Speed kills/thrills?

60mph on the decent of the Izoard

According to my computer, this morning I clocked 47.1 MPH down Trow Hill in Devon!

All time max is 61mph in the Tour of the Black mountains a couple of years ago, bunny hopped a cattle grid half way down the descent as well which could of gone horribly wrong!!

My club hilly time trial course has a great twisty descent which i stay in the tri bars for, hit 56mph many times on it which I think is an unofficial club record. Had a front puncture descending it in the wet once, continental supersonic went from 170 psi to flat in about two tenths of a second. my bumhole sucked in the saddle and most of the aero seatpost I reckon, probably what helped me stay upright

Touched 50mph on the descent into Malaucenne off the Ventoux, and was blown away by two of my team-mates who hit 60+. Scared witless all the way down to the tea-shop and nearly lost it (and myself) at one of the last hairpins.

I see madcarew has 76mph down their in NZ

As a young and foolish 20 year old, I slipstreamed a container lorry into Cambridge at 49mph on my new 531 road bike. It was smooth and stable as a rock.

The truck had a bumper sticker - "If you can't stop, please smile as you go under".

Much fun.

48mph/76kph down a rough single laned country backroad... terminal velocity at normal pace seems to be around 41mph

how about a 107mph faceplant?

Take great delight in tripping a speed camera on Great Western Road, Glasgow. So far, I've hit 35mph Record is the drop into Lochwinnoch - 45mph. Seriously scared the **** out of a motorist who pulled out in front of me and I had to pull out to pass him. He just shook his head at me in shock at the lights in the village

Some of the speeds in the other posts are seriously scarey mind!!!

69.6kph (about 43mph?) during the first 5 miles of the West Riding sportif yesterday. That was downhill, with a tailwind, in a large bunch. I suspect I wasn't going quite that quickly as my computer is from Aldi and I don't think I've got the wheel travel (IE circumference) set right.

The fastest I have been was 43 mph on a 14kg mountain bike, coming down a small cliff. I loved the feeling. If the road was straight I could go faster. Problem is how you stop at high speeds...

The fastest I've been was 47.6mph down the String Road on Arran but that was a national speed limit road so I wasn't braking the limit anyway and even if I was bikes can't be prosecuted. My max last year was 44.4mph (somewhere in the Lammermuirs) I think it was the strength of the wind rather the steepness that made the difference. I've not broken the 40 yet this year though closest Ive been is 39.6mph down the Uquart Cut with a strong tail wind (its a short sharp hill which falls steeply but rises steeply).

Well, what has become obvious to me is that I'm clearly not trying hard enough

I once hit 45mph downhill in Teesdale in a mountainbike (BSO). All was great till i realised there was a sharp right hand bend and the brakes weren't designed for those speeds.

I slowed down enough to go round the bend without ending up in the river Tees.

Re the OP: no there's no speed limit for bikes so you can't be done for going 40mph in a 30 zone for example. You can however be done for the wonderful "furious cycling" which I think a rider in Cambridge was charged with several years ago. (anyone remember?)

I think if you did that kind of speed through a town and knocked someone over the police would take a fairly dim view of it.

That said, I've had over 50mph plenty of times and just over 60mph on an Alpine descent in France. There were still French roadies coming past me even then, they reckoned that hill was good for about 70mph in places!

Wind resistance does count - coming over one of the hills in Arran into a fierce headwind I stopped pedalling on the downhill and was slowed to a stop by a 50mph wind. Other than that 43mph on a mtb on a forest fireroad - which was a bit scary (but strangely smooth)

I like setting speed cameras off; there is one in Hayfield on the descent from Peep O Day. Set at 40mph - can set that off on my mountain bike. The road is fastest before the camera, I'm usually braking to trun into the village by the time I hit the speed camera.

On my road bike - a white van man hung out of his window and told me how impressed he was that I was doing 55mph, my reply "oh I can go a lot faster than that". My cateye cordless tells me I have hit 65mph on that stretch - personally I think Peep O day is faster going down to Chinley.

When you stop and think about it - yes it is stupidly fast, lycra isn't known for its protective proerties is it?

Well if the old GPS can be believed then I've clocked 86kph..and it wasn't a particularly steep downhill either...but did take a fair bit of pedal mashing...and the tractor driver I overtook was well impressed..

Down here in NZ I regularly hit 80kph + on a short hill going to work. My max ever is 122kph (76 mph) on a long down hill into Wellington with a fierce tail wind. I've regularly topped 100kph on flat roads behind trucks, with my max on the flat 108kph. And as a side note, when descending or going fast aerodynamics is everything unless drafting vehicle, but heavier people tend to descend faster than lighter people because of a greater mass vs surface area ration.

69mph is insane. Sean Yates was once clocked at 70 once coming off the Galibier (I think), I reckon if that's as fats as Sean can go, that's about as fast as anyone can go

Clocked 69mph down a newly laid straight mountain road in Lanzarote. Paul lazenby who I was behind reckoned he reached 71mph. both of us agreed how stupid we had been when we safely reached the bottom.

My wife and I in our 64th year managed to trigger a 30mph sign at a measly 22 mph.

52.3mph is my known person best and that was on a mountain bike! Ive never had a computer on a road bike yet, but, I never took a computer with me to Portugal on my new pinarello so I'm pretty sure I beat it! Especially defending in to Monchique.

The fastest I've gone is a touch over 50mph down, I think it's called, Clifton Drive just north of Brighton, at the end of the London to Brighton Bike Ride a couple of year ago. I was on an elderly Condor Cadet at the time, with a speedo on the handlebars, and the road had been closed to traffic. It was exhilarating, but I don't think I'll be doing it again in a hurry. After all, I'll be 70 in November!!!

I regularly touch 80kph dropping into Wantage (ending up by the cemetary http://road.cc/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Yahoo!/sad.gif) on my commute home, still doesn't deter many drivers with their "must get past" attitude but it feels the right thing to do given the struggle I have to endure climbing up it earlier in the day ! http://road.cc/sites/all/modules/smileys/packs/Yahoo!/whew.gif