high speed handling
 

what has was your top speed? today I came flying down the hill today on a 15 mile training ride and slowed down for a red light, the light changed to green an my training parnter went by me...I sprinted by her...showing off a little on a slight downhill...the road got steeper and my speed shot up. I looked down as I went by my training parnter at 28 mph, as I went down the hill the wind was blowing hard, and the road was a sweeping turn. a few weeks early, the road was all dug up and the repaving is uneven. I noticed that the handling felt very quick and I was having a hard time with the wind, uneven paving and sweeping turn...I looked down and saw 50 on my computer. I grabed the brakes to bleed some speed and got it down to 40 when a big gust of wind hits me...I had a good grip on the hoods and hung on tight.

I remember getting gut to 48 mph before, I think this is the first time at 50. I don't remember the handling problems at high speed before, but on previous occussions, it was on different bikes and different conditions. I'm going bring my other bike on this training ride next week for comparison.

so what are your experences at high speed?

I've always felt really stable at high speeds on my bike. It likes to go fast, and so do I. You have to learn to deal with the wind, god knows we have it here in OK. Once you get used to it, you just sorta automatically lean with it. Position is a lot of the issue when you're going fast. Sitting up on the tops of the bars would scare me, I like to get really low, and hug as much of my body to the bike as possible.

Get off those hoods and into the drops, that'll help your handling.

Although if you want to slow down, and don't want to use breaks (overheating the rims), you can stay on the hoods to slow youself down.

I think most people would have problems with handling when you have uneven pavement, turns, and wind at the same time.

I was coming down a hill today around 38-40 mph, following this guy I had just met; we had struck up a conversation earlier when I asked if I could draft off him. As we went through the twisty section, I paid attention to my speedometer a half second too long and looked up to realize that I was going too fast to turn. I was in the drops, and pulled the rear brake a little too hard - complete loss of rear traction (not to mention a very cool and scary powerslide :p) but I managed to save it by easing off the brakes and making a few split-second balance adjustments. Very nerve-wracking; I thought I was about to get pretty seriously injured going into a ditch or something at car speeds.

I had no intentions to go that fast and the road conditions have not been an issue in the past at around 30mph. for going fast down hills, I like to have my hands on the tops and get into a tuck. handling has not been an issue before. once I noticed the quick handling, it was a little un-nerving.

I hit 70 kmh or about 44 mph on a downhill stretch in a race today and that was from just coasting. I didn't want to try and drop anybody at that stage of the race. The bikes handling was as solid as a rock although it is a lugged steel frame with 32 cross spoke wheels. Its SO much fun bombing down hills on a stable bike and I was in my equivelant to being in the drops so my weight was forwardish and low.

Regards, Anthony

I remember once while leading a race... I was in full tuck, just tipped into the corner and a gust of wind got under the front and put me into a pretty wild tankslapper @ 230+km/h oh, sorry, wrong bike... :D

I like to lean over my handlebars and lay on the top of them to get super aerodynamic. With that I can hit speeds upto 65mph. (which is scary as ****, btw)

This has to be the best way to achieve an aerodynamic profile..... but I also think back to threads where people's bars just snapped.... ::shudders:: oh well, we can only live once! Thats why we shave!

I agree that this position is scary, but the worst fright I have experienced was bing on my TT bike going down a hill at nearly the same speeds. when you have the ability to death grip the handlebars, it's one thing. It is an entirely different feeling when you are SO FAR FORWARD (and only using s-bend bars)!!

As to handling, I have to agree. Put those three variables in the same mix and handling will not be the best.

As to the peson who looked at his cycle computer, get one that keeps track of max speed (which is most I believe). One should not become a Darwin Award candidate needing to know his speed...wait until you can concentrate a bit less on the immediate task of staying alive.

I really was not trying to go that fast...and I looked at my computer not thinking I was going that fast...I looked down because I notice the handling was a little quick. I have no problem getting into a tuck and I have decended in the forward position before, but with the wind, I was just trying to maintain good control. I was on my ritchey logic, steel frame and fork. the bike is normally very stable and solid. The wheels are 32 spokes on tubular matrix (semi aero) rims with 53x12 gearing.

Next week, the weather should be better...I'm going to bring my kestrel ems to work and take it out on the same route. I'm going to how the handling compares. with 53x11, I should be able to get to 50 mph without much difficultly.

