Crabster

For whatever reason I'm obsessing with getting a LHT. One myth I can't seem to get around is that the LHT will only do 10mph tops. lol

So, what is your average speed on the LHT? I find myself in the 15-18mph range quite a bit on my Specialized Sequoia. Will the LHT offer the same? I guess it comes down to gearing? Is there an optimal set that would give the LHT a bit more speed if you wanted?

Thanks!

MilitantPotato

Really? It's a little heavier (durable), and meant for being more upright. Add a water bottle and raise your handlebars up a little and you'll get near enough the same effect.

For higher cruising speed on flats, lower the bars. For more acceleration buy a light wheelset, smaller cassette, and racing tires.

People over exaggerate bike weight and equipment and it's effect on speed. If you want comfort and durability, a bike like the LHT is great.
If you want to go faster, get a bike that forces you into an aero position.

EmmCeeBee

It sounds like you like to cruise at 15-18 mph. So I'd say, if you get an LHT, you'll be riding in that range. It's the 'engine' that makes the bike move.

Taking into consideration the slope, the load, and any headwinds, you might average more or less than that.

-- Mark

mattm3

I was just thinking the same thing. I have an LHT and noticed today my average speed is 15 mph. I ride in an area with a LOT of long hills and I ride on trails a lot. I can get the LHT up to 30 mph on a slight decline in the biggest gear without too much effort. I don't know if that helps. I haven't been on another road bike in a while so I can't really compare it to anything.

jdom

I've noticed that I'm significantly slower on my lht than on my cannondale raoad bike.I'm slow by nature anyhow but when I ride my lht I'm about 3-4 mph slower than my cannondale.My lht average speed is around 12-13 mph where as my cannondale average was around 15-16 mph.I don't no if it is the weight,position or maybe just a differant mind set that causes me to be slower,but it doesn't really matter the lht is the only bike I ride anymore,just did a century ride on it yesterday.

LeeG

Never heard that myth. Did you hear the one about getting a 17lb road bike and being able to ride in the Tour de France or getting a custom $5000 titanium framed bike with 14spd Rohloff hub and being able to ride across continents?

If you were riding a 25lb Sequoia with 90psi 700x28 tires in an aerodynamic position and trade it for a 30lb LHT with 75psi 35mm tires with a more upright position you'll be riding different bikes for different purposes. Whether you go slower in one or the other will probably depend more on your fitness that day than the bike. If you want to ride at speeds where aerodynamics begins to have an effect you wouldn't even be considering a touring bike. Once you put panniers on your Sequia you're going to be slower than the LHT without panniers.

Try this, get your Sequoia as light as you can get it and go do sprint practice with your local bike club racers. See if your Sequoia will get up up past 30mph.

John Nelson

Downhill, it makes no difference.
Flats unloaded, you might see a 1 MPH difference.
Flats loaded with panniers with no wind, you might see a 2 MPH difference.
Flats loaded with panniers into a head wind, you might see a 3-4 MPH difference (mostly because panniers add considerable wind resistance).
UPhill loaded, you might see a 3-4 MPH difference, maybe more as the hill gets steeper.

YMMV

Dellphinus

I just finished a 44 mile hilly, windy organized ride on my LHT. Passed more folks than passed me, ran 18-19 on the flats, 15-16 when directly into the wind. Overall average was 15.2.

Dellphinus

A little physics for the discussion:
Weight makes no difference (none) unless you are on a hill, or are accelerating.
"No" ride is completely flat.

kk4df

I commute on my LHT, do some touring, and have taken it on weekend group rides as well. I rode it on several brevets earlier this year. I suspect I average about 1 mph slower on the LHT, but it is a more comfortable ride. But with the larger, heavier tires and heavier bike it is slower, especially if the terrain is hilly. I was wishing for my lighter bike after riding 243 miles in the mountains on a brevet, but that's another story.

If I'm not in a rush, I prefer riding the LHT. But if I have to keep pace with a faster group of people, I take my road bike. But the LHT is plenty fast for me anytime that I'm riding by myself

mtclifford

Why do I picture someone riding a LHT, looking down at their computer, seeing it read 10.1, saying "uh oh" and the bike breaking into a million pieces.

Silly huh?

Its not about the bike it is about the engine.

Rich B.

I just finished a 140 mile three day mini tour in Conn./Mass.with my fully loaded LHT. Weighed the bike when I got back and it came in at 70 lbs. My route was fairly hilly, weather was sunny in the 80's and I'm 59. Considering those factors, I was pretty happy with an average speed of 9.3 mph. I granny up most hills and coast down hill to save my energy, so I could have bettered my average speed by peddling down hill. With the thing fully loaded I'm not worried about speed. I stop often to look around.

kayakdiver

Average speed is meaningless in touring or racing or training. It's effort. Any ride I do of more than 30 miles will have 2-4K feet of climbing. My fast group ride(Upper cat rated racers ride this group) will average a lowly 19 ish with tons of hills thrown in. My normal thursday group ride that is slower(not as strong) will average a little faster. Less hills. My Saturday ride average is just short of 17 and is a hill fest.

