Top Speed

rob.northcott wrote:
Steve, I think there have been believable coker speeds of 25mph or so.
Good speedy coker riders (not me) will commonly reach a sustainable
20mph on shortish cranks. A few credible people have vouched for a
near-30mph burst downhill.

I'd have to see hard data to convince me.

rob.northcott wrote:
I don't believe Hazmat's claim of 44mph though - I'm sure he's either
mistaken or lying (or a superhero), even with his 'special 40" tyre'.

His claim was 44kph, not mph, but still...I need hard, verified data.


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I find it difficult to maintain over 20MPH for longer than a few seconds
on my 110mm cranks/36" wheel. I'll have to side with steveyo on this
one.


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rob.northcott wrote:
Steve, I think there have been believable coker speeds of 25mph or so.
Good speedy coker riders (not me) will commonly reach a sustainable
20mph on shortish cranks. A few credible people have vouched for a
near-30mph burst downhill.

Yes, amazingly high cadence, but it seems there are people who can do
it. I don't believe Hazmat's claim of 44mph though - I'm sure he's
either mistaken or lying (or a superhero), even with his 'special 40"
tyre'.

Personally, I'm happy spinning 150rpm on 170s on my bike in a sprint
(45mph, 50 chainring, 13 sprocket, 700x28c tyres), which means in
theory I ought to be able to spin faster with 150s on the unicycle -
and I can on the 26" muni (something like 180rpm in an all-out sprint),
but on the coker also with 150s anything over 15mph feels really
unstable and dangerous for some reason. I'm just not a good coker
speedster.

Rob


he said kph (kilometers per hour) mph 44 mph is unbeiliveable, but
44.8 kph is really only about 27 mph, does that make it a bit more
beiliveable? he said he attained this speed on a downhill, my 23.5 was
also attained on a slight downhill


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mouse wrote:
I find it difficult to maintain over 20MPH for longer than a few seconds
on my 110mm cranks/36" wheel. I'll have to side with steveyo on this
one.


I've held my 23.5 mph personal record (on a downhill) for about a
quarter mile, granted all I really needed to do was maintain enough
pedal pressure to not fall off and lean forward a bit while my speed
increased due to my momentum, but it's still a major speed and scary to
achieve. I plan to try a flying 100m timing course soon with one of
those radar boxes on the track to hopefully get a more accurate timing
but I trust my cyclometer for now...


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I have a cyclometer with cadence on it (cateye astale 8) and I know for
sure that on my coker (110s, ultra wide hub) I've broken 230rpm. This
was downhill with a tailwind, but if I can do it, then there are
certainly people who can do 260-290, especially with shorter cranks..
which I have in the mail


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steveyo wrote:
I'd have to see hard data to convince me.
His claim was 44kph, not mph, but still...I need hard, verified data.

Take the Guinness record for 100m on a unicycle (that's from a standing
start) and calculate from there for a 24" wheel. Actually the Miyata
tires that Peter Rosendahl and I used are *under* 24" diameter, so
there's even more margin of error for you. Our Guinness times:

Me (1987): 13.71 sec.
Peter Rosendahl (1991?): 12.74

Yes, we pedal *way* faster than racing cyclists. Our cranks are
shorter! For the two times above, the cranks were 125mm (racing size).

Want to set a record? Then a max. speed reading from your cycle
computer isn't going to cut it. I managed to hit 17.5 mph several times
on my old 24" racer, so I believe I was able to really reach that speed
for a few seconds, but it doesn't make for an official speed record,
just the knowledge that I could hit that speed, briefly, assuming my
computer was set up right.

The IHPVA (International Human Powered Vehicle Association) does speed
records for HPVs. Floyd Beattie did a time with them in 1986 or so, on
a brand new 45" wheel. I think he got around 22 mph, but he definitely
could have gone faster if he'd had more time to get used to his brand
new wheel.

To make a rock-solid record, it should be done on level ground, timed
from stationary positions, and done in *both* directions within one
hour to cancel out any wind advantage. That's how they do it, with the
IHPVA using 200 meters.

