Bike Speeds was: Re: 120 mph +

[Dave Hord <spokes@mail.the-wire.com>]

>In message <21B2A2008F16D2118E7A00805F8BF7EC036465@W12WNXU01> Paul
>Heneghan writes:
>
>> Now that's impressive.  The fastest I've ever gone on a bike is 40mph (down
>> hill of course) and then I ran out of gears.  My largest gear is about 100".
>> I would need an enormous chain wheel (90 teeth) to go at speeds like 70mph.
>> A two in one hill would help . . .
>
>I was once stopped by the police for "furious riding" down Burton Road
>into Derby on a Holdsworth Apache Chieftain with a fixed 108" gear.
>
>With the Vale of Trent being as flat as it is, I used to slipstream
>behind the buses from Borrowash to Long Eaton and back.  On a good day,
>with no wind or even a tailwind, I could beat the bus home over a 5-mile
>stretch.  If I didn't get a good 'tow', getting up the railway bridge
>at Breaston was a struggle.


Two years ago I made the ride from Muskoka to Toronto via mountain bike on
worn out knobbies. At one point, while riding along Hwy 11, I pulled out
and began to draft a transport...hit my fastest speed of 80km/h, uphill.

This past summer I decided (!) it wasn't fast enough...While doing my
regular downhill down a fire-road type road I hit 87.8km/h....pretty darned
fast for a twisty gravel/rocky road.  For comparison, PUSHING it in the
quattro, with full-out 4 wheel drifts clocks a max of almost 50!

Wow, this thread is VERY off topic...

-Dave






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