I just started riding a fixie two months ago. I built it from a 1970s era Schwinn World Sport - running 52/16 - which makes the gentle hills of central Maryland, maybe up and down about 400 feet, somewhat challanging.

Mostly I started to make me strong enough to ride a single speed MTB up hills. And now I love my fixie.

I've been out for several 70 mile rides in the last week or so, logging average speeds of about 17 MPH. I know this is slow for road riding. What is a respectable pace for a fixie? Should I expect to be able to ride as fast as a geared roadie?

Just curious.

17mph avg with 52/16!!!!!
gear down man.

A respectable pace is whatever you want. For a solo 70 mile ride with 400' of descending it should be pretty much the same as it would be on a geared road bike.

I don't have a computer on either of my fixed bikes--- but a real 17mph avg. for a solo ride is decent on a geared bike when you consider traffic, terrain, etc...

You will probably not see the same avg. speeds as on a geared bike--- especially with your gear inches.

If it was truly that flat, then the pace should be the same as a road bike. But avg speed is meanigless: did you stop for lights, cars, etc. All of these things conspire to water down that measure's usefulness.

+1, but only because your cadence is way too slow. I think you are mashing at around 68rpm and should be in the 80-90 range. However, eventually you will be able to spin in those gears.

I find that on my new fixed gear my avg speeds are a few mph faster than on my old hybrid. It's geared at 48/15, but even this is a bit too high, and i'm probably going to back it off a little bit. 17mph isn't a bad pace to keep, though. I don't know about the more seasoned riders, but this is my first summer of serious riding and that's right around where i was before i got my fixed gear. But definitely put some lower gears on there and start spinning faster.

i struggle to make 14mph average on my fixed , on my road bike i can get around 18mph average over 50 miles on road. alot of hills where i live in uk.

it's alot faster now that i don't have a speedometer- especially averages.

It must have been the extra weight.

I usually see a 2 to 3 mph difference in average speed between my fixed geared bike and my geared bike.

It all depends on the terrain, wind, and traffic when comparing speeds. Each variable will affect each bike differently, also, it depends on what gears the fixed gear has.

I think a geared roadie will almost always be faster because of the availability of higher gears for downhills, the ability to tuck and coast down really big descents, and the efficiency of being able to spin up hills. That said, unless your roadie friends ride like madmen, keeping up shouldnt be too bad. And i like the added degree of difficulty.

Average speed is completely useless anyways. The only thing that matters is watts * duration.

For me I could care less about what my average MPH is. It's about having fun, enjoying the sights, getting back to the roots of cycling. Getting all serious and technical about cadence, ect. is fruitless to me.

I ride my fixed gear because it is fun to ride - to hell with how fast I'm going.

17 mph average, not riding @ 17mph

52/16 sounds about right, I ride my geared roadie at or around 20-21mph with a 52/15 all the time, after adding in stops and hills or obstacles the actual ride average is well under 20mph

52x16? That's it? Bump it up, broham. 55x11 - just like Lance...

Try using gear inches in the mid to high seventies and you will most likely see your avg. speed increase. It's all about the spin!

I wanna get a speedometer, so I can actually tell how fast I'm going at any given point.
Calculating my speed using my pedal RPMs and drivetrain specs, I sustained ~25 MPH along the Kelly Drive path last night at 1am.

Yep and I was suggesting that the avg rpm should be around 80-90 rpm. And on your road bike you are spinning in the correct gear at 21mph, but I guarantee you change gear up hill. Anyway, you can use whatever gearing you like. I was just trying to be helpful.

Average 17 mph? Gawd, that's movin'. I use to ride that quick - about 20 years ago.

Nowadays I'm faster on my fixed than on my geared bike. No chance to loaf on the fixie.