Siu Blue Wind

I just thought that you were the newly hired grammar police.

WhyFi

People often find what they're looking for.

Bob Ross

Iride01 

Getting back to the motorcycle...... The other thing it has is mass.

That is going to smooth out a lot of bumps in the road that keep my pucker factor high on a 17 to 23 pound bike. 130+ mph on a motorcycle isn't even scary. And you can do that easily going uphill.

Siu Blue Wind

Then stop "looking" or shall I say, targeting other people.

You should already know that you are the most superior than anyone on the planet. Quit trying to prove it to yourself.

Gods lonely man

Like I told my last wife, I said, honey, I never ride faster than I can see, and besides... it's all in the reflexes

WhyFi

Who knew that a light-hearted, grammar-based joke was so nefarious? I guess I'll have to watch where I pedal my humor to avoid this cycle.

Thank you, but you're being too kind; I wouldn't put myself any higher than the 96th percentile - I believe in having room to grow. But consider me duly chastised - I will not assume a poster has wit and a humorous intent when there's doubt. Mea culpa.

Siu Blue Wind

Thank you

tomato coupe

There's no place for humor on a bike forum. Try to be more serious in the future.

WhyFi

I assume that this post is tongue-in-cheek.

Reported.

Eric F 

You missed it completely, didn't you?

dilbert2000

I hit 50 once. Very open road, early morning. No cars, no other people. Felt a little unsafe.
Another time, was going about 40, felt super safe - until I got hit with a really strong crosswind.

gios

25 - 27 mph or thereabouts, unless there's a headwind - then it's slower.

Doomrider74

There's a hill near where I lived in England that was pretty much dead straight, and with an average gradient of 10%: The fastest I had the nerve to go down that was about 80kph. The trouble was at the bottom the road narrowed to a single lane (both directions) bridge which was always fun if a car was coming the other way.

pipeliner

I hit 50+ often on a nice wide apron of a 4 lane highway near me. I Always look over the route during the climb up although from across the divided highway. Wouldn't want to come upon an animal carcass or something and be forced out into traffic. One day last fall I was cooking down the descent (which is a gradual curve) and came upon some sugar beets that had fallen off a truck and were scattered across the apron. If you're unfamiliar with sugar beets, they are the size of football's and very hard. I was able to choose a line and shoot thru without hitting any but it haunts me some. I had a path about 4" wide I took without braking because I saw the line and didn't want to risk control by braking heavily.

​​​​​Many things can happen and at 50mph, you aren't walking away from it.

SoSmellyAir

In my neighborhood, the bike lanes are littered with errant pine cones. I once spotted a tiny closed one (about the same diameter as a ping pong ball) a bit too late, rode over it at maybe 20 mph and barely hung on. I cannot imagine hitting a pine cone at some of the speeds described in this thread.

Doge

About 15mph slower than I did after smacking my face on the pavement. 40ish would be current max. In my low 20s maybe 55 once or twice.
Double big male (400#+) on the tandem with 57Tx11T and tubulars Solvang century, Vandenberg grade well above 60. My brain would never let me approach that now.

thehammerdog

40 plus every other ride no issue.
However 50 + for me gets sketchy. fun but stressful.

sabele

this skill requires practice as well as proper bike handling, where you are on the bike, how you shift on the bike. Bombing down a hill Willy nilly can only result in a crash. You have to do some recon to know where the road surface is sketchy and the proper line.

sacr

Indeed, and what would that be? Has anyone dropped a bike off a large cliff having it maintain its correct aspect into the falling air to find out, or worked it out in a wind tunnel?

Myself, have "enjoyed" going " I dont know how fast" on a fully loaded touring bicycle down a 5 mile descent once upon a time, I fully appreciate that on a bicycle if you need to make any avoidance action at speed it could all end up very bad, one has to only look at the tour races to see what happens on descents. Anything above 30 mph feels like Im locked into a straight line(any sharp turning of the wheel to avoid the smallest item) could upset the whole apple cart.

No one has mentioned wheel balance. I statically balance the wheels so they wont rotate when positioned freely at any position, typically they will fall down towards the valve. Yet when i put the bike in the work stand and hand crank it up to speeds over 30 mph there is a significant balance issue going on, dont actually feel it when riding, and when getting it up to 50 mph the wobble is too much for the stand to support. Possibly its due to my rear wheel being out of round by a mm or so, but wonder how much wheel balance is an issue for those who do those really high speeds

genejockey 

You'd have to be on the bicycle for it to be a valid test.......

Eric F 

I've been at speeds up to 60mph on a bicycle. I've never noticed any issue that might be related to wheel balance.

urbanknight

The straighter, smoother, and wider the road, the faster I'm willing to go. Once hit 50.5mph (yeah, I'm counting the .5) on a very straight and smooth descent with a huge tailwind. Much less scary than a twisty road with blind curves at 30mph.

Carbon1876

35 roughly

sean.hwy

30's much past that I don't feel so safe with bicycle level safety gear. I wish someone would make football helmet for bicycle. Protect your face but still have fresh air and not heavy like a full face motorcycle helmet.