We are as slow as hell.

[yamcha]

Today an old guy and his young girlfriend or daughter exploded pass me on the bike path. They were dressed casually and on a tandem bike. So what do I do? I pop my D7 in the highest gear and pump as hard as I can to see if I can catch up to them. As hard as I was pedaling, that couple was still pulling away from me at a pretty fast rate and they weren't even pedaling hard, after about 30 seconds I give up because they are already over 150 yards in front of me. It seems like the only people who don't pass me are kids on cruisers and seniors and I am in pretty good shape too.

Folding bikes are great bus as slow as hell.

[CaptainSpalding]

It's all about gear-inches, my friend.

[lee_rimar]

Tandem has a few advantages. As mokaimo mentioned, it's a dual-engine machine - but less weight, fewer mechanical losses, and less wind resistance than two bikes. You can also bet the two riders are well-practiced together.

BUT - any bike's best speed is going to depend on the rider. As a commuter, I'm reasonably fast on my Strida -- because it's the bike I ride the most, and it's so "nimble" that it makes me a more confident and perhaps more aggressive rider.

Wanna ride faster? Ride MORE.

[jnb-rare]

Realize a tandem bike is a vehicle with two engines compared to your one.

Absolutely. A tandem has a definite advantage on the flats and downhill. Twin engine with little or no more "front" for wind resistance. In rolling hills the extra weight and downhill speed gives them a much further push up the next incline, too. The only place I could ever "best" my friends on their tandem was on a long incline.

My advice? Tuck in behind the tandem and draft.

[Spudmeister]

Folding bikes are great bus as slow as hell.

Maybe you're as slow as hell. Maybe? :D

(is hell slow?)

[Clownbike]

Who you mean we white man? - Tonto

[14R]

Yamcha,

Let's talk about numbers here: After a nice 10-15 mile ride, what is your average speed? What about max. speed?

I might not be the bike...several other factors could be slowing you down. Maybe the tandem bike had olympic level riders on it...without numbers it's hard to think.

[Rollfast]

Maybe you're as slow as hell. Maybe? :D

(is hell slow?)

I thought it was okay to GET THERE slowly.

You'll be done quickly when you get there anyway!

[Rollfast]

Today an old guy and his young girlfriend or daughter exploded pass me on the bike path. They were dressed casually and on a tandem bike. So what do I do? I pop my D7 in the highest gear and pimp as hard as I can to see if I can catch up to them. As hard as I was pedaling, that couple was still pulling away from me at a pretty fast rate and they weren't even pedaling hard, after about 30 seconds I give up because they are already over 150 yards in front of me. It seems like the only people who don't pass me are kids on cruisers and seniors and I am in pretty good shape too.

Folding bikes are great bus as slow as hell.

Either the old man was showing off or the young lady was in the lead and being chased, NO?

Was she un haute femme skunk?

[4cmd3]

At least they didn't make fun of your wang (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=359344). :)

[Foldable Two]

At least they didn't make fun of your wang (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=359344). :)

GOOD MEMORY!!!

[yamcha]

Yamcha,

Let's talk about numbers here: After a nice 10-15 mile ride, what is your average speed? What about max. speed?

I might not be the bike...several other factors could be slowing you down. Maybe the tandem bike had olympic level riders on it...without numbers it's hard to think.

I don't know what my average or max speed is since I don't have a computer.

[folder fanatic]

I don't put too much thought into speed anymore. Unless someone is chasing me, my only concern is getting there safe with no major mechanical trouble. I like to ride at my own pace, not someone else's.

[vik]

I had the opportunity to blow past a few cyclists [on serious bikes] in Toronto on my Dahon. Riding past on small 20" wheels made it really funny. Sort of like over taking a roadie when your on a mtn bike with knobbies...:eek:

[invisiblehand]

I had the opportunity to blow past a few cyclists [on serious bikes] in Toronto on my Dahon. Riding past on small 20" wheels made it really funny. Sort of like over taking a roadie when your on a mtn bike with knobbies...:eek:

Hah!! Sounds like the woman complaining that my passing her during the Reston Century was wrong since she was on a Serotta.

[Fat Boy]

At times, I'm able to pass roadies that are going slow. I can usually hang with or pass someone riding a mountain bike on the street. No doubt about it, though, on my DT, I'm probably 20% slower than on a road bike. However, on my new (used) Air Friday, I'm very close to the same speed as my road bike. Tires are huge, gearing is huge, and your position on the bike is huge. Put them all together and they really add up.

FWIW, On my Downtube, on flat pavement with no wind, I run 53/13 or 53/12 gearing. I have to have wind/downhill to get me into the 53/11. On the Friday, I can run in my 60/13 or 60/15 gear on my own. Pretty big difference.

[rhm]

At least they didn't make fun of your wang (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=359344). :)

Well, you don't know what they were talking about on the tandem! But seriously, I admire a Yamcha's willingness to spread a little levity at the cost of his own dignity.

[yamcha]

I don't put too much thought into speed anymore. Unless someone is chasing me, my only concern is getting there safe with no major mechanical trouble. I like to ride at my own pace, not someone else's.

