aka Tom Reingold
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: New York, NY, and High Falls, NY, USA
Posts: 40,503
Bikes: 1962 Rudge Sports, 1971 Raleigh Super Course, 1971 Raleigh Pro Track, 1974 Raleigh International, 1975 Viscount Fixie, 1982 McLean, 1996 Lemond (Ti), 2002 Burley Zydeco tandem
Mentioned: 511 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 7348 Post(s)
I rode the Rudge in Maplewood, where I lived until August 2013. Maplewood is very hilly, and I took it down some serious hills. One right near where I lived was where I hit 38 mph and higher, several times. I don't know if I ever clocked my max speed on the Rudge there, but it's a safe bet that I exceeded 30 mph. The brakes were strong and controlled. So yes, they pass with flying colors.
The Rudge now lives in Florida with my mother in law. It stays there and waits for me to visit every April. It's a perfect Florida bike, as 3-speeds are more than enough on such flat land. I need the speeds to handle wind, not hills. 1st is for a headwind, 2nd is for a mild wind, and 3rd is for a tail wind.