Is anyone able to do 20+ mph sustained on a flat bar road bike? How long did it take to build up to that speed?

Catch a good tailwind and you will fly in no time.

Sustaining over 20 may be hard with flat bars but staying around 20 shouldn't be too bad. You can still tuck and get aero if you have to, but it isnt as comfortable as with drop bars. I guess age and fitness will determine how fast it takes to get fast.

Plenty of people have whizzed by on their bikes at that speed right past me. Unfortunately I only manage 20 miles per hour going downhill. But I call them kilometres so 20 miles would be about 32 km. I sigh as I pedal my meagre 14 km as they tear by me on every kind of bike there is. Even unicycles -- maybe not at that speed but definitely speedy.

Heck I have trouble substaining 18+mph (on 25+ miles ride) on my drop bar road bike on a windless day on a paved trail. Now on a commute bike with drop bar and with all my bags and stuff, I'll be lucky to even get 18 mph on the flat for longer than a few miles at a time.

Works for me

I cannot hold more than about 17-18 MPH on flat land without a good tailwind. I can reach 20+, but then I tend to drop back to the 15-18 MPH range when my lungs and legs get tired. And this is on a drop bar bike! Down hills on the other hand...

Back into cycling for two months after 15 years and a lot of weight. Today I rode my flat bar commuter 18 miles averaging a little over 14mph with one pannier and two bottles over pavement with some inclines. I max out at over 26 down a hill and on the flats without a headwind I can easily do 16-18.

i've TTed on a flat-bar road bike when I had nothing else, so yes. I was a lot lot lot more fit then than i am now.

So did Graeme Obree

This is BF. The appropriate answer is I can maintain 25mph without breaking a sweat on a MTB with 2.1" knobbies.
Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves.

I didn't want to embarrass anyone.

I struggle to keep 16 mph and it's only a 9 mile commute... Great god I'm out of bike shape.. I can run the 9 miles there easier

I've done 3-4 mile pulls on the front of a paceline @ 23mph on my Jamis Coda...is that sustained enough?

25mph? That's it?!

I was able to do +20 mph on the flat on my old hybrid commuter but I sure wasn't able to sustain it for long.

i usually average about 20 to 22 mph while i can some parts of my daily commute just isnt really able to handle that with lights and forced sidewalk riding but i def can pace 20+ for a few miles at least i run a 1x8 setup right now with a 50t front with flat bar here soon when i put the drops back on i can and have paced 25 my way to work at 5 am with no people out

I did 20+ mph on flats a $100 used mountain bike with a nonlockout front fork, knobby tires at 40psi for a good 2 hour ride with roadies once , when I thought a bunch of roadies were going to go easy at 17-18mph, but it ended up being pulled faster by some guys going 21+ on all the flats. Although this was clearly a draft-assisted effort, which is huge considering the upright position of a mtn bike.

I'd actually be fairly certain that nearly all racing road cyclists who can keep up with the club "B" ride would be able to do 20mph for an hour on a flat-bar road bike.

I gotta admit as well - I'm not a hugely experience road cyclist, but I've ridden with a wide range of guys, and pretty much all the guys I know who are in racing clubs, were able to do 20+mph on a road bike very quickly after getting on their first road bike. Like within a few weeks once they got used to their bike.

I know someone that does this. He's badass

I can't say,I haven't found a flat road around here.

Took about 3-4mo. from when I started riding regularly. Soon after that I got a new bike.

There's a section of my commute that is flat for about 1/2 mile and in a little valley that is usually sheltered from the wind. On that section I regularly hold 20 mph +- 1 mph when I ride my hybrid.

The rest of the commute I'm happy if I keep it between 15 - 17 mph. If it's windy or I'm tired then it's less.

we have a guy in our weekly nightly group ride that keeps up pretty easily and does pulls on his flat bar mountain bike avg speed is 23-25mph

all flat.


Chad

Like TM says, catch a nice tailwind, and I can sail along at 23-24 for 10-15 miles.

Against the wind, it ain't even close......

I can do it on my road bike easily, but I doubt I could on my MTB/Commuter with 1.5 slicks. It just doesn't spin up as easily.

20mph+ sustained average solo?

yeah no not "everyone" can do that a few weeks after getting their bike very few actually.

Chad