What's in a name

[RTRandy]

I'm not sure what part of our bike community does this, but from early on I found myself naming my bikes. Maybe this is something one shouldn't admit to like talking to yourself, but I named my RT Trigger

I thought it would be fun to hear what others have named thier bikes. Perhaps some photos to go with the name.

[riderR1150GSAdv]

I named my LT the "Grey Ghost" after an elusive fish we fish for in the Fl Keys.
The fish is a.k.a bonefish or, in latin, Albula Vulpis.
Being a fishing guide with an Anthracite bike I thought it was a cool name for the bike.

[BobFV1]

My 1980 Suzuki Enduro 460 was "Big Red". 83 Honda Gold Wing was "Honey" - Honey the Honda - also described the brown Honda factory color. Black R1150R was named "Beakie" (of course) and my current ride, my 2004 R1150RT, is named "Lazy Lightning" - title of a Grateful Dead song. You have to go to the "Grateful Thread" here in the campfire to see the lyrics to the song...

http://www.bmwmoa.org/forum/showthread.php?p=49774&posted=1#post49774

Favorite vehicle name was my 2003 Mercedes-Benz E320, which I had for a year - named it "Blondinka" - Russian for "Blondie" after it's beautiful light beige "desert silver" paint job.

[Braddog]

My black RS is "Black Beauty", sometimes called "Halle" for short...

My red S is "Ruby"....

Pics are in the "Pics of my Airhead" thread in the Airheads forum...

I tend to name vehicles, no idea why, I've just always done it.

[JetDoc]

My night black K1200LT is "Schwarzer Geist," which is german for Black Ghost. The name seemed appropriate, as after riding a big V-twin cruiser with aftermarket (loud) pipes for several years, my new LT runs as quiet as a ghost. :thumb

[Grey Matter]

2004 R1150GS Adventure = "Baby"

[username]

i call mine 'motorcycle' because i think my bike feels uncomfortable if i anthropomorphize it.

[Hodag]

I call the silk blue LT "Big Blue" or "Babe" as in babe the blue ox.
My Landcruiser I call "Super Truck" If you've ever driven one in the snow with the lockers kicked in you'd understand.
My buddies white GS I nicknamed "Cracker"
I always name my vehicles.
mark

[lorazepam]

Mine are :
The Bike
The Pickup
The Van

It works for me though not very original. I considered calling the bike "The Striped A** Ape", but figured the others would get jealous and want names too.
http://lorazepam.smugmug.com/photos/3899711-M.jpg

[STRESS]

2004 Montauk- Velda
2002 Ford Truck - Thunder

[DLilah]

2000 Ivory Montana - Wolfgang or Wolfie
2002 Red F250 Truck - Fire

[bigfoot105]

2001 RoadKing....King Put (as in King Tut)

2004 1150GS.....The Emperor (as in Emperor Penguin. I'll post a pic. later explaning this one)

1997 Accord....Wife's car (as in, The Wife's Car)

2004 F350 CrewCab Dually... The Dually....(No explanation needed)

[sgborgstrom]

1986 VW Westy- "the van"
2001 VW jetta- "the car"
1991 K100RS -"the black bike" or "my bike"
1996 R850R-"the green bike" or "your bike"
2001 F650/Dakar- on a truck someplace between AZ and here, but fairly certain it will be "my white bike"
There are a couple of project bikes hiding in the garage but we try not to talk about those too much ;)

My mother tagged my first car, a blue Plymouth Belvidere "The Ox" after Paul Bunyan's "Babe" and I used to refer to my '63 sunroof beetle as "Gretchen" but none of my other vehicles has ever warranted a name.

Steve

[SweetT]

The only vehicles I've named were ones that had a lot of "Personality" (read: needed a lot of maintenence) like my 1965 BSA Lightning "Pet" and my 1937 Dodge coupe "Debbie". I had coax them to start or stop, or do just about anything, ie "C'mon Pet, hold together!" or "You can do it Debbie, start. Start!"

