MMACH 5

Just because I haven't got much to do at work today...

I have seen a few threads in some of the other forums about giving names to bikes. It's a bit controversial in that some do it and others find it dorky. Since there is a perception that we commuters are the dorks of the cycling world, I thought we could "discuss this amongst ourselves."

Have you named your bike(s)?
If so, why did you name them?
What's the story behind the name(s)?

So to start things off...

I have two 1980's road bikes. My commuter, an '83 Austro-Daimler mixte, is set up with panniers, road seat and customized drops, (soon to have aero bars, too ). My shopper, an '89 Raleigh, has front and rear baskets, spring-loaded seat and comfort bars. Thus, I called them "The Commuter" and "The Shopper."

This weekend, my wife said, "You should give your bikes names. It's only right, considering how much time and attention they get." My kids, (ages 8, 9 and 12) were all for it and began tossing out all kinds of crazy names.

It soon became apparent that if I didn't come up with names, they would. And those names may or may not have been the most flattering or appropriate titles.

I have always liked the story of Don Quijote, so I named the commuter Rocinante, (Seņor Quijote's old horse) and the shopper Dapple (Sancho Panza's mule). Rocinante means something like supernag and the horse in the story is a male. However the family and I are calling her Rosie for short. The names are still not the most flattering, but seem rather appropriate considering the "crazy old man" component in the story of the Man of La Mancha.

jyossarian

My bike's name is Snugglebunny for the usual reasons.

bullethead

My wife and I call my commuter "fairy bike" -it is a ladies frame with a rack and walmart tub on the back for all my crap- Sorry if this doesn't qualify as a name, per se(?)... BTW, I love it

Cyclist0383

I call my POS hobbled together third bike "The Mule." It's slow and it's a pain in the ass. None of my other bikes have names.

caloso

Mine are Lance (Trek OCLV), Ray (REI Novara), and Super Fred (p.o.s. GT mountain bike).

Lone Prairie

Since I outfitted my Bridgestone MB-5 (mountain bike) with drop bars, fenders, and racks, I call it Pack Mule.

The Mule Rules,
e.

rec-cyclist

when I have the basket on the front of my cruiser my wife calls it my "Mr Rodgers Bike" I choose not to name it however

Da Tinker

My road bike is 'Tadita' - runner in the wind.
My fixie is 'half-a-bike', since my wife claims it is missing about half it's parts.

PhattTyre

I have a black chopper named "DUI" (pronounced 'Dewey') because that's the state of mind I was in when I thought of it and it's the state of mind I'm usually in when riding it. I also have a cruiser named Petunia because it looked like a Petunia. I've had 15+ bikes in my life and these are the only two I've named. Most of my bikes are called what they are, (The Road Bike, The Fixedgear, Hardtail, etc.), but I thought these two bikes had enough flair to deserve names.

ItsJustMe

I've never understood the desire to name inanimate objects. I've never given any inanimate object a name, ever, even as a kid. If it won't come when I call it, there's not much point in giving it a name.
OK, the computers have names, but they do sorta come when I call them (I need to name them so they can get to each other). Before networks, my machines never had names, either.

bikecrate

I didn't name my bikes by my 7 year old daughter is convinced that one is a "boy" and the other a "girl". I don't know how you can tell. Maybe you have to look under the saddle.

buzzman

Had to laugh when I read the post that started this thread. All of my road bikes have been named "Rocinante" since my first cross country bike trip in 1974. My commuter is called "Buzz" because that's the name REI put on it and that's all that's written on it. My mountain bike I refer to as "my mountain bike".

cooker

"The Bronze" for my Trek 520 which happens to be coloured bronze. It's also a reminder of my favourite TV show...anybody?

"Rubeus" for my beater mountain bike since it's red, and twice as heavy as a normal bike.

Every year I have an online Christmas quiz and internet scavenger hunt for my immediate relatives, and this year I'm including a naming contest for my trusty 80s Panasonic roadbike commuter, semi-retired after 13 years of 120+commuting days.

Treespeed

My wife calls them Money Pits.

I call them Surly (Surly Pacer), Cilo (Lugged steel Cilo), Anna (Kona Fire Mountain for hauling Bob Trailer), and Zoomy (Alum Scattante R-550).
They are definitely all girls. I don't look under the saddle, it's just politely assumed.

