We like our eggs here. :speedy:

I think the top speed on descents is relevant..its fun to know what other people are hitting.its quite a rush to even go that fast on a bike at all.

Myself I average 15.5 mph on my commute, but I have cracked 30 on a flat stretch for a block or so..prolly had a tailwind.normally I don't see my mph above about 23-24 on my mostly flat commute.

The fastest I've been on my bike was fully loaded touring setup going down the backside of morgan territory rd (into dublin/livermore) where I hit 58.8 mph .

Finally started using Strava. On my main commute I average 14mph and top out at 35-36mph on a downhill.

After experiencing a couple rides with a fairing on the front of my recumbent, I want to try that hill again with the fairing on. I bet I could get close to 60 mph, even though it's less than a quarter mile hill. I was cruising on level ground at around 23 mph quite easily with the fairing (that's about 3-4 mph faster than normal) and on the slight decline where I'm normally at about 24-25, I was pushing 30. :)

Unfortunately, it's just too inconvenient to park the bike with the fairing on (it adds about 18 inches of length), so I'll be doing without on the commuter. Makes me really want to get a streamliner or a velomobile though.

I hit 60 MPH down the hill between Northstar at Tahoe and Truckee on my Cannondale Synapse. Frightening, but fortunately no speed shimmy. I had to tuck to do it. I won't be doing it again soon.

At what speed do most road bikes spin out at in top gear? 26-30mph? Anything faster than that will just be gravity then, right?

For folks in the SF Bay Area, try a freshly paved Pleasant Hill Rd/Taylor Way descent coming down from Lafayette into Pleasant Hill. It's about a 1/2 continuous descent with a 35 mph curve at the base where it goes flat. Top speed for this heavy Clyde was 63mph. I still can hit regularly 59 mph on this and pass up cars on the way down. Best time to go down is about 3 weeks after a fresh layer of steam-rolled asphalt gets laid (every 5 years or so). Not recommended after a slurry seal and gravel gets laid (more often in the in between years). And riding in the bike lane is NOT recommended. Own the main road, since the side may have a bunch of debris. I used to ride this a lot doing my Berkeley-Concord commute taking BART in the mornings and riding home in the afternoons.

My top speed while commuting is 35mph on a flat sprint.

Depends on the gearing.
http://sheldonbrown.com/gears/

My bike (700c road wheels, 170mm cranks) has a high gear of 50 tooth front (compact gearing) and 12 tooth back, at 120 pedal rpm (getting close to many people's "spin out") = 40.2mph.

And yes, once you get much beyond that point, you're better off in an aerodynamic tuck.

Bikes with more standard gearing (52 or 53 front) and assuming same size wheels/cranks with an 11 tooth in back will go 46.4 mph @ 120 rpm.

I must ride in an exceptionally hilly area. I routinely find myself north of 40mph on all of my bikes.

Fastest ever 53mph - descending Golden Gate Canyon between Golden and Boulder on my Cannondale SR500 - Try as I might, I haven't been able to top this one.
Fastest during commute 51mph - descending Crowfoot Valley hwy between Castle Rock and Parker on a fully laden Gary Fisher Kaitai - Stable as a rock and verified with GPS and cyclometer, though I think I also had a stout tailwind that morning.
Fastest with current stable 51mph - descending South Lake Gulch road south of Castle Rock on the Raleigh Team - Had to back off a when I started to feel a little woble in the front end.

Once I'm spun out, I get into a good tuck with my weight shifted to the front as much as is comfortable and let gravity do the rest.

For a Commute ,

Faster than the guy i past , Slower than the guy who passed me .

Once on my commute I went this fast: **------------** Now try to beat that.

34 on my Leader bike and about 20 on my mtb commuter bike.

My top speed was 43.2 mph going down a very steep hill, but my average is about 15mph.

On a flat 32 but I can't hold it for long.

When commuting to and from work I go at around 8mph I think.

I pushed hard once and managed to reach around 20mph. My three speeder isn't that fast.

My commute starts with about an 8 percent 1/2 mile downhill run. 31 mph max yesterday morning which is fairly typical. Someone named this stretch Bonzai in Strava because if you don't ride the brakes like me can easily be up in the 40+ mph range. I'm just not that comfortable in the early dawn hours going faster on a narrow curvy two lane road.

Have been working to crack the elusive 20 mph average speed barrier on my morning commute. 16 miles and 1,300 ft descending on my route with only a couple of hundred ft of climbing. Getting close. 19.7 average mph yesterday. Just need a little more caffeine or tailwind or both.

I think I get about 10 mph according to my speedo with it set rite with it set wrong I get 25 on my hardest rides and a few down hills I get 30 or 32 that's with it set wrong set rite I get 15 to 20 I wonder if every bodies speedo is set rite don't sound like they are and if you do manage to get 25 to 30 on flats you are pushing your self really hard.