mercier

That’s my new Mercier frame above, which arrived Tuesday evening as the replacement for my old Mercier frame that I’d retired a few weeks ago after it started making some strange creaking noises and exhibiting telltale signs of fatigue. Ten-thousand miles of hauling my surlyburly self around the mean streets of Los Angeles will do that to a track frame.

I’d originally planned to keep the new ride’s name the same as I’d dubbed the old: Le Noir. That certainly made sense (not that a grown man naming a bike makes sense) since the new frame came entirely and cleanly unbranded with logos and model names, FTW. It was truly Le Noir.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized this truly was not Le Noir. Sure the wheels and handlebars and brakes and cranks and chain and such were the same, but it’s main component was decidedly not.

This bike represented a new chapter in my life as an urban cyclist, and as such needed a fresh moniker. But what?

The answer came in form of an oversized sticker I’ve had hanging around in my sticker envelope for a couple years, not knowing what to do with. And since it was too big for the bike frame, what I did was I scan it in, print out a couple copies, line them up back to back, cut ‘em out and laminate them into the coolest double-sided spoke card I’ve ever made.

And in the course of doing so, came up with my third-generation bike’s new nick. Allow me to introduce:

8-Ball

8ball

We go for our first ride tomorrow!