What is fastest you have ever ridden on a bike?

[Road Runner]

Phil and Bob keep talking about speeds in the 60's (mph) on the descents.  I don't think I have what it takes to ride a road bike at those speeds.  Of course, I have no hills here, so those speeds are out of the question anyway.

[BR46]

Road bike 45

Mountain bike  40

Dirt bike 105

Sidecar 110

Race bike 160ish 

[Randomguy]

58.5 downhill on a road bike.  Over 50 another time, and not even close to that again.

[JerrySTL ★]

56 mph downhill. I may have broke 60 mph a few times back in the day before bike computers.

[sheep_herder ★]

45 coming off Government Hill

[jsharr ★]

low 40s on a long straight downhill

[Road Runner]

8 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

58.5 downhill on a road bike.  Over 50 another time, and not even close to that again.

 

5 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

56 mph downhill. I may have broke 60 mph a few times back in the day before bike computers.

So what is that like?  Riding a skinny tire road bike at 60 mph?  

[Road Runner]

I think I did around 30 or so one time when I was visiting nearby where they have some small hills and such.  I thought I was flying!  

[ChrisL]

Low 50’s going down a big hill on my old road bike with taller gearing. Any more I spin out in the mid 30’s so just coast.

[Bikeguy]

I'd guess maybe 40.  I don't have that many hills here.    Not sure I'd want to go faster. 

[MoseySusan]

45 mph decent on a road bike from Sandia Crest. 

[Kzoo]

45

[goldendesign]

Road cycle about 38mph, no hills here in FL for more.

Motorcycle 198+ mpg turbo hayabusa on a very empty stretch of highway. Regular motorcycles routinely 130, I was one of those crotch rocket jackasses you call organ donors as they flash by way to fast.

[Further]

51.3 on a Trek 501

hundredish on a motorcycle 

[Allen ★]

54 on this stretch of 321 back in boarding school days. Long downhill. 
Teal early oversized aluminum tube Canondale with a 105 group set. I don’t remember what tires I had on that frame. Probably 23mm Connies.  Rode like a hard rock. Fast stone, but still stone.  
 

First frame I ever cracked. 
 

[bikeman564™]

IIRC 42 mph downhill. And 31 mph on a sprint at the end of a club ride, give or take a tenth.

[2Far ★]

45 ish on the back side of Pine Mountain on the second day of an MS ride. I got the death wobble from a poor handlebar height adjustment. I’ve been in the low 40s a few other times. 

[Zealot]

50s on an asphalt downhill racing one of my friends in MD.

45 on an mtb downhill in CA.

 

[BR46]

2 hours ago, goldendesign said:

Road cycle about 38mph, no hills here in FL for more.

Motorcycle 198+ mpg turbo hayabusa on a very empty stretch of highway. Regular motorcycles routinely 130, I was one of those crotch rocket jackasses you call organ donors as they flash by way to fast.

I did mine on a race track 

Ok I I did push 125+ a few times on the street.

[BuffJim]

Low 40’s with a fully loaded BOB trailer. Then I realized how disastrous a crash would be and slowed down my descents. 

[Further]

Brightly colored underwear and an egg carton on your head really doesn't qualify as safety gear.... 

[Dirtyhip]

58 on a road bike.  

[JerrySTL ★]

4 hours ago, Road Runner said:

 

So what is that like?  Riding a skinny tire road bike at 60 mph?  

I was young and dumb so I thought it was fun. I'm older now. 

A few years ago I had my bike do a death wobble at around 45 mph. To stop it I had to pop a wheelie. After that I (1) bought a new bike, and (2) don't go over 30 mph.

[Road Runner]

1 minute ago, JerrySTL said:

A few years ago I had my bike do a death wobble at around 45 mph.

What caused that?  I was wondering if the overall wheel balance would come into play at high speeds.  

[AirwickWithCheese]

50. 

Blue Ridge Parkway from Afton to home with Airwick and Agape. Area near the Thomas Jefferson National Forest. It was getting dark fast and we were trying to get somewhere for food.  

[Randomguy]

5 hours ago, Road Runner said:

 

So what is that like?  Riding a skinny tire road bike at 60 mph?  

I was nervous that a deer was going to step out onto the road at 58.5, even though I had a great view of the downhill.  My tires were 23's pumped to about 115lbs. 

I like my modern wheels/tires better.  Right now I have 28's pumped to about 60 - 65lbs, I would feel much safer at those speeds on these.  They were buttery smooth at around 40-45mph on a couple fast descents yesterday.

[Randomguy]

53 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

A few years ago I had my bike do a death wobble at around 45 mph. To stop it I had to pop a wheelie. After that I (1) bought a new bike, and (2) don't go over 30 mph.

