canklecat

50+ mph drafting a truck in Mexico during the 1980 Rosarito-Ensenada on a winding downhill, according to friends watching my stupid stunt. Hey, I was in my early 20s and invulnerable. Not something I'd do again.

On solo rides, no drafting, 40+ mph several times on some local -2% downhills, depending on tailwinds. Nowhere near the fastest times. Those were set when that segment was closed to traffic so cyclists could build up a good head of steam before the segment. Now there's too much traffic and the intersection is blinded by trees, so I don't blow through it. From a dead stop at the intersection I'll usually peak around 35 mph. Tougher now that the road crews chewed up perfectly good smooth asphalt and laid down the roughest chipseal I've ever ridden.

43 mph on a -3% downhill, with a tailwind assist. Also before that road had much traffic. A little harder to do now due to three lanes converging into a bottleneck entry to a bridge, due to a stupidly designed road. Gotta keep your head up to watch for indecisive drivers who might let you go ahead, or might try to squeeze you into the bridge abutment. Harder to stay in an aero tuck now. I wish they'd blacktop that hill. It's striated concrete now with some cosmetic bricked intersections. With smooth blacktop it'd be easy to reach 50 mph on that downhill on a good day with a tailwind.

The only fastest times I'm really concerned about are sprint zones on some false flats that are sheltered from wind, so no tailwind assist. I never considered myself much of a sprinter but working on it this year surprised me. I still ain't fast but I'm faster than I thought I'd be for an old man.

rsbob 

And then there is Superman cyclist.

rsbob 

And amazing pros

DaveSSS 

I ride steep hills and hit 48-54 mph regularly. It takes some tail wind to get above 50. I also ride up as slow as 5 mph. My 46/30 crank with 10-36 12 speed cassette gives me a 552% range. I decided that a 48/32 had more top gear than I needed.

Kimmo 

I used to hang onto trucks, does that count?

Mista Sparkle

I've hit 40 once or twice but I'm from Illinois so I'm pretty pleased with that.

lasauge 

57mph on a long, steep, straight descent. As other have said, I find that hitting anything over 50mph requires the wind conditions to be favorable.

diphthong

62.5 mph according to the old cateye back in the day descending palm springs tram rd. with a tailwind. never again. above 38 mph scares me these days.

August West

59.8 mph with a tail wind on a stretch I normally hit 40-45. After struggling through going up the hill into the wind I figured I might as well enjoy the decent. And even though I set a PR by a mile on the decent my overall average speed for the ride was atrociously low due the going into the wind all the way up the climb.

WouterO

Many years ago, while on a cycling trip in Italy, I stayed on a camping site on top of a beautiful hill in Umbria. The road down was straight as an arrow, absent of junctions or forks, and had fresh tarmac. I rode down just holding my handlebars, eyes on the road ahead. At the end, my Cateye had registered 82 km/h. After that, I never came anywhere close to that. It was scary on my old aluminium Union Goldrun 1998....

gda659

According to my Avocet 20, a friend and I went 57.5 mph on freshly paved Trappers Loop just east of Ogden, Utah in ideal conditions almost 30 years ago.

jackb

If I remember correctly, 50mph on Zimmerman Trail in Billings. Montana about 20 years ago.

one4smoke

About 50 for me.

It is strange how 50 on a bicycle is scarier than 100+ on a motorcycle. Not much difference in the two except a little weight.

GamblerGORD53

I'd be scared to go fast on those flimsy bikes too. LOL
My SA XL-RD5w goes 44 to 46 mph every time with some tailwind on my 800 yard/ 9% or so hill. Tire is 36 mm SMP. The 117 GIs or so wizzes out around 40 mph.
Solid as a rock, zero worries on this straight hill. Actually done on 2 different bikes.
My Rohloff wheel is a full 3 mph slower. The bike is 73 lbs+. LOL
Front hub is a SA dyno drum too.

rsbob 

My wife and I came down a long hill on our tandem @ 40-45 and slowed for the red signal at the bottom. 30 seconds later the front tire/tube exploded like a rifle shot. Talk about timing.

GamblerGORD53

So it sounds like the brakes heated up the rim to cause the explosion??
That ain't happening with my drum brakes.

bruce19

My top speed on a 1 mile flat was 25 mph, this year at age 74. On a down hill in my late 30's I hit 53 mph. That's all I've got.

rsbob 

25 on the flats is freaking awesome. You are my new role model (like it or not)

bruce19

You are too kind. Here's me at #20 All Time and #5 this year: https://www.strava.com/segments/2405665?filter=overall

oleg232000

Last time i had a way to check my actual speed, I looked down at my bike computer and it read MAX: 92mph. Felt pretty good for a second, puffed my chest up lol. But its an old Bontrager Trip 4w, so it had to be a glitch. Strava said 43mph. But for short bursts downhill (Mountain Gate in Los Angeles, 20% grade) ive hit 50mph and could have kept going.

satrain18

...Which I find to be complete rubbish, considering that you act like a sail on Dutch style city bike. So even going downhill, you're not going to go that fast riding completely upright. And that's IF you don't mind pushing your 73 lb Dutch bike up a tall hill to begin with.

GamblerGORD53

Thanks for the rubbish comment. LOL. Of course I bend down, AFTER I wizz out.
And I did 2 tours of 8,100 miles at the weight of a whole TdF TEAM's bikes> LOL 120 lbs. With a ROHLOFF of course.
Here my video, where's yours?? LOL. My newest video shows my present configuration. The sound is worse with a bigger wind. The road was rougher but my speedo did hit exactly 46.0.
My longest ride this year was 133.66 miles with the SA RD5w. Only one hill like in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5mC3UC7Ln8&feature=youtu.be
And note, both were from a standing start.
I LOVE my efficient super reliable IGH hubs.

alo

I thought I was doing OK when I hit 50 kph on my FAT bike, on a slight downhill. I know it is slower than most others here, and I am not as fit as many others here.

I am also conscious that if did come off at high speed, the injuries might mess up my life.

Oldguyonoldbike

Strava says 46 mph going downhill, 36 mph on a flat road with a stiff tailwind. Both of those are from a few years ago on a steel Colnago Tecnos. I doubt I could come very close to that now.
I find that the older I get the more conscious I am of what it would feel like to hit the pavement at those speeds.

Maelochs

I don't want to seem greedy, but I don't have enough top speed to share.