bikegolfer

Hey everyone. I tried out a new ride today and was very pleasantly surprised by the long straight hills. On one descent I got up to 40.2 mph which is about 15 mph more than my previous record. I could have gone faster but the path wasn't in great shape and my bike and it's components are 33 years old. This got me thinking, what is the fastest that you have gotten your bike up to? I know that some TDF descents can get the riders up to mid 60s which I think is insane.

Cyclosaurus

I think around 94,080 furlongs per fortnight

Homebrew01

55 or so

DrIsotope

That's only 35mph... the exact same speed as a torrent of molasses.

Cyclosaurus

Yeah, unfortunately me and the molasses are the only ones in this thread who won't be lyi...I mean, ever-so-slightly exaggerating

DrIsotope

I genuinely thought your choice of 94,080 furlongs per fortnight was intentional, because it is precisely 35mph, the speed of the Boston Great Molasses Flood.

I forgot to mention before, according to my Garmin, 47.2mph back on my Schwalbe Ones, 45.9 on Thickslick Elites. Same hill. Would be admittedly sweet to hit 50 for even just a moment, but I'm on a gravel grinder 48 big ring-- 110rpm only gets me 38mph. Gravity is doing all the work at that point.

gecho

The faster I go on a descent the more my mind starts to ponder the consequences of a front tire blow out.

Tony Marley

I have gotten to 59 mph on two different bikes in years past: one a tandem coming down a mountain near Delta, Colorado, and on my Ti-Rush recumbent coming down from the summit at Red Rocks outside Las Vegas. I was hoping to pop 60, but no luck....

Phil_gretz

Descending Rt77 outside of Thurmont, MD, I saw my speedometer reach 51mph while seemingly able to touch the fenders of pacing traffic with my left hand. Probably went faster, but I was too busy watching my life flash before me to glance down to check speed...

chaadster

BlazingPedals

Forty on a road is no big deal. Forty on a path, though, is dangerous. For the other users.

fietsbob

Air resistance is the limiting factor IHPVA in a streamlined bubble its over 80 mph for the measured flying Mile,

motorpaced with power pulling a windbreak in front of the Bicycle to follow , speed record is even higher.

but these are straight line Closed Courses not public roads

bikegolfer

Yea, I thought about that but it is kind of out in the middle of nowhere so not many people ride it plus the descents are straight so you can see a few hundred yards in front of you. My real worry was stuff like this which is pretty common here:

BlazingPedals

That's the other aspect of going fast on trails. Very little room for avoidance maneuvers. The assured clear distance to either side is usually short and brush-infested. Or, as in your pic, there's a fence at your elbow.

BTW, the World Human Powered Speed Championships are held on SR-305 at Battle Mountain NV. It's a public highway, although traffic is temporarily stopped for each speed run. The site was chosen because of a combination of high altitude and having the maximum slope allowed under the rules. (I believe Delcrossv has attended and can probably tell us the actual slope, but it's something like -0.25%.)

Gnosis

My max was 52.6 MPH down the route 125 mountain heading toward Shamokin, PA. I was riding my 35 pound Trek 29er with 29” x 2.1 street tires and it was awesome! I didn’t pedal down the descent but instead tucked as tightly as possible (akin to a roll-up bug ).

caloso

https://www.strava.com/activities/1362728

57.3 mph according to Strava.

delcrossv

83.13 mph and it's measured over 200m with a 5 mile run up. I was there for that particular run.

To BP's comment, max slope is 0.6% to match the old California course records.

Going out again this year

https://recumbents.com/wisil/whpsc201...dchallenge.htm

fietsbob

"The highest speed ever achieved on a bicycle is 268.831 km/h (166.944 mph) by Fred Rompelberg (Netherlands) behind a wind-shield fitted to a dragster car at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah, USA on 3 October 1995. It should be noted that considerable help was provided by the slipstreaming effect of the lead vehicle."

Fastest bicycle speed (in slipstream) | Guinness World Records

Bonneville has 2 way runs , They time a mile, with many more in run up and coast/brake to a stop
then you do it ^ a 2nd time

Looigi

Back in the distant past, long before electronic cyclometers or GPS, I kept up with traffic on a long down hill on a divided highway which I figured was ~ 60 mph. Since Garmin, the fastest I recorded was 50 mph. I've gone much much faster on mtcl (3x+), up and down hills.

ltxi

I agree...it was excellent!

wolfchild

Speed on the down hills doesn't count. Any fool can hit 40-50 or 60 mph on a down hill...What really counts is how fast can you accelerate and how fast can you go on the flats.

Doctor Morbius

At about 25 mph I start applying the brakes. Of course, this is going down hill. I never get up to that speed on the flats.

wrldtraveller

on the flats, I could accelerate fully pedalling up to 30 mph sometimes higher. Going downhill, fully pedalling until my bike speed faster than I can pedal, 40 mph. sometimes higher. (the hill usually isn't long enough to go faster than 40 mph.) When I am at that speed, its exhilarating and requires my full concentration to make sure I am still in control.

W

ltxi

Have no real idea how fast I've ever ridden a bike in the past, but these days my mental governor takes over at 30. I normally back off at around 26/27 in any event. Wuss perhaps, but I'm now kinda hopin' to live to see age 80.

IcySmooth52

Fasted I've recorded in speed is 49.2mph, but usually I'm only looking at what's on the road instead of the cyclocomputer at those speeds.

But more important is your average speed and time of your trip. (Same variable).