My K75 is so stone cold reliable that I've never had to coax her to do anything. Although, I will admit that even thoght the K75 doesnt' have a name I do know that her gender is female. There's no way I'm wrapping my legs around anything thats male! :)

As an aside, I got to the point where I was calling the BSA by her name so often, and usually with some four letter words in the same breath, that I decided to sell her. I haven't thought twice about it since then.

[SNC1923]

i call mine 'motorcycle' because i think my bike feels uncomfortable if i anthropomorphize it.

Amen.

[Bigrider]

My 84 R100RS is called "Erika" after the small flower in the Bavarian Alps.

Dave Hoover

[jgr451]

I've never called them anything except
the black R 75
The Magenta R100RT
The sort of mint green but blue grey KGT.

I don't think they mind not having names as long as I respect the colour.
Oh yeah:I call the green K the fast colour.

[GeoffMiller]

Because I work for the Railroad, I am tempted to go with " The City of New Orleans". A tribute to Steve Goodman. I had the opportunity to see him just a few weeks before his death. Arlo Guthrie took this song and made it famous, Illinois central, monday morning rail......

[BradfordBenn]

I just call mine "RT"

[BobFV1]

i call mine 'motorcycle' because i think my bike feels uncomfortable if i anthropomorphize it.

I feel that way about my two pets, "Dog" and "Cat". :D

[James.A]

I named the motorcycle pictured in my avatar "FIB" solely for the amusement of the Wisconsinners.

I named my other 750 "Dirtycycle" because I just can't seem to keep it clean and pretty much gave up trying.

I had not yet named my R27. As of this moment, I hereby name it "Shorty".

[RT_guy]

My RT is Ilsa although I sometimes call her Miss Piggy.

[Scootertrash]

I call mine the "Moped"...

moped.jpg

[RTRandy]

Moped !!! You're messing with my mind! :stick

[BobFV1]

I call mine the "Moped"...

moped.jpg

Dude - Ceci n'pas une moped - that is no moped but it's a darn fine looking oilhead!!! Nice bike.

[Bob_M]

vehicles that do not inspire a name don't end up with a name.
The truck is El Magnifico (tongue in cheek)
The restoration project is black with burnt orange pin stripes and it has already begun being called The Batcycle
my rider is a silver R100 called The silver bike.

[dano]

I usually refer to my 2003 RT as........."over-priced". :D

[RebeccaV]

vehicles that do not inspire a name don't end up with a name.

Well said, Bob M.

I did not sit down and try to come up with names for my bikes. In the case of the /6 she was a "Hilda" after a year of riding. The name is a nod to my dad's aunt Hilda who was the first woman in our family to go to college. I think of my dad's aunt as an aging German lady with a twinkle in her eye and that's how I see the bike too.

In the case of the oilhead, it's name was apparant immediately. I call it LBD which stands for Little Black Dress. Like a favorite dress, the bike fits me well and I feel good on it. It makes me feel beautiful, sexy, confident. It's got an understated elegance that I love - it's not flashy or over the top in any way. Pretty lines too. *sigh* I LOVE my RS!

[boofer]

Right then, I named them with numbers, 9, 10 11 12 so my friends would easily know which one we were talking about.

I would like to start a petition urging BG to keep "Hilda" !! Please don't dump her like BZ did. You WOULD regrett it, someday. My 0.02 worth.

Tim

[RebeccaV]

I would like to start a petition urging BG to keep "Hilda" !! Please don't dump her like BZ did. You WOULD regrett it, someday. My 0.02 worth.
I had every intention of selling the fair Hilda when I got the RS. But now that I have the oilhead, I appreciate Hilda more. I'm happy to tell you that she is in no danger of being sold :)

[rocksterboy50]

My 04 Rockster is named "LOKI" who you probably remember was the God of Mischief. Everytime i get on it he whispers in my ear "just a little faster" and loads of other crap that can get me in big trouble :-)