Fastest Speeds

[Fixedwheelnut]

My 57 mph was here, roughly 6 miles from my house.  I'd be tempted to organise a ride including it, with a small prize for the fastest recorded speed.

On a side note, I rode down it once on fixed and bottled it at 190rpm.  There's no letup, since it's downhill all the way.

 And just a short ride from the picturesque Wooden bridge at Whorlton  

[Wendy]

Some dude in the local park stopped me to chat about bikes, and confessed that he could do 42.5mph on the flat.  "Yes mate".

[Salvatore]

My 57 mph was here, roughly 6 miles from my house.  I'd be tempted to organise a ride including it, with a small prize for the fastest recorded speed.

On a side note, I rode down it once on fixed and bottled it at 190rpm.  There's no letup, since it's downhill all the way.

That used to be a significant point of the LEL route - after the R at the Royal Oak onto B6275 at long last the A68 was over, and all that was left was to get to Doncaster (via Potters Bar).

BTW, no idea what my fastest is - certainly nothing to match the speeds others have quoted.

[Gus]

95 kph on a good down hill section in Sweden

[Fab Foodie]

52 mph off the Beacon on the L2B (the road that goes under the A27; wouldn't even think about it normally due to uncoming traffic but it's one way that day) in 1994

We clocked one of Bentmikey's mates at 42mph there... on Rollerblades 

Fastest for me, 49mph descending Ventoux.

[nuovo_record]

I dont think I've been over 45, there just arent the hills around here to get enough of a run,

ditto

[toontra]

Had my first blow-out on a front tyre whilst doing about 35 down a hill a couple of weeks ago.  Just thought I'd mention that  

[Zipperhead]

I stopped trying to attain ultimate speeds after a ride with a friend about 10 years ago when I got a tankslapper at 45mph.

Although according to my GPS, last year in France I managed 572mph - but I think it was confused after coming through a mile long tunnel.

On no, just looked again, the 572 was on the train, after the tunnel was "only" 289mph.

[Julian]

Anything over 50kph on a solo has me clutching the brakes.  I'm a big wuss.

On the tandem our fastest measured was 71kph down Reigate Hill.

[Wascally Weasel]

It entirely depends on gradient and sightlines for me - on a very, very gentle gradient, with a clear road and good visibility then I'm happy to go fast - steep, twisty downhill and I go slower than I do on the flat - fear of losing control I guess.

I think the fastest I've done is about 65-70kph or so on Dartmoor, there's a particular downhill stretch towards a bridge where you can see the oncoming traffic (or lack of it) for about 1/2 a mile - I'm ok with going reasonably quick there.

[Jaded]

95 kph on a good down hill section in Sweden

Is that Snap Hill, near Roger's? 

[clarion]

According to my computer, I posted a maximum speed of 300kph one day last week.

I'm not sure that would stand up to scrutiny.

I've done a lot of riding in steeply behilled places before i got a computer, and I used to be a bold descender, including the time I overtook a Range Rover on the way down to Hathersage (or was it Grindleford?) and they didn't catch me.  That was fast.

Highest speed I've recorded that I believe was 72kph down the Widdop Road.  Turning a corner and finding a sheep standing in the road persuaded me to ease off...

[Mr Larrington]

Computer said 235 km/h past the Imperial Wa Museum, later traced to an intermittent short in the wiring.

Genuine: 64.5 mph, westbound A689 coming off Killhope Moor.  I was still doing over 55 when I overtook a pair of rather startled Little Old Ladies in a VW Polo somewhere close to the bottom.

[vorsprung]

Only 74kph ( 45mph) on the A303 going to Illminster
Like Liz, as I approach speeds in excess of this I tend to use the brakes

Recently I've found I can swoosh the single speed to 50kph on short downhills.  According to my dubious calculations that's 160 rpm
If I could do that on the Orbea on 52x13 that would be 79kph

[Ian H]

Last time I had a computer on the bars was some years ago, though I might be fitting a new one again.

56mph recorded both on solo and tandem at various times.

44mph on a 68" fixed.

[richie]

92.4 km/h (GPS reading) coming down Crowcombe Hill in the Quantocks a few years back.  It's 1 in 4 and fairly straight (at least in the middle bit) so is probably genuine.

How fast do the pros descend?  Phil Liggett always rattles on about the pros descending at 70mph+ on the TDF. , Whilst they are shifting they are obviously not going anywhere near that speed on the TV broadcasts......

[tonycollinet]

Bloody hell, I'm useless.

I don't think I've been faster than about 37MPH - although I might have exceeded that coming down off some penine or other on the witches ride last year. That was the one where I was boiling water off my brake disks at the bottom.

[Wendy]

How fast do the pros descend?  Phil Liggett always rattles on about the pros descending at 70mph+ on the TDF. , Whilst they are shifting they are obviously not going anywhere near that speed on the TV broadcasts......

TV tends to make things look slower than they are, and with my limited experience of watching camera footage I don't particularly disbelieve those claims.

[Greenbank]

Several times between 50mph and 55mph; the top section of Alpe d'Huez, descending the Lautaret back towards Bourg d'Oisans and the Ventoux descent into Bedoin.

More recently I is a wuss.

52kph so far this year, and that was somewhere between London and Thorne (when I did have a 76" gear). 50kph on the B709 between Langholm and Innerleithen on 67.4" for a higher rpm but lower V_max.

Last year was 62.2kph on the Elenith (with gears), or 57.8kph on the Severn Across (71.4" gear for 170rpm).

Need to work on my spin-fu for LEL.

[Chris N]

So far this year: 60.2 km/h*.  Previously, about 75km/h in one of three places - heading east into Bridgnorth, descending the Mountain Road into Rhayader, or south from the Gospel Pass.

* On 64" fixed. 201 rpm.

[scampi]

I think the fastest I've done is about 65-70kph or so on Dartmoor, there's a particular downhill stretch towards a bridge where you can see the oncoming traffic (or lack of it) for about 1/2 a mile - I'm ok with going reasonably quick there.

If that's the one I think you mean, then it's my fastest too - 50mph down into Postbridge on a long straight descent - probably only 1:10 but with a tailwind.

[Jaded]

Fastest this year? 47.5mph on the descent into Marlborough, Wiltshire White Horses.

[Wascally Weasel]

I think the fastest I've done is about 65-70kph or so on Dartmoor, there's a particular downhill stretch towards a bridge where you can see the oncoming traffic (or lack of it) for about 1/2 a mile - I'm ok with going reasonably quick there.

If that's the one I think you mean, then it's my fastest too - 50mph down into Postbridge on a long straight descent - probably only 1:10 but with a tailwind.

No, it's the other side of Postbridge for me - I find the gradient coming in the direction you describe a bit too steep for me to be comfortable with flat out - I tend to not much exceed 30mph on that bit.

The place I mentioned is between Princetown and Postbridge, heading NE - the road drops down to a bridge where the road then bears to the left a bit with woodland on your right as the road climbs back up a bit; being able to see quite a long way here and the gradient not being steep, I'm ok with getting in to a big gear and pushing a bit there.

[PaulF]

41.57 mph on the hill down to the golf course in Wimbledon Park. The road had just been resurfaced so was one of the few good roads in my area.

[tiermat]

Fastest this year is 37mph past the Sky building on the A4.