whats your top speed of all time?

[mo fo]

Hi, I'm new to the group, so I don't know if this topic has come
up too much yet. I just got back into riding after a 3 year
hiatus. Moved to a new state and took a while to get settled and
to get used to the maniac drivers around here. Finally got a new
bike. Trek FX 7200. Hybrid. Not too fancy, but fits great and I'm
happy with it so far. Got it up to 39.2 MPH today, and it was a
total rush! It was down hill, I admit. A short hill, at that. And
in traffic. Probably considered slow by most of you guy's
standards, with the ultra light, ultra fast Campies and Dura
Acers! But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
your pants at that speed? Any stories to go with it? Also, how
fast do you think is the fastest speed a bicycle can handle, with
wheel balancing issues and all that?
~Rob

 

[Tom Keats]

In article <[email protected]>,
"mo fo" <[email protected]> writes:

> Also, how
> fast do you think is the fastest speed a bicycle can handle, with
> wheel balancing issues and all that?

Some folks have experimented with putting rocket engines
on bicycles.

I wouldn't try that on a fixed-gear bike, though ;-)


cheers,
Tom

--
-- Nothing is safe from me.
Above address is just a spam midden.
I'm really at: tkeats [curlicue] vcn [point] bc [point] ca

 

[Gooserider]

I live in Florida, so it's not super hilly. We do have hills, though, and
one of them is 7 miles into my commute. The hill is 200 yards long, then the
road heads downhill for 2 miles through a subdivision. I've hit 50 in the
subdivision, even passing cars. That gets a doubletake from the driver, for
sure. It's a nice subdivision, because it has tons of sidewalks for the
morning walkers, and car traffic is very light.

 

[Michael Warner]

On Sun, 07 Aug 2005 02:03:51 GMT, mo fo wrote:

> Hi, I'm new to the group, so I don't know if this topic has come
> up too much yet. I just got back into riding after a 3 year
> hiatus. Moved to a new state and took a while to get settled and
> to get used to the maniac drivers around here. Finally got a new
> bike. Trek FX 7200. Hybrid. Not too fancy, but fits great and I'm
> happy with it so far. Got it up to 39.2 MPH today, and it was a
> total rush! It was down hill, I admit. A short hill, at that. And
> in traffic. Probably considered slow by most of you guy's
> standards, with the ultra light, ultra fast Campies and Dura
> Acers! But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
> your pants at that speed? Any stories to go with it? Also, how
> fast do you think is the fastest speed a bicycle can handle, with
> wheel balancing issues and all that?

I get to 85km/h (53mph) sometimes, and my feeling is that
I'd better relax and concentrate if I want to get to the bottom
alive But I know local A-grade racers who say they routinely
hit 95-100 km/h down certain hills while training.

As for maximum possible speed - I've read that the terminal velocity of a
human body at sea level is about 120mph. Assuming that the benefit of an
aero tuck would be cancelled by the extra drag of the bike, you'd have to
pedal to exceed this even down a near-vertical cliff face, and you might
have to use a non-ideal posture to avoid taking off

Another limiting factor might be the temperature reached at the bearing
contact surfaces in the wheel hubs, although they wouldn't be supporting
very much weight on this near-vertical cliff.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

 

[Rich]

mo fo wrote:

> But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
> your pants at that speed?

I've hit 55mph on an old MTB while going down a big hill (I live in
Colorado).

Just be sure to wear a helmet!

Rich

 

[mark]

My fastest ever was 57 mph descending Towne Pass in the '89 Death Valley-Mt
Whitney road race. Very scary, especially since I stayed over 50 mph for
what seemed like a long, long time. When I lived in Mammoth Lakes there were
a number of descents (Tioga Pass, Deadman Summit) where I could top 50 mph
without too much trouble.

When I rode the Triple Bypass last month I hit 49 mph on Loveland Pass, I
heard reports of some of the stronger riders with higher gearing than mine
reaching 60 mph.

Touring Scotland last year (May 2004) I hit 50 mph on a fully loaded touring
bike with camping gear crossing the Cairngorm mountains on the A939.
--
mark

 

[Dan Birchall]

[email protected] (mo fo) wrote:
> But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
> your pants at that speed? Any stories to go with it?

Fastest my speedometer's ever read out was 50mph, coming down Waiamao
Road on the east side of Palolo Valley in Honolulu. I lived about a
mile up the valley; Waiamao started just above where I lived and went
up along one side of the valley. 25mph zone, residential, twisty. I
had biked up to an orchid nursery to pick up something for my mom-in-law
and on the way down there was a tailwind... I didn't realize how
fast I was going until I noticed my brakes weren't so effective with
the wheels not touching the ground all the time.

Fastest speed I _routinely_ get is 45mph coming down Kukuau Street
from Komohana Street toward Kapiolani Street herei in Hilo. It's
downhill for about a half-mile, but that's plenty long enough to
get up to that kind of speed. That's a 25mph zone too...

This is on a '98 Cannondale XR800 cyclocross with 700x30c tires, and
a rider who's ~50 pounds overweight.

There are much bigger, much longer hills to be had around here, but
I've not gotten to the point where I bike _up_ them yet.

--
Dan Birchall - http://danbirchall.multiply.com/ - images, words, technology

 

[mo fo]

: Just be sure to wear a helmet!
:
: Rich

Definitely!
~Rob

 

[mo fo]

: There are much bigger, much longer hills to be had around here,
but
: I've not gotten to the point where I bike _up_ them yet.
:
: --
: Dan Birchall - http://danbirchall.multiply.com/ - images,
words, technology

Yeah, going up is the hard part. And up hill takes what seems
like all day, while the down hill part is over like a premature
ejaculation!