It's not about that. If you can use little energy to go fast that means your bike is designed well.

[Spudmeister]

If you can use little energy to go fast that means your bike is designed well.


Not so. Look at touring bikes - they are not designed to go fast, but to carry a bunch of stuff
comfortably. You cannot suggest that touring bikes are not well designed. They are designed for a different purpose.

Folding bikes can be designed to go fast or go long or go around town or about anything else.
Look at Bike Friday's product line. They have a variety of bikes that'll do what ever you want.
Look at jur's Swift. It looks fast sitting still. If you can't ride your bike as fast as you want,
maybe you've purchased the wrong folder.

Having said all that, its still the motor that matters most! :beer:

[stevegor]

It's all about gear-inches, my friend.

I agree, however you still need the GRUNT in the engine room to pull it off......and the Wasp has been known to be at the front of the bunch at full tilt...

[Fear&Trembling]

Surely the thread title should read: "I am as slow as hell".

[yamcha]

I had no idea how fast tandems could be until I read this thread. I always thought they were slow and corny bikes.

[Spudmeister]

I had no idea how fast tandems could be until I read this thread. I always thought they were slow and corny bikes.


Yeah, just like folding bikes... :rolleyes:

[stevegor]

I had no idea how fast tandems could be until I read this thread. I always thought they were slow and corny bikes.

Yamcha,

If you have a good tandem team running a 54/11 set up, only a very few elite riders would be able to keep up, particularly downhill or on the flat with a tailwind. I've read a story about a husband and wife tandem team riding downhill in a long charity ride who caught and past a select group of very strong solo riders, only one rider was able to stay with them, his name?......Floyd Landis.

[-=£em in Pa=-]

Please dont say "We".
Im fast as hell on my folder.

[bugmenot]

Today an old guy and his young girlfriend or daughter exploded pass me on the bike path. They were dressed casually and on a tandem bike. So what do I do? I pop my D7 in the highest gear and pump as hard as I can to see if I can catch up to them. As hard as I was pedaling, that couple was still pulling away from me at a pretty fast rate and they weren't even pedaling hard, after about 30 seconds I give up because they are already over 150 yards in front of me. It seems like the only people who don't pass me are kids on cruisers and seniors and I am in pretty good shape too.

Folding bikes are great bus as slow as hell.

It would bring a big smile on my face if those two on a tandem were members of a minority group.

[pismocycleguy]

It would bring a big smile on my face if those two on a tandem were members of a minority group.

They are, a small minority group of fast tandem riders!:)
PCG

[Leisesturm]

... however you still need the GRUNT in the engine room to pull it off...

Well hopefully not too much grunt. At the half century point (age) I am no match for smart twenty somethings spinning at 90RPM but I will reel in and smoke the 'grunters' on the climbs because they don't gear down enough to keep their cadence efficient. Capt. Spalding nailed it with the 'gear inches' comment. Both my folders have a single chainring (48T). Both my tandems have triple chainwheels with a 52T big ring! Even if they were not tandems I could destroy someone on a folder limited to a 87" top gear with my 108" top gear. But I am rarely in the top gear on any of my bikes unless I am running downhill. On level ground I am usually in the middle of the cluster, most twenty (thirty) somethings are in top cog on anything less than a mountainside. Bad for the knees and bad for sustained high speed.

[vik]

Surely the thread title should read: "I am as slow as hell".

+1 - :p

[stevegor]

Can someone tell me what gear inches my 8th gear on my SA 8 speed running a 48t chainring and laced into 451mm rims, is equivalent too. It feels like a 53/11, but I could be wrong, it takes a fairly steep incline to spin it out, or a howling tailwind :eek:

[CrimsonEclipse]

We are as slow as hell.

What's this "we"?

CE

[LWaB]

Can someone tell me what gear inches my 8th gear on my SA 8 speed running a 48t chainring and laced into 451mm rims, is equivalent too. It feels like a 53/11, but I could be wrong, it takes a fairly steep incline to spin it out, or a howling tailwind :eek:

19t, 23t or 25t cog? It should be pretty easy to work it out after that...

[invisiblehand]

Can someone tell me what gear inches my 8th gear on my SA 8 speed running a 48t chainring and laced into 451mm rims, is equivalent too. It feels like a 53/11, but I could be wrong, it takes a fairly steep incline to spin it out, or a howling tailwind :eek:

Go to sheldonbrown.com/gears ... you might have to switch to the internal hub gear calculator; but it should be linked on the page.

[Leigh_caines]

I love my folding bike
and my tandem
But with both of them I'm not thinking about speed... with the folder I'm sitting up straight and I feel like an English Gentelman on his way to the club.... and with the Tandem my lady and I are talking so much we forget to go really fast.
If I'm thinking speed I get out the road bike or the recumbent and go for it.

[StephenH]

A single bike blowing past doesn't mean much. But you should be able to get a better idea of how your speed compares from the number of people that pass you or that you pass over time.

