike or a car. For me, no. I don't thank my shoes for getting me safely across the house either, or my lawn mower for successfully cutting the grass today.

Well...that makes two of us...at least. I usually pat it like a horse.

I care for my bikes and thank them by riding them. Like dogs: bikes are most happy when you give them your attention, take them outside and play.

I don't thank inanimate objects, but animals are OK. I have several tanks of freshwater fish. When one dies, I dispose of it outside and thank it for being my fish and hope that I have provided it a good life. Something went through my 30 gallon tank and in 2.5 days I lost all the fish (except the 10 year old pleco) about 18 fish. Some of the loaches I had for more than five years. It made me sick looking at the dead fish lined up with their eyes and mouths open. It made me sick :-( I do no thank my bikes or my car.

I thank my motorcycles and bikes for faithful service by making sure they get a good check over after each ride. The motorcycles get fresh oil and a safety check after 500km. The bikes get some crc in the bearings and chain lube on the chain/gears after each ride more than 50km. Oh yes, I do say thank you. I figure if you treat your machine well it will provide many years of faithful service.

I usually kick my bike, tell it to go faster next time and then toss it a a corner somewhere.

I don't thank, pat, name my bike, or otherwise speak to it. Now that I think about it, though, I'd say I might have some level of affection towards my bike that I don't have towards most of my other things. It doesn't rise to the level of being weird or anything, I just like bikes.

I can't say I've ever "thanked it", but I've had a similar feeling for it as I would a work horse. Not a "thank you", but an "atta-boy...".

I don't thank my bikes, but I do appreciate my hard effort of keeping them operational.

Not sure that I've ever directly thanked my bikes but I've often thought about where my bike has taken me. Without biking I'd have never ridden across Georgia (BRAG) four times and Iowa (RAGBRAI) twice along with numerous other "epic" rides. I've even seen parts of my state that I'd never have recognized from my car. It's also allowed me to make a bunch of friends due to club riding. Let me now proclaim, Thank You and I appreciate your help.

I treat my bike as what it is, an inanimate object.

I've never thanked a bike, but I do treat them like horses were treated way back when. The whole "You take care of them, they take care of you" idea.

And yeah, I've patted my bike. People pat their cars too. Refer to them by names and even gender. Nothing wrong with that.

I don't thank or speak to my bike. I don't give it pats of affection, either.

But I do feel some sort of affection for my bike. I guess I feel some sort of affection for my car as well. Even though I really hate driving. But I admire a faithful machine. Both the bike and the car are very ordinary. Nothing special at all.

I can think of one car and one pickup truck from my past that I kinda miss- a 1974 Plymouth Valiant and a 1974 Dodge 3/4 ton pickup. Both very ugly-ducklings, yet very lovable. Even though they were quirky.

I can't think of any bicycles that I really miss. Even 'better' bikes than the types I ride these days. Once they die I just get another one and the old bike doesn't matter any more.

I don't thank my bike. It's doing what bikes are designed to go after all. It would be like thanking the air for letting me breathe. But I do occasionally patit on the saddle and say 'nice bike'. I assume it doesn't care or notice, but I do it anyway.

After my dismount I catch myself patting the handlbars, I blame growing up on horseback, it's kind of a reflex now.

I did name it, though.

Thanks for the visual on a Sunday morning.

On topic, I certainly look at my bike nearly as much as the fairer sex.

Otherwise, OP needs to get laid.

Humans snore, bikes don't.

My bicycle has never texted me 30 times in 10 minutes asking where I am and if I'm mad at it. It's also never complained that I didn't wear makeup or style my hair.

I've been riding the same bike for sixteen years now and it has carried me safely through several multi-day tours, about a dozen states, and many very challenging mountain bike trails. I know exactly what you mean when you describe "thanking" your bike and the feeling you get when you gaze at it across the room. I often wonder if the over-worked, under-paid Chinese kid who built it has any idea how much pleasure this bicycle has brought to my life. I'd like to thank him or her personally, but instead, I thank the bike...just because it is right here in front of me.

Well said. When my Sedona was offline for a 6 month period after a crash I learned how much some people can adapt to having a certain member in the stable. A cheap taiwanese made frame built through years of swap meets and race-prizes into something I would trust to be in the wilderness without question. In fact I have had that bike longer than any other single possession and most of my relationships. Go fig.

if your girlfriend decides to cheer you up/surprise you by cleaning your bike ...marry her.

I know I have patted my vehicles and thanked them for their service, but I haven't done it much ot my bikes. My VW I said lots of kind things to it, but it was my first car and we shared alot of good times together and I had it almost 9 years. I didn't cry when it left (Insurance totaled it and gave me more than it was worth even to me) but I surely felt a loss when it was gone.

I have too many bikes and cycle through ones I am working on to really get attached to any one I think. My Trek Police bike is probably the one I have the most affection for. I doubt I'll ever be able to get rid of it.