Max speed on the road?

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Permalink Reply by Jon Ingram on September 21, 2011 at 22:42

I'm a Moulton fan/owner so here goes:

 

"The record [for] the world unpaced cycling record over 200m (conventional riding position) in 1985. The speed attained was 50.21mph (80.79kph), the bicycle was an Alex Moulton AM.

Jim Glover, broke the record again in 1986, on a new improved Moulton Liner. The new record, 51.29mph (82.53kph), still stands."

 

I think you'll struggle to reach 50.

 

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Permalink Reply by Graham Lennard on September 21, 2011 at 23:15

50mph is faster than most pro sprinters achieve... so I think you'll be hard pressed to better your best speed by much more..

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Permalink Reply by Lucas on September 22, 2011 at 8:13

Hi,

 

I see what you're saying, and I must admit that you're probably right. Where I see the problem is that for each additional 1mph you have a disproportionate increase in drag and so although I'm "only" looking to increase by about 7mph each one gets more and more difficult. I hadn't realised that the record for a person in the conventional position was 50mph, with that information I'm pretty sure that I won't do it. I looked at some records on the "trusty????" Wikipedia but for those unpaced on a flat the bike type and riding position aren't specified. Just for interest, here's what I found;

 

Name	Year	Speed	Type of record
Sam Whittingham	2009	133 km/h (83 mph)	Flat surface, unpaced[1]
Barbara Buatois	2010	121 km/h (75 mph)	Flat surface, unpaced (woman)[1]
Fred Rompelberg	1995	268 km/h (167 mph)	Flat surface, motor-paced[2]
Bruce Bursford	1996	334 km/h (208 mph)	Riding on a roller[3]
Markus Stöckl	2011	164.95 km/h (102.50 mph)	Downhill on a volcano, on a serial production bicycle.[4]
Eric Barone	2002	172 km/h (107 mph)	Downhill on a volcano, on a prototype bicycle[5]
Markus Stöckl	2007	210.4 km/h (130.7 mph)	Downhill on snow, on a serial production bicycle[6]
Eric Barone	2000	222 km/h (138 mph)	Downhill on snow, on a prototype bicycle[7]

 

Thanks guys,

 

Lucas

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Permalink Reply by Allen james on September 22, 2011 at 10:24

I touched 62mph once down a huge hill in dorset on my road bike. I dunno what had the stronger grip, my arse on the saddle or my hands on the drops.

Some real scary shit at that speed to be honest.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Davidson on September 22, 2011 at 13:42

Drag is proportional to the square of your speed, so doubling your power at 20mph will not get you to 40mph. You may stand a better chance by tipping things in your favour: an aerodynamic cowl at the front, something to ease turbulence off the rear of your head and over your back - and a bloody strong tail wind!! ;)

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Permalink Reply by david.cherry on September 22, 2011 at 17:46

Sam Whittingham's record was set on a full faired recumbent, however a faring at the rear of a recumbent will reduce drag more than just a faring just at the front, and btw the record was set with zero wind speed

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Permalink Reply by John Cant on September 24, 2011 at 1:33

Please let me know where you achieved that speed - I want to go there for hill reps :)

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Permalink Reply by Kim on September 24, 2011 at 12:51

It's all about power, air resistance and fear of death.

 

I regularly cheat both by using a ludicrously sturdy recumbent and nice steep hills, but I've yet to get above 48.7mph - I start to bottle out after I'm going too fast to see anything.

 

If you're managing 40mph on the flat, I'm impressed.

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Permalink Reply by Andy on September 24, 2011 at 17:33

I'm interested to find out more about this...

 

With your maximum speed - is that the maximum sustained over a certain distance (say 100metres for example) or is it recorded as max speed on your cycle computer? I was out today travelling along a slight downhill section and only managed to get to 34.6 so you're a legend in my book!

 

What bike are you riding? Is the stretch of road pretty smooth? What sized chainwheel / cogs do you have?

 

Do you hold classes...;-)

 

Andy.

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Permalink Reply by Lucas on September 24, 2011 at 20:01

Hang on, hang on..... let us just be clear here! lol.

I'm not attempting to reach 50mph on a flat, that would be more than impressive and I'd probably be riding bikes for a living. For me to reach such speeds there will definitely be some sort of gradient involved but I don't want anything so steep that it requires no effort from me, if that makes sense. These sorts of speeds are not sustainable by me (your average Joe), considering in professional TT's they average around 32mph.

 

As for my bike... It's a Trek 2.5, there's a velo circuit in tudor grange park (I only found out about it recently) with a smooth surface, you can reach 30mph+ around there. I've got a 50D on the front, 11T on the back, it's the Shimano Ultegra groupset with a 105 cassette. There is an Ultegra 53 chainring but I don't think that I would be able to turn that on a flat! I've only had the bike a few weeks so I'm still getting used to it. Here it is;

 

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Permalink Reply by Andy on September 24, 2011 at 20:09

Nice bike ;-)

 

With that track do you have to book? I went to Aldersley once after ringing beforehand and when I got there they said that I needed to have someone there to watch in case I fell off - A health and safety rule.

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Permalink Reply by Basil W Bloke on September 24, 2011 at 21:16

Good grief. 53 x 11 !!  That's a gear of 130 inches.

I'd need to be riding downhill with a wind at my back, and I'd still have to stand on the pedals to turn that.

 

Still.  I'd like to try it.

Lucas said:

. I've got a 50D on the front, 11T on the back, it's the Shimano Ultegra groupset with a 105 cassette. There is an Ultegra 53 chainring but I don't think that I would be able to turn that on a flat!

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