Death wobbles are scary!  Knees clamped on the top tube saved me a few times on my Once Team Replica Giant, one of their first superlight full race carbon frames.  That thing would wobble at 33-35mph, but when I changed wheels that changed to 36-38mph.  I sold that bike and haven't had the wobbles since.

[Randomguy]

47 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

What caused that?  I was wondering if the overall wheel balance would come into play at high speeds.  

Some sort of vibration frequency is what I have been told.  The frame just resonates like crazy based on frame stiffness (or lack of it), your proportions and position, and how they work together.  Downhills are scary if you have one of those!

[JerrySTL ★]

56 minutes ago, Road Runner said:

What caused that?  I was wondering if the overall wheel balance would come into play at high speeds.  

One of the reasons that I sold that bike is that I never found out. Headset was tight. Wheel bearings were snug. Spokes wear all tensioned properly and the wheels true. 32 spoke Open Pro wheels so they were strong. If you spun the wheels, they would eventually stop usually with the presta valve near the 6 o'clock position but nothing like being badly out of balance.

I had jacked up the handlebars with an angled stem due to neck issues so I thought that might have been a factor. It was a 1999 Trek 5200 carbon fiber bike like Lance road with the old 1" headset bearings. My next bike was more upright and had larger headset and bottom bracket bearing areas.

Popping a wheelie, literally yanking the front tire off the ground at 45 mph, disrupted the vibration and stopped the wobble. Clamping my knees to the top tube didn't help. Grabbing the brakes made things much worse. I was to the point where I was looking for a soft place to jump into such as a smooth lawn or weeds.

I recently read that keeping pedaling, even though you are really coasting, can help prevent the wobble.

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

45 on Skyline Drive from Hogback Overlook to Elk Wallow rest area. About three miles downhill. A car was riding their brakes and going about 25. I said on your left and passed them. Another rider said she knew what type of rider I was as there were two; those that wrecked and those that hadn’t. 

[Further]

1 hour ago, JerrySTL said:

I was young and dumb so I thought it was fun. I'm older now. 

A few years ago I had my bike do a death wobble at around 45 mph. To stop it I had to pop a wheelie. After that I (1) bought a new bike, and (2) don't go over 30 mph.

How the fuck did you pop a wheelie at 45 mph ? 

[ChrisL]

16 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

One of the reasons that I sold that bike is that I never found out. Headset was tight. Wheel bearings were snug. Spokes wear all tensioned properly and the wheels true. 32 spoke Open Pro wheels so they were strong. If you spun the wheels, they would eventually stop usually with the presta valve near the 6 o'clock position but nothing like being badly out of balance.

I had jacked up the handlebars with an angled stem due to neck issues so I thought that might have been a factor. It was a 1999 Trek 5200 carbon fiber bike like Lance road with the old 1" headset bearings. My next bike was more upright and had larger headset and bottom bracket bearing areas.

Popping a wheelie, literally yanking the front tire off the ground at 45 mph, disrupted the vibration and stopped the wobble. Clamping my knees to the top tube didn't help. Grabbing the brakes made things much worse. I was to the point where I was looking for a soft place to jump into such as a smooth lawn or weeds.

I recently read that keeping pedaling, even though you are really coasting, can help prevent the wobble.

There most likely was nothing wrong with the bike. As you and others noted it’s more about you on the bike and the weight distribution & such.  Thank god I have never had them on any of my bikes, it sounds scary. 

[JerrySTL ★]

3 minutes ago, Further said:

How the fuck did you pop a wheelie at 45 mph ? 

Grabbed the handlebars; leaned over; then sat up straight. Probably got the front wheel about 6" off the ground. Maybe 'wheelie' isn't the best description as I wasn't balanced on the rear wheel. 

[Airehead]

40-ish going down a hill into Naples. NY. @2Far may know the hill.  I was petrified and couldn’t even look at the speedometer.  It was raining and then summer hail. If I could have figured out how to stop, I would have walked down. 

[Airehead]

Einstein was ahead of me, far enough that he missed the storm. He was sitting all dry and warm in the Subway waiting for me. He did seem a little worried. 

[Randomguy]

18 minutes ago, Further said:

How the fuck did you pop a wheelie at 45 mph ? 

Very carefully?

[Road Runner]

1 hour ago, Airehead said:

Einstein was ahead of me, far enough that he missed the storm.  He was sitting all dry and warm in the Subway waiting for me. 

He did seem a little worried. 

Did they screw up his order?  

[Zealot]

1 hour ago, Old No. 7 said:

45 on Skyline Drive from Hogback Overlook to Elk Wallow rest area. About three miles downhill. A car was riding their brakes and going about 25. I said on your left and passed them. Another rider said she knew what type of rider I was as there were two; those that wrecked and those that hadn’t. 