All I'm saying is that terrain is your nemesis. Fitness as well and how light you can keep your bike and still have what you need for touring.

When not touring it will be a little slower..... not as much as you think if the engine is running well.

Last summer I rode fully loaded one day.. 18.9 mph average speed for 107 miles solo... I would have a hard time doing that on my carbon wonder bike if solo. Terrain was my friend that day.

When touring I tend to average between 12-15 most days depending on the heat, hills and my legs. I consider myself a pretty strong rider.

Hope that gives you some food for thought OP.

The Smokester

I regularly solo ride a 40-mile out and back route with 1700' elevation gain to my lbs to get my bikes serviced. I do this on three different bikes: A Specialized Roubaix Expert, a Gunnar Sport and my Surly LHT. Over the past 2.5 years I have kept track of this ride using a Garmin 305 GPS. During this time there has, surprisingly, been no consistent difference in average speeds between the three bikes over this route. That is, the Roubaix is not consistently faster than the LHT!

Bear in mind that this is not a time trial situation but rather a utilitarian/practical ride with some traffic, lights, intersections, wind and other various weather factors and different bike loadings but I ride it hard so it is really not a leisure ride either. I do not really have a good understanding for why there is no real difference in average speed between these quite different bikes on this route.

There is no question that when riding with others who are on light road bikes that the LHT has a hard time keeping up since it is slower to accelerate to maintain position in the draft although once in the draft it can pretty much keep up on the flats.

When fully loaded (Ortleibs front and rear) it appears to me that I am down about 1 gear for most riding and that my top speed is restricted on the downhills due to air resistance despite the greater weight.

cny-bikeman

In my experience and opinion, speed will potentially vary more according to the following factors than due to what bike you are riding, within reason:
Rider fitness
Riding technique
Rider fatigue/energy
Tire pressure
Tire type (treaded, smooth)
Bicycle Maintenance/adjustment

Gearing makes no difference

john bono

That is complete BS. Everyone knows the drogue parachutes on the LHT don't deploy until you break 11mph.

BigBlueToe

I have an LHT with fenders and racks and 32cm tires, and a Specialized Allez with a light rack and 25cm tires. The Allez is easier to accelerate and easier to ride up hills, thanks to the lower weight and narrower tires. I'd say I'm a few percent faster on the Allez. I have no way of knowing exactly how much faster, but I don't think it's more than 5% - probably more like 2 or 3%.

Like someone said, it's the engine more than the bike. I'm still old and slow and get passed by younger riders all the time. (But by the time they get to be my age, they'll probably be fat and sofa-bound, and I'm still riding centuries. Of course, by the time they get to be my age, I'll probably be dead, so it all evens out.)

shakeelium

I'm not trying to be rude, but this is a silly question. How is a bike, by itself, slow or fast? Are LHTs slow? Compared to what? Jabba the Hutt riding a carbon race bike? Alberto Contador riding a Huffy?

staehpj1

I hope you mean 32 MM.
32 CM = 12.5984252 inches
Sorry, couldn't resist

PercussivePaul

I just did a 2-month tour on an LHT with 26 inch wheels (fairly thick tires) and indeed found my average speed was pretty consistently 10mph. I don't mean you look at the speedometer and you're often in that range; I mean measured average over a full day of riding (or several days).

Average speed on the flats was probably closer to 12 mph, but we were very heavily loaded so even a slight incline brought us down to 7mph, and a moderate or steep hill is a crawling pace, 3 to 4 mph. Downhill speeds were often 20 to 25mph or higher; my record for the trip was 43 mph. I found incline, wind, and road surface had a huge effect on speed. The ideal flat smooth road doesn't exist.

I talked to several other riders and most who were fully loaded also tended to average about 10 to 12 mph. Those who went further than us usually did it by riding more hours per day, not by riding faster. The only ones who were a lot faster were travelling very light. Note that this is on the pacific coast which is a pretty hilly route.

I did meet a group of 4 tourists, 3 of which had road bikes with 700mm tires with the 4th riding a surly with 26" tires. Apparantly the surly rider was slower than the road bikers -- they all believed it was because of the difference in wheel size -- and it was causing some tension in the group.

Speedo

Oh sweet! An actual myth-busting response based on some real measurements!

Speedo

Greg_R

Well, according to Sheldon Brown's gear calculator it will hit ~35mph with your cadence at 90 (using a 46t ring and 700c tires... a 48t was also an option). Is that fast enough for you? The low end will be 7mph (cadence at 90).

John Nelson

So Contador is riding a LHT in next year's TdF?

robow

Might be, because it won't likely be a Trek Madone

Enthusiast

When this question pops up I'm never sure whether they are talking about the complete bike or the frame only. I have no experience with the complete builds of the LHT or the Sequoia but I can tell you that there will be VERY little difference in your average speed if you simply swap a LHT frame for another touring or conventional road frame and keep the wheels, tires, componentry, and rider position the same. (Which you'd have to do to actually compare frames.) Everytime I hear someone mention how much faster their road bike is than their touring bike as proof that touring FRAMES are slow I shake my head and wonder...