Steiner74

how fast can you get going, what kind of bike, and computer or radar.
asking because i feel it would make a nice thread, i want to get more speed out of my "bikes".
and ive hit up to 37 on my bikes (according to road side radar) and i get weird looks when i tell people im trying to get my bike to 40.

mind you its a hard sprint.

Machka 

It depends on the steepness of the hill I'm going down or tailwind pushing me along.

I've hit 80 km/h on a good descent.

Dave Cutter

The only way I can get any of my bikes to 40.... is if it's in the back of my truck.

On a flat level road or pathway I can sustain 20mph... and reach 25. Even on a steep decent I rarely exceed 32mph.

Steiner74

well i have gotten up there icome from mountain biking, grew up in germany (really big hills) of course i was 12-17 at the time and now that i look back it was extremly dangerous, seeing as how i was doing it on a gt bmx with no brakes. but i want to see what is possible im very new to road bike but i like speed as my zx10 preludes too.

Doctor Morbius

All four of my bikes are much faster than their owner.

Wheever

I've hit 38mph on a small downgrade while pedaling my arse off. (Not a lot of huge hills where I ride, so this was mostly about my pedaling.) I hit 45mph once while inadvertantly drafting a panel truck on another small downgrade. (He had pulled out in front of me, then accellerated hard, I was up close behind him and already doing 30-something. I didn't realize what was happening until I looked down at my speedometer. It was pretty funny. Also learned how smooth and solid my Domane felt at high speed!)

Worknomore

Over 300mph with my JATO straped on.

shelbyfv

Get a bike computer, find a steep downhill. Steep, straight and long= faster.

jamesdak 

54.40 mph on my Lemond Zurich heading downhill from Snowbasin with a bit of a tailwind in the steep section. It takes a really good position for me to get there. Low position on the bike, Knees and elbows tucked in, making sure the feet are level and pointed straight ahead, etc. I could easily get to a faster speed on some of the other mountain passes but the roads just are not safe for those speeds. Rough pavement, sharp curves, etc. Powder Mt has a section that UDOT (Department of Transportation) says is over 20% grade but bikers crash and even die on that road. Too dangerous for me. Oh, and never think about the "what ifs" while at these speeds, LOL!

jamesdak 

I pass a road side radar sign in a school zone twice each ride. I never can get that sucker to activate for me. Maybe I'm too slow for it, lol!

texaspandj

I was on a pinarello treviso with the original scott dh aero bars and a cateye cyclemeter. I was in Leakey Texas pronounced lakey in 1988. It was about midway through a 112 mile bike portion of a triathlon. I was going down a very steep hill (one of many) I was sitting up,no aero tuck, feathering my brakes as not to over heat sew up (tubular) rims. When I was brave enough to look down at my speed it was 55 mph.

skye

If you want speed on the flats, get a recumbent.

rydabent

Down an easy slope with a trailing wind, I was up to 42.5 on my road bike. Fortunately my bike computer retained the highest speed. My sons were amazed.

At that speed the bike felt like a whole different machine.

Phil_gretz

My bikes are very fast depending on who's riding them...

badger1

My bike is really fast. My bike is probably more fasterer than any body elses bike here because I paid a lot of money for it. Your bike sounds really fast too.

Looigi

I hit 40+ mph on just about every road ride, as I search out hills to climb which usually results in descents. The highest I hit (legitimately) since recording rides on a Garmin is 55.3 coming off Loveland Pass in CO.

TriDanny47

There is a steep hill about 3 miles from my house that I can hit about 40 mph - and I am really not comfortable at that speed - so that is my limit - even if I could I wouldn't.

wphamilton

My fixed gear can only get to about 32 mph. My other bikes can go faster though.

calamarichris

Been trying for years to break 60, but only gotten up to 58 a bunch of times on the lower approach to Palomar Mountain, the lower straight sections of Mount Baldy Road, and drafting cars down Twin Oaks Parkway. I've passed 19 motorcycles and hundreds of cars over the years, but still trying to hit the big six-oh.
Was looking forward to possibly doing it last summer on Pikes Peak (which is now paved all the way to the top), but there was too much traffic and I couldn't get a full head of steam on the straight sections, despite passing wholesale over the double-yellow. Fun day, but no dice: only up to 52.
Some day...

Kindaslow

When I was much younger, a group of us would meet up in downtown Ellensburg, WA, and ride to the top of a local ridge with the goal of seeing who could hit the fastest speed down from the ridge. Most of us maxed out in the mid 50's, or better said, chickened out.... But, one of the guys consistently made it into the 60's. We believed he was telling the truth, since he would start last and pass all of us.

Nowadays I have two big and steep hills on my commute, and I really do not like going above 40, usually trying to stay in the low 30's. This leads to eating through brake pads!

BobbyG

I mostly commute, so speed isn't my goal. Dry pavement avg speed= 13.5 downhill in to work and 12 uphill going home. If I push it on my road bike I can hit almost 15mph avg speed in to work and 14 home, but that only saves me a few minutes. Plus, there's traffic and lights etc. It's a 450ft net elevation change between home and office over a 9 mile route. If I hustle I can sustain 24-25 on this one flat section. On my downtown route I can regularly hit 35mph in this one mild downhill. On my "South Circle" route I've hit 43mph on this one sweeping downhill. In the snow and ice my average speed has been as low as 7mph (which doubles my ride times).

But the absolute fastest I've ridden a bike was back in 1997. There is a long, stupid-steep hill on Filmore Street by I-25, here in Colorado Springs. I had the 1987 Schwinn Cruiser Supreme I brought with me from flat, flat Iowa. It originally had a 6-speed rear gearset, and I added a triple up front when I moved to Colorado. I was in top gear, tucked and pedalling faster than I thought possible and seemed unable to push past 49.7mph. I was rapidly approaching a red light at the bottom of the hill and squeezed the handbrakes at what seemed a prudent distance from the intersection. The cheap side-pull cantilever rim brakes were not up to the task and I ended up "Flintstoning" it at the end. You know, putting my feet down to stop. I seriously considered laying down the bike. I was so freaked out I dissasembled the brakes on the Schwinn so no one could use them, and literally threw it in the dumpser, save for the rediculously heavy steel backrack which I put on the Nishiki Blazer which I bought the next day.

10 Wheels

When I was 14 y/o covered 12 miles in 24 minutes on this bike.

My friend was timing me. He didn't believe the time.

Buffalo Buff

Broke 50mph according to my phones speedometer. I was descending into Bluefield VA/WV after taking 598 to get over some mountains. Its one of my favorite roads to bike.

Flat ground on a sprint I can get in the 30-35mph range, but its not a speed I can maintain for very long.

This is on an aluminum road bike with 25mm gatorskins and platform pedals.

Robert C

It's like I used to say about my Suzuki Samuri; if it, and you, fell out the back door of a C-130, it is what you would want to grab. Because it would still be slow.

As far as my bikes, my commuter is slow, it is just the geometry. My recumbent is relatively fast; but I am still slow.

fietsbob

My only Road bike is hanging from the ceiling hooks, & I'm Drinking Coffee, So ...

other than The Earth's planetary rotation speed , the Annual Orbital speed

Around the Sun, and how fast this part of the Galaxy is rotating around the black Hole in the center of the Milky Way, ... Zero..