~R

 

[Maria Teresa Chupacabra]

"Dan Birchall" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

>
> Fastest speed I _routinely_ get is 45mph coming down Kukuau Street
> from Komohana Street toward Kapiolani Street herei in Hilo.

So I guess what you're saying is that it takes less time to ride home on
these streets than it does to pronounce their names.

 

[Gooserider]

"Rich" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> mo fo wrote:
>
>> But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
>> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
>> your pants at that speed?
>
> I've hit 55mph on an old MTB while going down a big hill (I live in
> Colorado).
>
> Just be sure to wear a helmet!
>
> Rich

I think if you wipe out at 55 mph you might wish you were dead. No skin,
broken back, broken hip, and the foam hat may not exactly help. Now, a
motorcycle helmet....but who wants to wear that?

 

[[email protected]]

mo fo wrote:
> I was just curious as to what some other people's top
> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
> your pants at that speed? Any stories to go with it?

My fastest was about 54 mph, IIRC. I'd have been faster, but there was
a car in front of me that I had to brake to stay behind. No passing on
that curve.

This was in the foothills of the Appalachians. Unlike the Rockies,
these hills are short and choppy, and the roads are twisty. The
experience wasn't particulaly scary - I got over 50 on that road
several times - but now I'm old enough to be more careful. I seldom
break 45 on that hill.

BTW, I've never had an issue with vibration, wobble or anything else
with this bike except when I had some loose-hanging luggage on it. At
50+ mph, the main thing I notice is the tremendous wind noise.

- Frank Krygowski

 

[Claire Petersky]

"mo fo" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Hi, I'm new to the group, so I don't know if this topic has come
> up too much yet.

A fair bit, everyone likes to brag, but it's been a while, so you're
excused.

> But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
> your pants at that speed? Any stories to go with it?

This middle-aged lady likes the adrenaline rush. I used to routinely break
50 mph coming down Kamber Road during the summer when my clothing is minimal
and so I have the least amount of wind resistance. The road was very
familiar to me because it was on the daily commute and I would feel OK about
going much faster on it than I would on an unfamiliar road. I think the
highest speed I ever got was 53 mph. I finally decided to quit using Kamber
on my inbound commute (too steep for outbound) because the temptation for
speed was greater than my common sense.

BTW, I found out that a Cat Eye Mity 3 doesn't do tenths of miles per hour
over 50 mph.

Anyway, now I take 36th Ave SE instead, and come down more or less the same
slope, just less steeply, at about 35 mph. That's the posted speed limit on
that street, so I can feel well-justified taking the lane.

--
Warm Regards,

Claire Petersky
Personal page: http://www.geocities.com/cpetersky/
See the books I've set free at:
http://bookcrossing.com/referral/Cpetersky

 

[SMS]

Gooserider wrote:
> I live in Florida, so it's not super hilly.

Try the descent of Mount Dora.

 

[Rich]

Gooserider wrote:

> I think if you wipe out at 55 mph you might wish you were dead.

Agreed. The hill I achieved that on is one I go down fairly frequently
but I stopped going that fast after someone pointed the obvious danger.

Now I just don't tuck in which keeps me around 40.

 

[The Wogster]

mo fo wrote:
> Hi, I'm new to the group, so I don't know if this topic has come
> up too much yet. I just got back into riding after a 3 year
> hiatus. Moved to a new state and took a while to get settled and
> to get used to the maniac drivers around here. Finally got a new
> bike. Trek FX 7200. Hybrid. Not too fancy, but fits great and I'm
> happy with it so far. Got it up to 39.2 MPH today, and it was a
> total rush! It was down hill, I admit. A short hill, at that. And
> in traffic. Probably considered slow by most of you guy's
> standards, with the ultra light, ultra fast Campies and Dura
> Acers! But I was just curious as to what some other people's top
> speeds are, and how do you feel when you're flying at the seat of
> your pants at that speed? Any stories to go with it? Also, how
> fast do you think is the fastest speed a bicycle can handle, with
> wheel balancing issues and all that?
> ~Rob
>
>
Well, uh lets see, back home there was a community college at the top of
a big long hill, we would slog up that hill, then freewheel down,
highest speed 59MPH, about 3/4 way down that hill.....

W

 

[Mike Latondresse]

"Gooserider" <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I live in Florida, so it's not super hilly. We do have hills,
> though, and one of them is 7 miles into my commute. The hill is
> 200 yards long, then the road heads downhill for 2 miles through a
> subdivision. I've hit 50 in the subdivision, even passing cars.

Hey you da man...I have hit 50mph (80kph) but only going down Cypress
which is a 6 mile downhill with a 7.5% grade! How do you do it?

 

[Gooserider]

"Mike Latondresse" <mikelat@no_spam_shaw.ca> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Gooserider" <[email protected]> wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> I live in Florida, so it's not super hilly. We do have hills,
>> though, and one of them is 7 miles into my commute. The hill is
>> 200 yards long, then the road heads downhill for 2 miles through a
>> subdivision. I've hit 50 in the subdivision, even passing cars.
>
> Hey you da man...I have hit 50mph (80kph) but only going down Cypress
> which is a 6 mile downhill with a 7.5% grade! How do you do it?

Big ring and sprinting as hard as I can. No helmet, either.

 

[Rich]

Gooserider wrote:

> Big ring and sprinting as hard as I can. No helmet, either.

OH MY GOD! YOU COULD HAVE BEEN KILLED!!!!

 

[wafflycat]

42mph downhill - a long one, with a tailwind.

Cheers, helen s