Ladies and Gents: It's a Girl

I find naming bikes, like naming cars, one of the most important steps in the bonding process. Below is my baby, Beezer. Beezer is a strange beast on her own. She was originally supposed to be an entirely tig-welded thing... suddenly a seat cluster was added... then she suddenly received graceful Waterford chain stays (which are much daintier than the Gunnar chainstays she had initially). By the end, she was dubbed a Waterford.



Beezer's frame was my high school graduation gift from my father. I finally received Beezer and built her up at the age of 20.5 or so, moments after the death of Big Red, a prototype touring frame that I had bombed around on the entire summer previously. I have no pictures of Big Red (named for the red electrical "anti-theft tape" inwhich he was shrouded) because of the nature of the accident that took his life... it left the seatstays and chainstays bent and my rear wheel and deraillure destroyed.

I don't want to remember him that way...

Beezer is constructed of ovular True Temper stock. She is so fast to turn and light that she took a few months to really learn how to wield.

Her name is from nickname given to me by my father. "Beezer" is a morphed version of one of my mother's nicknames for me, "Queen Bee." I was quite the little girl, what can I say?

As for the new one, I don't know where I should take it. I like the idea of naming my bikes after nicknames. They are sweet and endearing.

Here are some I am considering for the new baby:

"Rosie"
"Queen Bee"
"Queenie"

I like these because they are all feminine, and my bike is most definitely female... even without the pink paint. You look at the frame as it is, naked, and everything is slim, graceful, and considered.

Other options, not quite as feminine, are:

"Toezacious Being" or "TB"
"Toezer"

These are names more in the vein of "Beezer." I don't know if I want to go that route.

If you have any input, please pass it along.

As for the fork, I will not be a part of it at all. Because of the choice to use a stainless crown, I am not qualified to braze (it requires a high temperature flux and a special touch to complete). Next time I see the bike is on the other side of paint. Updates to come soon.