John_V 

OK, so today was a gorgeous day with the temps in the 70's and no humidity. I went to my normal riding place and did a 43 mile ride, but that's not what this post is all about.

On my second lap, I'm moving along at around 17 mph when I look in my mirror and notice that there is a pace line coming around me. I notice that the guy up front is on a mountain bike and really moving to get out of their way. I'm thinking, "I'll slow down and let this guy on the mountain bike get around me so he can get out of their way." They all pass me and follow the guy on the mountain bike. Now I'm thinking, "Nah!, This can't be right." I fall behind them and switch to my large chain ring (I normally ride my middle ring) and put some speed on the bike to find out this guy is leading the pace line at around 24 mph on a not-so-new Next mountain bike. After my initial WTF, I dropped back and they just kept on riding without slowing down.

So now when people start to tell me about their fast, lightweight carbon bikes and how much faster it makes them go, I can tell them about this guy on a WalMart Next who's calves were bigger than my thighs and smoked me. Just more proof that it's definitely the engine and not the bike that makes up the speed.

freedomrider1

ok,so Superman can go fast on anything. Thats pretty funny dudes on a wally world bike crushing everyone.

John_V 

It was actually one guy. The rest were on road bikes. My jaw dropped when I saw it was a Next bike.

stapfam

Doesn't matter what make or standard of bike you ride- If it is properly set up and you are fit enough- you will ride it. Just imagine what he would have been like on a Basic Road bike like a Giant OCR.

DnvrFox

It's always the motor.

John_V 

^^^ This

I posted because I was blown away that a guy on a cheap bike could make it go that fast. As stepfam mentioned, I can't imagine this guy on a good road bike. Plus, he wasn't wearing anything special; MTB shorts and a tee shirt.

SuperDave

Priceless. That guy now owns the rest of the group; if he ever shows up for a ride with a Ridley Noah, they're just gonna walk away.

Robert Foster

With all due respect Dnvrfox it has to be a bit more than the motor. My MTB bike is 10 pounds lighter than a Next and I can't match my speed using the same motor on my CF road bike. But I get your point.

The Next is a 40 pound duel suspension bike with only 18 gears. According to our good friend Sheldon Brown with the gear selection available on the Next 24 MPH is achieved at about 90 RPM in the tallest gear. That also assumes someone who would buy a Next will fork out the extra cash to dump the 1.95 knobbies and buy road slicks. If the same group following were on Road bikes they would be doing 29+ at 90 RPM with a compact crank and a standard 12x27. They could all drop into 50x15 and hold 24.

Like Big Foot and Crop circles I hear these stories all the time and I am a skeptic. But still the two most amazing things about this story is the power of the cyclist and the fact that a Next held together long enough to get to 24.

gcottay

until a bearing seizes

david58

On a century ride a few weeks ago, three of the guys I was riding with pacelined-it and dropped me after we broke up on a downhill (my pucker string gets too tight at 40mph). I spent 5 miles or more catching them - they weren't going THAT fast, about 19-20. But as I pulled up behind them, they were being drafted by a very large guy in sandals on flat pedals, no helmet or other cycling apparel. Just as I got there, he pulled out of the back and blew past them, dropping them BIG time. I was slack-jawed. I mean, we aren't TdF riders or anything, but that dude had the motor!

VertigoFlyer

Well I still don't have any appreciation for anything that comes out of the evil empire known as Walmart but I do respect the dude who was successfully chugging away on a Walmart bike!

on the path

Before you go appreciatin' too much....

A couple months ago I was out for a ride and met a young gentleman with a fully suspended wally-bike. His problem was that his chain had just snapped. And he didn't look to have a real powerful motor. Oh, and he had bought the bike brand new the day before.

John_V 

I know the title is a bit off and maybe somewhat misleading, but I didn't think that I would ever see a Next mountain bike hit those kinds of speeds on a flat and maintain it for any length of time. Certainly not enough to lead a pace line. I wish I could have taken a photo of him because I know that some people aren't going to believe me but it would have been hard to do going 24 mph trying to catch him.

