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As I get older and am more aware of my mortality and knowing how long the body takes to heal, I tend to go slower downhill. In my youth, I once got it up to 63 MPH. When I started thinking about that little rock in the street and what would happen, I backed off pretty quick.
These days, with a clear line-of-sight, I'll let the bike go however fast it wants to go. If I can't see the road at least a quarter mile ahead, I'll keep it to around 35. I tend to go slower with my rim brake bikes than with the disc brake bikes.
Kind of depends on whether I 'know' the road as in are there any debris, potholes, big bumps, etc. If nice and smooth, I'll just go how ever fast the bike lets me. I usually don't waste the monmentum on a downhill by braking unless I really have to ... like someone in my path ahead. My bike has gotten up to around 30 mph and I feel it's pretty fast at that speed.
A good quality road bike will feel more stable and secure the faster it's going. Only limit is your own nerves. If your bike feels dubious at high speed, I'd ditch it and get a better one with more standard geometry.
Skiddish + Squirrelly are entirely different feelings, than what I get during downhill bicycling. Both imply a loss of traction or control, which can be absolute fatalities. I'm pretty OCD about my tires + brakes + general "vehicle maintenance" so I have rarely felt skiddish or squirrelly.
I am absolutely clear on what would happen, if a front tire were to blow out, the rim spokes fail, or the axle bolts come off at Terminal Velocity.
At my heaviest I was ~230lbs, on a steel framed mountain bike, on closed mountain road, with ~6000 ft decent, I got up to 42mph. I dont fear the speed (cue the Hunter S Thompson... "Faster, Faster, until the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death.â€)
My current bike is much lighter aluminum and thumb-width 700c rims, (and I've lost alot of that weight) so it taps out at about 33mph on the downhills.
I have no desire to wear the pee-wee-herman aero helmet and shave my legs to go faster. Just get on a motorcycle.
I believe the landspeed record for a fiberglass fuselage pedaled bicycle, several variations netted about 80mph. But these things have 86 gears and take like an hour to get up to speed... but you break your own wind so I consider them more legit - cause that's like me riding down a mountain road.
but so what. I'm sure I could hold on to a waterski rope when the space shuttle launched and go 18,000mph for about 1 second before I let go. Does that make me Clark Kent Superman? The liquid rocket fuel did all the work.
Kind of depends on whether I 'know' the road as in are there any debris, potholes, big bumps, etc. If nice and smooth, I'll just go how ever fast the bike lets me. I usually don't waste the monmentum on a downhill by braking unless I really have to ... like someone in my path ahead. My bike has gotten up to around 30 mph and I feel it's pretty fast at that speed.
Definitely a matter of keeping your eyes upon more than anything.
I think I went up to mid 40s once in my teens. But I got cured of the need for speed on a bike around the same age. Chain broke and wrapped itself in the front spokes. The bike stopped on a dime. I didn't. Road rash from a tar and gravel country road will cure a lot of the thrill. I was picking bits of gravel out of my skin for a week.
What is the maximum speed that you feel safe on your bicycle going downhill with the wind on your back? 40 MPH? Higher?
Depends. I got going pretty fast down Kamikaze at Mammoth Mountain bike park. When you hit the braking bumps and the road is off camber on a turn, things get sketchy. Those rocks look uncomfortable off the side of the mountain and you do a bit of thinking.
What is the maximum speed that you feel safe on your bicycle going downhill with the wind on your back? 40 MPH? Higher?
Depends on a lot of things, but generally at 40MPH I pay CAREFUL attention on smooth roads. I've hit over 50mph once (more than 10 years ago), very scary, but thrilling too.
On a mountain bike, getting up over 20 on rough terrain was scary when i was younger. Probably a little more careful now.
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