Conference noted::bicycle

     I have a hard time swallowing 70mph! They must be using the same
    radar guns our Commonwealth troopers use here in the states!!!
    
     Chip_who's_computer_read_55mph_one_time_and_can't_imagine_70mph
      

That item made the UK cycling magazines, and I think may already have been
mentioned in cycle_racing. According to the item I read, the cyclist was
on a 25% hill in the far North of Scotland (sounds feasible), was on a 
mountain-bike (less feasible) and the time was 3am (you what!?). I'm a bit
doubtful of the whole thing. How come the police had time to get a radar
fix? Who would do 70mph on a bike at night? 

Of course I'm only jealous since the best I've been able to manage in the past
two years, Alpine cols notwithstanding, was 78.5 kph (~ 49mph) (last Sunday
on the Saleve). But you know how slow to respond the Avocet max speed function
is...


Rod

    Greg hit 70 after puncturing last year (Marie blanque?). 
    

    
    Maybe it was 70 kilometeres/hr .
    There is no way that one can go 70miles and hour on a mountain bike 
    and be able to take corners, slow down etc...
    
    I have gone down some pretty steep hills on a mountain bike and 
    did around 45 miles / hr and that was quite a rush. I cannot 
    imagine 70. :-)
    
    Shaw
    
    

    	Re - .3
    
    	He hit 70, *A F T E R* puncturing �?�??????
    
    	No friggin' way !�!�!

    There are lots of tall tales about high speed descents, usually
    from riders with reed switch type speedometers, which are about
    as reliable as the radar guns that clock trees & shrubbery at
    70 miles/hr.

    Re "after puncturing" - this obviously meant after mounting a
    new wheel and chasing the leaders, but I doubt much above 50
    miles/hr.

    - Jim

     Even the world speed records require specially (and I mean manhole
    cover size) chainrings plus an almost nil wind resistance set-up
    (usually drafting a vehicle witha cowl...
    
     70mph? Maybe, if you're riding down the side of the Empire State
    Building or parachuting out of a plane (with your bike strapped
    behind you to lessen aiir friction :-) 
    
     I agree with one of the previous comments - "No friggin' way!"
    
     Someone wtnessing the event had to have been on mind altering drugs.
    
         Chip

    My usually reliable Cateye Cordless said I hit a max of 73 mph in
    Pennsylvania with panniers.  Not bad, but I know I was keeping it under
    30.
    
    ed

Maybe it's because I'm getting older, and the bones don't knit so well, but
travelling fast downhill now gives me the shivers. I clocked 46MPH once in
Shropshire, but I wasn't happy about it.

    I know I've done 53 on my single but on an open, empty road (Kinsman
    Notch).  Could do faster on the Wachusett downhill but my helmet's not
    big enough to protect me from the possible side-effects.  :-)
    
    ed

    Average speed for skydivers is 120 MPH.

As of three or four years ago, the paced speed record for a bicycle (drafting
behind a serious racing car) was 152 miles per hour. Bicycle Guide last year
had a little article on it. I think the gearing was about 400 gear-inches (two
stage transmission), pedalled at 140 RPMs.
						-- Tom

     Re; speed record: Oh sure... He was drafting :-)

 65 mph  Teton Pass (eastbound with tailwind)
 67 mph  Pso.Marmolada (eastbound, no wind)

Fear level disappears somewhere around 58 mph; then you merely
await the tap of The Grim Reaper.   The bicycle shrinks in size
considerably at these speeds

    
    
    	Hey if I was caught doing 70mph you'd have heard by now. I would
    frame that ticket for prosperity....
    
    	Sounds very dodgy, though. Can you imagine the speed wobble at that
    speed?
    
    Graham. 

    I hit 45 mph coming down the hill in front of the Mt Wachusett ski
    lodge once and that was enough for me. I crashed my bike once and I
    think the frame might be a touch out of alignment as the bike started
    vibrating something fierce. I had a definite laundry problem at that
    point!  :^)
    
    							Thom...

    
      If the mountain bike had slicks I think that 70mph would be
    attainable.  I have made the upper 50mph range on numerous occasions
    with my road bike.  In our club a tandem team coasted off a hill in 
    Wilbraham Ma. to a speed of 61mph.  I know because I drafted them all
    the way down.  We had three different computers (they carry two
    onboard) Avocet 50, Cateye ATB and a Vetta C300.  All read within 1.5
    mph of each other.
      In a few weeks I will be taking my own tandem to this same hill with
    a 64 or 68 tooth chainring to see if we can hit 70mph.  The above team
    was still accelerating when they reached a section where the pitch 
    slackens.  They came off the top at about 15mph.  They thought that
    if they were faster off the top they would have reached 70mph.  I think
    my partner and I can get to 30-40 mph before the descent starts.  A
    short steep climb just before the descent will scrub off reaching a
    higher approach speed.
      
    
    							Norm
    
      

     You've been in Wisconsin too long... :-)
    
     Drafting a tandem (indeed a tandem alone) on a descent is whole 
    different story. 
    
     An ATB, sorry. The pros don't hit that stuff in the mountains. Baloney
    skins, 300lb. rider with an aero skull, and a hurrucane force tail
    wind... Maybe? NOT! 
    
     Sorry Norm but I can't support you on that one...
    
        Chip

    "They thought that if they were faster off the top they would have
    reached 70mph."
    
    But they didn't want to test the theory right away?
    
    Welcome back, Norm.
    
    ed
    

70mph very possible!

Try coming to Ayr, Scotland and see the wee hill up to the plant.
I've managed just a whisker under 50mph on it (with Specialised Rockcombo 
big chunky tyres).

Other tales from the plant say 63mph is the record! Maybe that's a bit much.

     I'll go way out on a limb and risk all flame potential and state
    that it is impossible for an stock ATB with a stock "rider" to reach
    70mph... Maybe out of a plane  :-)
    
     Chip

    >                             -< Try Ayr! >-
    
    I'm on my way.....
    

Is that the hill you go up just before the plant when coming from the Ayr
direction? I don't remember that hill as being either steep or long...
shome mishtake shurely.


Rod

    Chip,
    
    If you put enough ti components on it, who can tell whether it's a
    bike or a plane?
    
    
    ed

Lack of wings?  Naw...

Bob

    Hmmm, wings?
    
     :-)

 Wings, hmmmmmm,   Make sure you use Hi-Temp wax!
    
 Icarus