I recommend real good gloves and a full-face helmet for attempts on
that record!


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Hey, Steve. I know it's weird that people can ride so much faster than
you'd expect. I have a hard time getting my mind around Christian
Hoverath's claimed speed of 29.3 mph (I think that's the #), but I
believe it. He's a level 10 rider, so he's not expending much energy
balancing, and he was riding downhill. I've ridden with him, too. He
achieved this speed during a uni tour that my bro was on, and John
believed the claim, too.

As for other speeds, I can tell you that I measure things a bit
obsessively and reliably. Here are a few personal bests:

Cadence: I've topped 200 a few times (always downhill with short
cranks, like 110s) on a Coker. It was a bit scary.
Speed, Coker: My fastest recorded time according to a well-calibrated
cycle puter was 21 mph. This was with 110mm cranks.
Speed, guni (29"): I hit 22 mph. Again, scary. This was with 125s. I
hit 20.3 a few days ago during a training ride.

David


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johnfoss wrote:
... To make a rock-solid record, it should be done on level ground,
timed from stationary positions, and done in *both* directions within
one hour to cancel out any wind advantage. That's how they do it, with
the IHPVA using 200 meters. ...



The IHPVA record meet is each Fall at Battle Mountain, NV. On a
stretch of road as level and straight as it gets. Actually the speed
is measured flying over a 200m trap, with up to 5 miles to hit top end.
As long as the tailwind is minimal, it only takes 1 pass to set a
record.


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I don't have a very high max speed, but I know I can hold over 30km/hr
very comfortably on a gentle downhill. That's based on various races
where I've had bicyclists pacing me with cyclecomputers.

Before I broke my leg, I think I would have cruised comfortably at
35km/hr on a downhill. I know riders like Dustin Schaap can go past me
on the downhill like I'm standing still, so I don't think 44km/hr is
that much of a stretch. I've never ridden with Christian, but I was
told that the pacing was done from behind with a car odometer, so there
could be a slight inaccuracy with the 48km/hr claimed speed.

Bear in mind that the hour record is over 27km, and that is a sustained
speed on the flat. In a sprint on a gentle downhill, I'm sure many of
us could increase our cadence by up to 50%.

Ken


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johnfoss wrote:
Take the Guinness record for 100m on a unicycle (that's from a standing
start) and calculate from there for a 24" wheel. Actually the Miyata
tires that Peter Rosendahl and I used are *under* 24" diameter, so
there's even more margin of error for you. Our Guinness times:

Me (1987): 13.71 sec.
Peter Rosendahl (1991?): 12.74

Yes, we pedal *way* faster than racing cyclists. Our cranks are
shorter! For the two times above, the cranks were 125mm (racing size).



OK, I like this hard data stuff. No cars clocking the speed, no speed
guns or cyclometer readings. After crunching Misters Foss and
Rosendahl's numbers through Excel, I've figured,
*Average speed*: JF: 16.316mph & PR: 17.558mph
...and based on approximate wheel rollout of 24" * 3.1415...
*Average cadence*: JF: 228.517rpm & PR: 245.916rpm

Since their times were 100m from dead stops, their max speed and rpms
must have been even higher than those averages.

First of all, let me just say - fricking -*YOWZA!*-
Second of all, this convinces me that some of these claimants to
20-something mph on 36ers could be correct. 30mph still seems far
fetched to me, but less so after working up these 24" sprint times.

So Dustin, Hazmat, Ducttape, get your youthful butts out and do a
verified speed course. Let's see what you can do in a verified
situation. 30 mph here we come! (I mean "we" in a general sense, cuz
I ain't doin' that sh**! I get scared around 16-17 mph.)


--
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steveyo
...like having your own personal rollercoaster...

- a few 'uni race write-ups'
(http://home.nycap.rr.com/rduhan/uni_race_writeups/)
- muni and kokopelli uni 't-shirts, mugs and stickers'
(http://www.cafepress.com/steveyo)
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