I ride around White Rock Lake/Creek periodically on my Industrial Cruiser. The best I've done on that ride was 15.0 mph average. But that's fast enough that there's not too many people passing me, and I'll usually pass about as many people as pass me. If it was hillier, I'd average slower than that. But yeah, there's people that can ride twice that fast, but you don't run across too many actually doing it.

[Rollfast]

I ride around White Rock Lake/Creek periodically on my Industrial Cruiser. The best I've done on that ride was 15.0 mph average. But that's fast enough that there's not too many people passing me, and I'll usually pass about as many people as pass me. If it was hillier, I'd average slower than that. But yeah, there's people that can ride twice that fast, but you don't run across too many actually doing it.

I can do 15 for a bit with 50 lbs of cruiser and that is lightspeed on the joy scale of speed.

[staehpj1]

Well hopefully not too much grunt. At the half century point (age) I am no match for smart twenty somethings spinning at 90RPM but I will reel in and smoke the 'grunters' on the climbs because they don't gear down enough to keep their cadence efficient.
Keep telling yourself that. It may be true that a lot of riders don't use as low of a gear as they should, but not all good riders spin fast on a climb. Some riders do quite well mashing a big gear. Look at Jan Ullrich he always seemed to be mashing a big gear on the climbs. He still managed to win the TdF once, take second 4 times, and take fourth once. Forget about winning, you don't even get to ride in the TdF unless you are a LOT faster than anyone on this board.

[ricohman]

I had no idea how fast tandems could be until I read this thread. I always thought they were slow and corny bikes.

There are some damned fast lightweight tandems.
And with two experienced riders, forget about staying with them on a folder of any sort.
Anyway, I ride my Twenty as it was designed for. Short hops, getting the mail, going to the store for milk ect.
And for that purpose, its marvelous!

[social suicide]

I pass old farts riding 800 dollar comfort bikes on my 12 dollar '68 run-a-bout all the time. You just need to find a retirement community to ride around. Also- anyone going faster than 10 on a multi-use bike path should be riding on the road.

[ricohman]

I pass old farts riding 800 dollar comfort bikes on my 12 dollar '68 run-a-bout all the time. You just need to find a retirement community to ride around. Also- anyone going faster than 10 on a multi-use bike path should be riding on the road.

I agree with this.
If you want to fly as fast as you can get off the slow moving bike paths and onto the road. These weren't designed for high speed travel.
To many slower riders and people walking their dogs.

[trhouse]

I have both a 2006 Dahon Speed D7 and a 1985 mixte, 10 speed road bike. The Dahon has a 11-30 cassette with a front chain riing of 50 which gives it a gear inch range of 33-90" ( which is what is stated in the specification sheet for the bike ). The mixte has a 13-28 freewheel with front chain rings of 40/52 giving it a gear inch range of 38-108".

I often ride from Marina Green in San Francisco down to Fort Point, up the steep hill to the Golden Gate, across to Vista Point and back. It takes about an hour at a pace which is comfortable on both bikes. The fastest I have made it on the mixte is 50 minutes. The difference between 90 and 108 gear inches is about 17% ( (108-90)/108= 0.167). The difference between 50 minutes and 60 minutes is ( (60-50)/60= 0.167) about 17%. I would have to agree that it is gear inches that allow me the faster trip on the mixte.

There are differences in the ride. When there is wind, the drop handlebars definitely make it easier. The narrower 100 psi tires of the mixte versus the 1 1/2", 65 psi tires make a difference in rolling resistance particularly in the descent. I pedal less to maintain the same speed. The drop handlebars allow more positions of the hands which makes it a bit less fatiguing on the mixte. I now have padded riding gloves which I will try in the new year and might negate some of the advantage of the drop bars.

p.s. Based on the estimate that the tandem gained more than 150 yards on you in 30 seconds gives these numbers. There are 1,760 yards per mile, so 150/1760=0.0852 miles in 30 seconds or 0.170 miles/minute or 10.22miles/hour. So they were about 10 mph faster than your speed.

[StephenH]

I went on a group ride this morning with a couple of hundred riders, and saw a folder there- I don't see too many of them. Anyway, he went zipping by me after a bit, then just a little after that, he was pulled off to the side. Not sure if it was mechanical trouble or what. It was a Bike Friday, if I recall right.

As to the bike path vs. road question- I'd say it depends a lot on the path, the road, the rider in question, etc. Yeah, if there's too many people walking, it slows you down. But the White Rock Creek and Lake trail generally have more riders than walkers, and the local trail here can be fairly deserted a good bit of the time. Meanwhile, the roads in each case are poorly designed for bicycles. The big advantages of the trails is that some of them are routed so that you don't have a bunch of stop signs or red lights. It can be really irritating to ride a block and then sit 2 minutes waiting for a light to change.

[wahoonc]

I had no idea how fast tandems could be until I read this thread. I always thought they were slow and corny bikes.

I have seen tickets that say otherwise;):D I used to work with a couple of guys that raced a 'dale tandem. Their idea of fun was to try and go as fast as they could thru the local speed trap. I think the best they ever did was 54 mph in a 35 on a slight downhill:rolleyes: and yes they got a ticket.

Aaron:)