I love that section after riding up from the Front Royal terminus!!! 

[jdc2000]

52 mph on a road bike.  Close to 50 several times in Colorado on road descents.  You need a bike that is capable of that, and proper weight distribution.  You also need to be scanning the road well ahead of you for any cracks, rocks, debris, etc. so you can avoid those items.  You are NOT riding on the shoulder doing this.  You need to remember Dirty Harry's adage also: "A man's got to know his limitations."  You need to have 100% of your concentration focused on what you are doing.

 

 

[Kirby]

The point of a trike is to enjoy the ride, not speed.

[UglyBob]

Broke 60mph on a road bike twice. Once on an 18% downhill grade, and once drafting behind a tandem on a long, straight hill. I hit 48 on the MTB coming down the Whipple Observatory road in the Santa Rita mountains south of Tucson. That one was a little scary. There's a dip into a wash at the bottom and when I came up out of it on the other side I was still doing over 40mph. My niece's husband said my tires left the ground for about 20 yards. I was on a full suspension bike and it landed so smooth that I had no idea I had gone airborne.  

[groupw]

47.7 on the Scratchtown ride. I’ve hit 42-45 on descents several times, but that was the fastest MPH. The fastest in perception was on my MTB on a gravel road 2 years ago. I hit 39.6! I did it on purpose, but will probably never try that again! 

[Wilbur ★]

I will never write incriminating information so, 

faster than I would ride again.

 

[donkpow]

There was a guy on the Bicycling forum that bragged about going the fastest on a bicycle. On a private jet with his bike on the trainer.

[Gump]

53.5 is my top speed. There is a 3 mile decent near where my parents live that you can easily cruise down at 40+ which is fun.

[Razors Edge ★]

From a "bike computer" perspective, when I dared to look down coming off of Galibier, it is 50+ mph.

From a "prove it" perspective - ie actually recorded by an accurate source - that would be 46+ mph a couple times. Out in CA, almost every ride had a 40+ segment, but spinning a 50-11 doesn't yield a crazy top speed before just hopping into a tuck and enjoying the speed.

My guess is that most folks could check their verifiable records and see how it compares to the old school non-GPS sort of thing.  Keep in mind, a 53x11 @120rpm is "only" 45 mph.  To hit 50+, that would be more like a hummingbird's 140rpm? 

 

[maddmaxx ★]

Walked out the door one day with the bike.  Small raindrops started hitting me.  Walked back in with bike.  Probably the fastest, only seconds, ride I've ever gone on.

[MickinMD ★]

I'm a chicken who's not highly skilled and also don't go many places with long, straight downhills.  29 mph was the fastest I'd go on my mountain bike and probably no faster on my Trek hybrid, unless I find a long, paved-trail straightaway.

Here's the horseshoe curve on the BWI Airport Bike Trail that goes downhill counterclockwise and if I go faster than 29 mph I'm afraid I won't be able to stay on the paved trail  when it straightens-out at the bottom and end up flying into the trees, sticker bushes, and fence.

[Randomguy]

6 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

From a "bike computer" perspective, when I dared to look down coming off of Galibier, it is 50+ mph.

From a "prove it" perspective - ie actually recorded by an accurate source - that would be 46+ mph a couple times. Out in CA, almost every ride had a 40+ segment, but spinning a 50-11 doesn't yield a crazy top speed before just hopping into a tuck and enjoying the speed.

My guess is that most folks could check their verifiable records and see how it compares to the old school non-GPS sort of thing.  Keep in mind, a 53x11 @120rpm is "only" 45 mph.  To hit 50+, that would be more like a hummingbird's 140rpm? 

 

When you are going downhill faster than 50mph in a tuck and the conditions are right, you probably stopped pedaling long before reaching the top speed.

[Razors Edge ★]

46 minutes ago, Randomguy said:

When you are going downhill faster than 50mph in a tuck and the conditions are right, you probably stopped pedaling long before reaching the top speed.

But how do you know you were going faster than 50mph?  What was your instrument of measurement?

I know a LOT of folks who oddly (predictably) had all their grand accomplishments in the era before Garmin/Wahoo.  Pre-Strava tales of 4 hour centuries abound.  Tales of epic and fast descents abound.  I PERSONALLY don't fully trust a single pre-Garmin stat in my paper logs from those days.  I can flip back to my descent off numerous steep mountains passes, with my chicken scratch notes showing "avg spd 14.6" and "max spd 53.2", but I would never claim that to actually be accurate   That little magnet spinning on a wheel past the sensor was (is) plenty good for my needs, but that's about as reliable as my memory of bowling a 300 game