Originally Posted by Brian Ratliff
In my perfect world, cyclists are accomodated but also accepted on the full roadway as part of traffic with no caveats. To put it another way, why should road accomodations be focused on the few fast, athletic, capable cyclists who make up a small percentage of transportational cyclists? Why not design the bike lane, for example, for slower cyclists and let the more capable cyclists merge with car traffic when needed?
Ideal world, sure. But this is not an ideal world and the question is not so much what cyclists want as what society, meaning the motorists who are the predominant roadway users, expect. Do you think that the typical motorist can tell whether a cyclist is traveling at 16 mph or at 21 mph? I don't think the motorist would bother, except when considering merging or turning in front of, and then I expect he would consider the observed movement rather than the speed in mph. A facility suitable for high speed is also suitable for low speed.
Many years ago I measured the speed of cyclists commuting into Ames Aeronautical Laboratory at the start of the working day, at a location with a long level stretch and on a day without wind. The speed range was from 12 to 22 mph, 16 mph average and 18 mph 85 percentile speed.