Louis

jmiked

On the other hand, I have a full suspension wally-bike, and I've been running it thought some pretty tough trails, including big rock gardens, and it's been working just fine in the time since I bought it. I assembled it myself, and it has stayed in adjustment and nothing has broken. Long-term, I don't expect it to last as long as my main ride, but I've already gotten my money's worth from it.

I'm not an apologist for wally-bikes, my main ride is a Specialized Camber Elite, but my Mongoose mtn bike from Walmart is just fine, albeit a bit heavy. Which doesn't matter, since I don't race it.

Louis

A couple years ago, a friend ask me to tweak up a Wally World Schwinn he he purchased for his teen-aged daughter. I was pleasantly surprised; it was a pretty good bike, way better than I expected.

CB HI

I suspect the OP got duped.

I had a guy go screaming past me on a Huffy several years ago. The thing was, the bike did not look right for a Huffy. I realized the guy was riding a high end carbon fiber Trek, and the Huffy decals were on the bike to sorta fool dumb thieves.

Robert Foster

I tend to take a camera with me everywhere. I do believe it is often the person or motor but I also believe a 40 pound bike will take a super human effort to reach 24 and stay there. I am not super human and much like sheldons speed calculator I do know what 90 RPM with a road bike and 50x12 brings to the speed table. The first picture is the speed and the second is the girl I was drafting at the time. Notice her left leg. That to me is effort. The reason the picture isn't of us in the draft was because she objects to a picture on shorts with Giant on the back.

kevin_stevens

Wow, that's taking "weight weenie" to a whole new level!

KeS

Robert Foster

Ya, I told her she might not meet the UCI minimum. But she has done centuries with us and will be with us on a mertic Monday. Not the fastest climber but she gets there sooner or later.

tinrobot

I did the AIDS Lifecycle ride a few months ago. One of the people in our group was riding a GMC Denali from Wal Mart. He rode in sneakers and put an extra cushy seat on the thing. He finished all 545 miles, and kept up just fine with the people on carbon bikes.

catonec 

the guy on the next was probably a cat 1 and his buddies made him ride the wally cycle so they could atleast keep up.

Wogster

Yeah you kind of expect to see it do one of those race car crash type scenese where you see a piece come off, then another, then another until the guy ends up butt first on the asphalt. You never know what kind of mods have been done to it though, good wheels, new transmission, etc.

Retro Grouch 

Guys who ride a lot have always done some pretty challenging things in non-competitive situations just to see if they could or prove to others that they can.

I remember riding the Grand Tour of Herman one year. That was a local St Louis ride that was quite similar to Indiana's Hilly Hundred. The first year that I did it, another fellow rode it on a fixed gear track bike. Another time I was completing a mountain bike ride on a medium technical course and saw a guy riding it on a Bridgestone RB2 road bike. I've seen a fellow do a 30 mile ride with no saddle - standing on the pedals the whole way.

Don in Austin

That doesn't particularly surprise me.

If the bike fits him, everything works and is geared appropriately everything else has minimal impact:

---The weight difference between the $200 and the $4000 bikes will seem like a lot if you carry the bike up a flight of stairs. But is only a small percentage difference of rider + bike weight, and that is the number that matters. Two dudes are on $4000 bikes and one is scrawny the other has a very slight paunch and carries three water bottles. Weight-wise rider #2 is equivalent to the skinny dude on a Wal-Mart bike and then some.

---Cushy seat? Wouldn't be my choice, but, again, minor.

---Sneakers? I am of the group that thinks captive pedals are over-rated.

---Knife edged, aerodynamic seatposts? Now the returns are going to be really small because 98% of the wind drag is the rider.

A screwed up bike will slow down a good rider A LOT, a poor rider will slow down a good bike A LOT, a super cutting edge bike will make a fast rider ONLY A LITTLE BIT faster over a cheap bike that fits and where everything works right.

And, yes, there are cheap bikes where everything works right. Maybe not straight off the Wal-Mart or Costco floor, but give me a 1/2 hour with one and most likely everything will work right. (Not A Huffy -- that IS a lost cause!)

Don in Austin