Originally Posted by Darth Lefty

Bicycle drag racing is an idea that comes around. Not always seriously, and sometimes just trolling the forum rats. I can't find the thread now but there was a guy a couple of years ago who had everyone going with the giant sprocket he'd bought and how fast it would make him.

You're going to accelerate slower and need more time to hit top speed just because a bike is geared higher than running. That's the whole point of having a bike. Running top speed must be limited by the power needed to flail the limbs around because an athlete on a bike can go faster. The hour record is more than 34 miles. That flying start 200 listed above works out to more than 49mph and that's got to be an immense gear ratio. Track bikes don't have shifters but I feel like a hypothetical drag racing bike ought to. How fast would those track sprinters with the giant quads go if they only had a centrifugal 2-speed like SRAM used to make?