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What's your fastest speed on a Downhill

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Old 05-14-02 | 05:41 PM
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What's your fastest speed on a Downhill

How fast can you go on a downhill stretch of road, my fastest downhill ride was at 70 k/hour, and you can just imagine these professional riders like they are doing like almost 90 k an hour during their decent at Mount Ventoux, at the Tour the France last year
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Old 05-14-02 | 06:43 PM
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96km/h/59.6mph - on knobbies.
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Old 05-14-02 | 07:23 PM
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Are you CRAZY???? 56 mph********** And here I thought 30 mph was fast (although there are no real hills near me in Wisconsin).

Fast is fun...but if too fast, I want knee pads, elbow pads, butt pads, mouth guard-- in case of a crash/road rash!

WeeeeeooooooOOOOO!
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Old 05-14-02 | 07:40 PM
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Originally posted by Bbmoozer
Are you CRAZY???? 56 mph**********
59.6mph

It was a very quiet, very steep, very straight dead end street with a long flat runoff at the bottom. The perfect place for a speed test. The only real difficulty was riding up the thing beforehand.

I must go back there one day with my slicks on. I bet I could go over 100km/h. If only I could remember how to get there.
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Old 05-14-02 | 08:10 PM
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83kph/51.8mph on a downhill with two slight curves, braver men than me could go faster.

There is another hill that I have hit 80kph, I know someone that has reached 96kph on this hill but you need balls of solid steel, as the bottom is very bumpy (no road maintenance) and a blind right corner.
I usually hit 70kph/43mph on my way to work.

CHEERS.

Mark
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Old 05-14-02 | 09:09 PM
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53 mph going down the west side of going to the sun hy with a fullload. the road was curvy but tthat stretch was not bad and the speed just crept up then i saw the sign for the hair pin curve I almost went over the edge that day..
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Old 05-15-02 | 01:36 AM
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Only 37mph so far - there were these stupid metal boxes on wheels at the bottom of the hill

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Old 05-15-02 | 05:43 AM
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For me it's 46mph. I'm going to go back on a quiet Sunday morning and see what I can do.
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Old 05-15-02 | 05:55 AM
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I, too, think that 30 mph is fast (enough, anyway ). Which is why I will probably not be riding back down after I climb Ventoux.

Cheers...Gary
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Old 05-15-02 | 08:18 AM
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I hit 43 MPH while coasting down a hill. I probably could have gone faster, but my rims on that bike are not good and I was starting to feel the front tire bounce on the pavement. I need to get my good road bike out there sometime.

There is also a nice steep hill west of Nashville, Indiana that I have driven up and really want to ride down sometime. My truck had to downshift several times to make it up the hill. I almost rode down it the day I drove up the hill but I had just bought my road bike and did not have shoes for it.

According to my bike computer, I once hit 76MPH. At the time it registered that speed, I was playing with it and a paper clip at my desk.
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Old 05-15-02 | 08:39 AM
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65 mph. It was during RAGBRAI in 1998. I was in a paceline going down Pilot Mound Hill. For those that know what RAGBRAI is and know about the Pilot Mound Hill you know this is very possible on that hill. Especially since that part of the highway was redone prior to RAGBRAI that year. I hit this speed on my old road bike.

So far on my Vision R40 recumbent I have only managed to go as fast as 45 mph.
 
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Old 05-15-02 | 08:47 AM
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43 mph is my record. But I am a coward on descents. There is a local hill that I think I could hit about 45+ on with the right wind but I don't ride that one that often. I did Lizard Head Pass last year. I rode my brakes down the hill. Most of the people in the group hit well over 40 but I did not like the traffic and the potential of rocks and debris in the road. I talked to a local and he said he tried to get no higher than 40 mph on that hill - pretty much for the same reason. Having a wipe out at 40+ is not fun to contemplate much less actually have.
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Old 05-15-02 | 10:00 AM
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60 KPH on a department store bike.

I had to pedal of course since that thing has a terminal velocity of about 45 KPH.
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Old 05-15-02 | 11:11 AM
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I regularly hit over 50 mph on a local sweeping downhill and have gone 55+ mph (88kph) on that hill. Did a trip in the Green Mountains of Vermont and hit 60 mph on a long downhill.

Say your prayers before you fly. Speed is fun, fun, fun, but can be fatal if not careful.
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Old 05-15-02 | 11:12 AM
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48 mph downhill. but the real question is: how fast can you go on the flats? did 38mph with a 15-18 mph wind with me. Although when you think about it, anyone can hop on a bike and build up speed on a downhill. the thing that separates us from the rest is your max speed while you are going uphill, with a 15 mph headwind, on a crappy potholed road in a drizzle. now that is a topic.
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Old 05-15-02 | 11:20 AM
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36.5 mph, that's flying (for me)
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Old 05-15-02 | 12:06 PM
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There are no hills in texas
but I did once get up to 15 mph on my driveway!

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Old 05-15-02 | 12:28 PM
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38 mph on a straight downhill. Faster than that is a little scary.
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Old 05-15-02 | 01:54 PM
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Originally posted by lotek
There are no hills in texas
but I did once get up to 15 mph on my driveway!
lotek
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Lotek youre flying I have to talk to you how you do it, have to know your secret man, I really need that kind of acceleration, I am not trying to pull your leg but I am really interested in the technique, I can use that
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Old 05-15-02 | 02:19 PM
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Did 43 mph on a fully loaded (panniers/tent/stove etc) moutain bike with semi slicks in France last summer.

Also clocked over 50 mph on a 3 geared Sturmey Archer Raleigh Shopper with 20" wheels aged about 15 in the mid 1970's in Greenwich Park (500' decent in about 1,500 feet), so to steep to ride up.

Can only say the speed was over 50 mph as too many tears in my eyes to read the speedo above 50 mph

I also crashed the same bike at about 40 mph, and still have the bone chips in my elbow to prove it.
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Old 05-15-02 | 02:24 PM
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"Lotek youre flying I have to talk to you how you do it, have to know your secret man, I really need that kind of acceleration, I am not trying to pull your leg but I am really interested in the technique, I can use that"



If I was a Texas oil baron, I could also manage 15 mph within the first 200 meters of my driveway, and have the chauffer pick me up in the Rolls Royce at the end of the drive. I live in London and very proud of the fact that my 'driveway' in actually longer than my bike (just).
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Old 05-15-02 | 03:13 PM
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The world speed record for a human powered viechle is on a recumbent bike with an aerodynamic shell.

I believe it was 115 MPH on a flat road.
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Old 05-15-02 | 03:24 PM
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Originally posted by kobyj

According to my bike computer, I once hit 76MPH. At the time it registered that speed, I was playing with it and a paper clip at my desk.
Hot Dang! Desk racing at its best!
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Old 05-15-02 | 03:42 PM
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56 mph, on a fairly mild downhill with a tailwind on our tandem.
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Old 05-15-02 | 09:49 PM
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Originally posted by Amir R. Pakdel
The world speed record for a human powered viechle is on a recumbent bike with an aerodynamic shell.

I believe it was 115 MPH on a flat road.
That'd be the motor paced record would it not? The unassisted record over 200m (flying start) is a smidge over 80mph set last October by Sam Whittingham.
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