Entry level road bike

[Enlightenedwaistcoat]

And how many drivers obey the speed limits? I've been sat at the 30mph speed limit in the car and been overtaken, last summer I was driving at the 50mph limit on the Fosse Way and got overtaken, a lot of drivers take no notice of speed limits.

I'm going to assume here that you're pointing out that many motorists routinely break the law by disregarding the speed limit as opposed to a pedal cycle going over the speed limit for motorised vehicles. I managed to get the police to carry out a speeding operation on a road where I'm tailgated by motorists annoyed I'm doing the speed limit in a car and sometimes overtaken (and quite often, vehicles infront are quite obviously breaking the limit) and I was shocked that they couldn't find one speeding driver.

 

[Alex321]

I'm going to assume here that you're pointing out that many motorists routinely break the law by disregarding the speed limit as opposed to a pedal cycle going over the speed limit for motorised vehicles. I managed to get the police to carry out a speeding operation on a road where I'm tailgated by motorists annoyed I'm doing the speed limit in a car and sometimes overtaken (and quite often, vehicles infront are quite obviously breaking the limit) and I was shocked that they couldn't find one speeding driver.

If you are doing the speed limit according to your speedo, you are probably actually doing 2-3mph below the limit in reality, as speedometers are almost always set to read a little high (the law requires them to bread within 10%+2.4 mph above true speed, they are not allowed to read below true speed at all).

And then when checking speeds, the police will normally (although they don't have to) be operating to the ACPO guidelines of only ticketing drivers doing at least 10%+2 above the limit.

So your speedo reads 30, you may only be doing 28. Somebody comes past you doing 5mph more, they are doing 33, but the police will only ticket them if they are doing 35+.

 

[MichaelW2]

Once you get up to your comfortable cruising speed, the thing that stops you going faster aerodynamic drag. To reduce this you can get lower and narrower.
Road style drop bars are often used to get low but not always. Tourists set them a bit higher than racers and use them for the variety of grip positions.
Flat bar users can set their bars narrower with a hacksaw, can add bar ends and clip on aerobars.
The parachute effect of splaying your arms our wide, even when in a low position, is a major cause of drag.

A utility road bike should have mudguard and rack eyelets and generous tyre clearance. The modern style with disk brakes are esp good in foul weather.