Originally Posted by
freeranger
A woman who used to ride with us, before moving to another state, was riding a beach cruiser. Don't know the specifics, but it was a 1 x 3 or 1 x 5 (thinking it was a 1 x 3), something like that. Anyway, she could move right along with it. When she got a new hybrid, she flew! So, not all are slow, it just depends.......... They may not be for everyone, but what is?
I've ridden these pretty fast, probably 18 mph or so. The last one I rode was a Walmart Huffy Nel Lusso Cruiser, 50+ pounds, and they're absurdly easy to pedal with the balloon tires. It's actually fun to crank one up because no one expects to see one of those moving fast, and you can get a lot of double-takes.
In my teens, I would occasionally take my mom's tiny single speed Schwinn cruiser out to see how fast I could ride it around Lake of the Isles. This was in the mid-1970s, and there wasn't any way to time it. A guy yelled out of his car window "Hey, you know you're going 23 mph?"
I will give you that they are not a lot of fun climbing hills.