What is your top speed???
04-17-13 | 12:00 AM
#51
Bicycle Repair Man !!!
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From: YEG
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04-17-13 | 02:50 AM
#54
Formerly Known as Newbie
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 6,249
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From: Helsinki, Finland
I proudly report I once spent 1,5hrs on my 15km commute. Average speed 10km/h, top speed 14km/h. I consider that a personal record of sorts, because I had to work hard for every bit of it. It was snowing heavily and had been for a while. MUPs hadn't been cleared yet, there were snow banks up to hub level, with occasional hard packed stuff thrown into the mix by plows clearing the adjacent street.
I was spinning like a squirrel on crack for 90 minutes. Hardest workout I've ever had during my commute.
I was spinning like a squirrel on crack for 90 minutes. Hardest workout I've ever had during my commute.
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To err is human. To moo is bovine.
Who is this General Failure anyway, and why is he reading my drive?
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04-17-13 | 06:31 AM
#58
Senior Member
Joined: May 2007
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From: Raleigh, NC
Bikes: Waterford RST-22, Bob Jackson World Tour, Ritchey Breakaway Cross, Soma Saga, De Bernardi SL, Specialized Sequoia
On my commute, I have several hills where my speed usually tops 30 mph, and my highest speed is about 35 mph. For riding in general, my top speed was about 45 mph. My brother reached 50 mph on the same hill, but I'm a wimp and started tapping my brakes. I top 30 mph on downhills during just about every ride around here, but 40 mph is unusual. You need a long, steep hill and favorable winds to top 40 mph, and most hills just aren't long enough around here to do that.
Last edited by tarwheel; 04-18-13 at 06:19 AM.
04-17-13 | 06:43 AM
#60
Mad bike riding scientist
Joined: Nov 2004
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From: Denver, CO
Bikes: Some silver ones, a red one, a black and orange one, and a few titanium ones
And grumbling about people setting their personal speed records, recording them and posting them is the silliest williest.
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Stuart Black
Dreamin' of Bemidji Down the Mississippi (in part)
Plan Epsilon Around Lake Michigan in the era of Covid
Gold Fever Three days of dirt in Colorado
Pokin' around the Poconos A cold ride around Lake Erie
Dinosaurs in Colorado A mountain bike guide to the Purgatory Canyon dinosaur trackway
Solo Without Pie. The search for pie in the Midwest.
Picking the Scablands. Washington and Oregon, 2005. Pie and spiders on the Columbia River!
04-17-13 | 08:28 AM
#63
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Joined: Aug 2012
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From: Lancaster, PA, USA
Bikes: 2012 Trek Allant, 2016 Bianchi Volpe Disc
My top speed flat with no wind is about 25mph, but I'm really pushing it. Normal cruising speed is 15-20mph.
With a tail wind going downhill, I've managed to run out of gears around 36mph.
edit: this is a Trek Allant, loaded up for commuting, 700x32 tires.
With a tail wind going downhill, I've managed to run out of gears around 36mph.
edit: this is a Trek Allant, loaded up for commuting, 700x32 tires.
Last edited by spivonious; 04-17-13 at 09:57 AM.
04-17-13 | 09:39 AM
#65
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From: Sudbury, ON, CA
Bikes: 2012 Kona Sutra, 2002 Look AL 384, 2018 Moose Fat bike
04-17-13 | 09:47 AM
#66
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From: Sudbury, ON, CA
Bikes: 2012 Kona Sutra, 2002 Look AL 384, 2018 Moose Fat bike
My sons and I were riding across part of Manitoulin Island and going into Westbay from Little Current is down a hill. The boys were probably 14 and 16yrs and we were coasting down into Westbay at about 50kph. My youngest, at the front, slowly caught and passed an OPP car (Ontario Provincial Police), the posted limit was 50kmh, and he was scared that the police officer was going to pull him over for speeding. Didn't happen and we had a blast.
04-17-13 | 10:21 AM
#68
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2009
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I took the speedo meter off my mountain bike when I did endurance races, it just made me sad, and my commuter has never had one. Math says I spin out in the low 20s on the commuter. The calculator says I average about 16mph from unlocking the chain to opening my front door on my commute.
In other places? Descending Laramie Pass I was in the mid 50s. There was a 2mph difference between full-crouch-chin-touching-the-stem and just being low in the drops. Took me 45 minutes to climb that pile of rock, and less than 10 minutes to get back down it. In the flattest-of-the-flat in Oklahoma, I could usually break 40 on the down-hill-and-down-wind side of the only hill in town, where the road went over the train tracks. But only when the wind was 20knots or better. On flat-with-no-wind, I can hit 35, but not stay there long enough to make the effort worthwhile. And I've seen 750knots ground speed one day riding the jetstream, and mach 1.05 one afternoon in California, but neither of those involved wheels touching ground, and both were burning hydrocarbons.
In other places? Descending Laramie Pass I was in the mid 50s. There was a 2mph difference between full-crouch-chin-touching-the-stem and just being low in the drops. Took me 45 minutes to climb that pile of rock, and less than 10 minutes to get back down it. In the flattest-of-the-flat in Oklahoma, I could usually break 40 on the down-hill-and-down-wind side of the only hill in town, where the road went over the train tracks. But only when the wind was 20knots or better. On flat-with-no-wind, I can hit 35, but not stay there long enough to make the effort worthwhile. And I've seen 750knots ground speed one day riding the jetstream, and mach 1.05 one afternoon in California, but neither of those involved wheels touching ground, and both were burning hydrocarbons.
04-17-13 | 11:23 AM
#71
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Joined: Jun 2004
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From: San Diego, California
Bikes: 5 Colnago, 2 Olmo, Bianchi, 4 Austro-Daimler, Merlin, Fisher Tandem, John Waite track tandem, Schwinns, Steyrs, Bill Holland Ti path racer, Chinese prototype FS
48 mph down Texas St. (14% grade) in the dark at 5:45 am. 35 mph on my fixed gear path racer.
04-17-13 | 01:59 PM
#73
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On a race oriented road bike, 41.2 mph down hill on a one lane paved farm road in rural TN.
On another race oriented road bike, 31.4 mph dead flat road with no wind, in Dallas Tx.
On a ss (53x16), 36.7 mph, downhill, with a backpack, commuting from work.
On another race oriented road bike, 31.4 mph dead flat road with no wind, in Dallas Tx.
On a ss (53x16), 36.7 mph, downhill, with a backpack, commuting from work.
04-17-13 | 07:06 PM
#75
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Joined: Apr 2013
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Man you guys got to get out on a tandem. My wife and I hit 62mph coming down one of the passes on the Logan to Jackson race. Here in the rocky mountains one of our favorite rides has a decent where if the wind is not blowing we reach 58mph. If the wind is blowing its scary as hell and we slow it down to 45 or so. LOL We can regularly reach speeds of 38 to 40mph on only a very slight decent. Nothing like pedaling out a 54-11 gear.