-Marcus

chipcom 

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

DCCommuter

When I bought my five-year-old his first bike, the guy at the bike store ernestly told him that every bike had to have a name. He thought for a while, and then he came up with its name: Bikey.

He never asked me what the names of my bikes are (they don't have any). Which is kind of a miracle, if you've ever dealt with five-year-olds.

Roody

I call mine some names when the tire's flat after work.

pinkrobe

Yeah, I've never given my bikes a real name. They've been identified as what model or brand they are:
The Tech
The Stumpjumper
The Stumpjumper
The Marinoni
The Specialized
The FSR
The Trek
The Trek
The Bianchi
The Unibomber

FlyingByrd

I have three in the stable; only my commuter/fixie has a name. Kit; it was named after a few beers and watching a few episodes of NightRider late in the evening. My blinkie evan accomidates a back and forth pattern much like the front that car. And my name is Michael, so it all just works out. Especially, since some of my best conversation is with my bike on the way home from work late at night. Alright... I've said too much.

bennyk

Heh, that's what I call my bike. I am not five.

bk

tokolosh

*BLINK*

Halfstep

My boys (5 and 7) demanded I name my bikes after I bought a second one and they realized "Daddy's Bike" wasn't going to cut it anymore. They're very particular. I've never owned more than one at a time, but I needed a nice bike after realizing the winters were taking their toll. The winter bike is called "Man of Steel" as that was the name I was given after I rode it on the DALMAC (a 5 day ride from East Lansing, Michigan to the Mackinac Bridge). It's a lugged, steel frame with 10-speed, first-gen SIS components and weighs 40 lbs, bone-dry. The new bike is called "The Find." It is a year-old Trek I picked it up at a police auction for $80.00.

labonvie07

All u bike namin haters out there need to understand that naming bikes is not just for children. For me it cements the relationship I have with my bike. You ride it for a while, feel out its personality, and develop a repore with the bike. At that point you realize there is more to the bike then just gears and so you give it a name to represent that interaction. I"m not crazy, but usually the names come to me naturally as if they existed as part of the bike. For example my marin mtb is luca because he is a young spunky guy like bike. My 80's pana beater is carmen because she shakes her tail when I ride her around the cobblestones in my neighborhood. Just recently I finally realized that my giant fcr3 is chester. I'm not sure why chester received his name, but it fits.

Call me stupid, call me a kid, but that is how I roll. And anyway who said you have to be all serious and grown up about biking anyway

cooker

There's a few Chesters you might have inadvertently named him for. My favourite: Chester (Dennis Weaver) the deputy on Gunsmoke who had a strong southern accent and a limp. My high school nickname was Chester after I tore my foot open on an underwater rock, requiring surgical repair, and limped for 3 months.
"Crazy Chester" is a character in the song "The Weight" by The Band...supposedly an oddball neighbour of bassist Rick Danko's growing up: "He said 'I'll fix your rack, if you'll take Jack my dog'". There's a former US president, Chester Arthur and a WW-II Admiral, Chester Nimitz. Chester is also a variant corrupt form of the Roman (Latin) word for "camp", hence a bunch of places in England called Winchester, Lancaster, etc.

grolby

I'll repeat what I said on this subject in the touring forum: a bike is just a machine and a tool, no matter what kind of attachment I develop to it. It has no personality, no feelings, no "soul." Any personality, or feelings, or soul that I sense in it is simply a projection of its riding characteristics and my emotional attachment to it. As such, my bikes (and other machines) do not receive names. I guess that it sounds like kind of a cold assessment of a bicycle's value, and it is. I do love my bikes, they mean a lot to me, but I try to remain aware of what they really are. I'm a total hypocrite, anyway - I've been known to pat my bike lovingly on the top tube and whisper encouragement to it, from time to time.

Anyway, I can only speak for myself, but I have nothing against people who do name bikes, or against names in general. It's just that I've tried to name my bikes, in the past, and it just doesn't work for me. I've explained why above - to me, they are things. They are valuable things, and things that I feel very strongly about, but they are still just things. If you want to give your bike, go ahead, I won't criticize it. I just don't name mine.

I can certainly identify my bikes without true names - my touring bike is my Miyata, when I had a cruddy old Sears three-speed, it was my POS or my three-speed, and the old road frame that I'm building up with a three-speed hub (from the aforementioned POS) is my "Project 33" bike (there's an explanation for this, too, but I don't feel like it right now ).

Anyway, I guess that's kind of a long explanation of why I don't name my bikes, but there ya go.