I wish I had this kind of luck. I rounded a sharp corner at about 15 mph really leaning in and the bike just came out from under me. I slid about five feet and had a nice one all over my forearm.

It was coming in to a parking lot that was that smooth black asphalt. It's so smooth, that I've slid my car sideways coming in. Too bad it didn't keep me from getting nasty road rash.

I haven't hit much more than about 35 mph down hills.

Fastest I've ever gone is nearly 56 mph. With my compact crank now, tops I can get (with getting fairly aero) is around 43 mph....still plenty fast enough for me.

Last fall while loaded touring in the Rockies I hit 65 km (40 mph) going down hill with panniers front and back (90 lbs). There had been heavy rains a day or two earlier and partway down Kicking Horse Pass the paved shoulder was covered with gravel and sticks. I had to merge into the traffic and got passed by a tour bus who gave me about 6". Hairy!

For the most safety and performance, I suggest getting up to high-speeds gradually. Identify the fastest sections of the courses you ride regularly and each time you hit that hill, do just a little more speed, maybe 1-mph faster each time. You'll get a feel for how the bike handles, how it reacts to road bumps, how stable it is or isn't in cross-winds and you'll get the hang of making the necessary corrections.

The changes in behavior are fairly linear with speed, so the change from 40 to 41 to 42 to 43mph are predicatable and managable. However, if you've only gone 40mph down a certain hill before, then bomb it at 50mph the next time, the sensations and required corrections will be very dramatic and scary.

One of the most difficult things to develop is a firm grip with relaxed arms. Your fingers are tight on the bars, yet your wrist and arms are loose to absorb road-bumps and to provide quick responsive action to make corrections. A small bump that requires a 0.25s response time and correction at 40mph to stay on the desired path, will give you only 0.17s at 60mph.

It's very hilly around here and I regularly get up to 45mph, with mountain rides topping 50.

My bikes are steel and feel perfectly solid at high speeds. I adjust air pressure and inspect tires before every ride, and give my brakes a good stop test before getting up any speed. It's a habit that comes from many years of motorcycling and bicycling. Your tires and brakes are the most important parts of the bike when it comes to staying upright.

Az

You need an 11t cog out back! :D

fog... which hill was this? I'm thinking you were coming towards 4 corners from mt. tam?

I think a lot of our speed perception comes from airspeed. W/ a 20 mph tailwind (which was more than possible in the bay today) you could have had an airspeed of 30, which isn't bad compared to the groundspeed of 50...

just thinking....

I know I'm old, and slow, and don't race anymore, and have lots of obligations, but a while back I decided that trying to make it faster and faster wasn't for me. Now I keep my downhill speeds at about 30 or so which gives me a longer time to enjoy the ride. I know its rationalizing, but I just feel more comfortable on the bike. However, have yet to erase my max speed from the computer of 38 mph on my touring bike. That was me and gear, so figure 300 pounds. I guess if the battery every goes dead I'll lose that one too.

"and then the wheels came off"

the fastest I've done is 49mph on my steel framed road bike, this was in mid NH. The bike felt stable, I got in my own way by thinking of what would happen if I crashed and stiffened up, had to tell myself to not go into "death grip." I didn't crash, thankfully.

I ride in the drops, hands near the brakes, pinch the top tube with my knees and try to stay in control and avoid the death grip.

Yeah I know.....I was debating it. But, as I get older, and think more and more pleasant thoughts such as "gee, having the front tire blow or my aluminum bar abruptly snapping in half right now would really, really suck" while bombing downhill, it makes me realize that I'm pretty happy with keeping around 36 to 40 mph.

Plus, it seems that on many of the downhills around, the pavement really blows at some point or another. Nothing like having to slightly bunny hop the front tire at 35-40 mph to "lighten" the bike to avoid a bone jarring hit. Doing that at 50+ wouldn't be my idea of fun, since to begin with I'd probably hit the sections of bad pavement before I knew it.

You might just be surprised. Weight makes a difference. My bike and I dropped 8 lbs last year and some of the 50+ MPH drops from the year before barely made it to 50.

72km/h (~45mph)on bad pavement, downhill, I think is the fastest recorded speed for me. I'd love to see Clinton Ave. going down into Tenalfy, NJ from 9W repaved, although 45mph is already 20mph over the speed limit...

+1 lol