What's a Realistic Maximum Cadence?

[funk my fixie]

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN7p7mOXI_g

like the vid, but what did it represent? Still no scientific proof of anyone's cadence.

For the record...

I run 700x32C tyres, 36t chainring, 15t sprocket. That's about a 65" gear by my reckoning. My average speed on my commute this morning was 27.8km/h, my max speed was 48.5km/h.

The highest speed I've reached on that setup (on the aforementioned descent - but I didn't go that way this morning) was about 60km/h. I make that somewhere in the range 185-190rpm but please feel free to check my maths.

As I said above, I wouldn't be able to keep up that speed for more than a few seconds, but I can well believe others are capable of higher cadences.

d.

Now we are on the same page. 27.8 kph is 17.2 mph which is a reasonable average speed and a top speed 30.1 mph. These are fair numbers and puts your cadence at average 90 ish. That is about what the websites say is ..."normal" (sorry to use such a word but feels right). Nothing wrong with that OR that you have hit 38 ish mph (60 km). And maybe like me, (as I said in my first post when I did 31.2 twas probably downhill) maybe you also did it downhill. A lot of people on this site hit crazy speeds like 50.9 mph going downhill ( and must be bl@@dy crazy for it).

The thing I had concern over was that, if you read the posts, people SEEM to be doing all these crazy rpm's which put them in the league of professionals. I didn't PICK on you, it was just that you replied to me first. I felt that you were a little rude to call someone SPECIAL. I love coming on here and reading what more advanced people can tell me about cycling, how to do it, what gear is best etc etc but how can I set myself a goal if people are bounding around false info'. The original question..... which is why I looked, to try and learn something from people with experience, was 'What is a realistic maximum cadence?' If people put 90ish like you have done to work today then a novice like me can then say, "ok I am on track to where I want to be." When people write anything up to 207 then what can I learn? Only that people make it up.


Anyway, no hard feelings. Nice to chat to you and I can honestly say I take my hat off to you for going at that speed on a fixed gear. I personally wobble too much over 30 ish mph and tend to go through the brake blocks as you said yourself hehehehehe

 

[funk my fixie]

Mr Funk My Fixie,

I am one of those who posted pedal speeds you may have found dubious, but I've been riding today and can assure you they are accurate.

I pootle at 95 rpm, do the odd extended stretch at 110rpm and can descend at 165rpm, but not for long.

I am middle-aged, slightly overweight and by no means in good shape.

My (homebuilt) steel, low-tech fixie uses a 50-tooth chainring, 19-tooth sprocket and 700c x 20 tyres at 110psi.

That gives me approximately 69 gear inches (maybe a little less).

The 165rpm is achieved while descending big hills in Herefordshire, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire at around 35mph.

These are 45mph hills for me on a geared bike, probably 50+ for a good rider.

The higher-RPM figures are not fictional and are not the stuff of Olympian legend. Perfectly ordinary (and slightly tubby) riders can do this with ease. The gearing you mention is quite high for a fixed-gear bike. Many of us use much lower gearing, which allows us to generate much higher RPM at lower speeds.

There seems to be a degree of pique in your post, but the figures are good. By the way, if after a few months on a bicycle you are getting 25+mph averages over 10 or 20 miles on fixed-gear, I take my hat off to you. Many people work for many years to get those sort of figures.

Thankyou but as I said to smutchin I used to ride with a team and do town centre cycling so while it sounded great, it's not as good as it sounds. I stopped riding for a few years but it is easier for a person who has done it before to get back into it. I cannot understand though, like I said in my first post, how you can all go faster on an easier gear inch when I find it easier on a harder gear inch. I think it is easier because I only have to push against the resistance. In fact there is a post called "Chain Ring Size" in which the OP has the same point. He can go faster on a harder gear inch than he was used to riding.

It seems you are doing something different. You are all making your legs go round faster. Maybe this is what I need to be doing but like I said I can only do around 21 mph on a 42/16.

 

[funk my fixie]

What team was that then? We have been on the racing scene for many years now so would be interested in knowing. I will also tell you what is realistic, I have hit 200rpm going downhill in 20 secs of insanity, I frequently go over 180 rpm but not for long. What is not realistic is averaging 26.2 mph over 20 miles on a non TT rig, equivalent to two sub 23 min tens back to back. I have no idea who you are but you quote big names and what they ride like yet seem to have no understanding of averages / max cadences etc. I am REALLY intrigued to know the team you were in. I think we all are.

Southend and County Wheelers, when I was 14-15. Did town centre cycling. That was some 24 years ago now

 

[gaz]

I didn't realise it was only professionals that could do high RPM's.
I'll take what you have said on board and slow my cadence down.

 

[dandare]

This is a funny thread this is.

 

[Farky]

Southend and County Wheelers, when I was 14-15. Did town centre cycling. That was some 24 years ago now

I'm sorry but there's only one person's figures that don't add up for me and guess who's they are...

 

[Boris Bajic]

It seems you are doing something different. You are all making your legs go round faster. Maybe this is what I need to be doing but like I said I can only do around 21 mph on a 42/16.

The only thing some of us are doing differently is running smaller gears, which means we have to pedal faster at a given speed.

Many people do not use fixed-gear bicycles as an end to achieving some TT sweet spot, PB or top speed. It may in some cases be a means towards that end, but very many fixed riders have little idea of their 10-mile time on such a bike.

For many of us, it's either an amusing way to get about or a training tool to improve technique. It may be both. In many cases, gearing is not as it is by design; a lot of us just threw our fixed bikes together out of bits that were lying around. Most seem to run between 65 and 71 gear inches, but there is no right or wrong answer here.

As a former team rider who has leapt back into the saddle and put up some pretty good times pretty quickly, you'll be aware of the perceived benefits of spinning. The term has been used since the dawn of time and will have been common when you were on a team. You'll probably remember team-mates who kept a fixed-gear bike (often called a track bike in those times) for winter training. They would have run the sort of gearing mentioned on this thread and they would have spun at 140+, topping out much higher on descents.

If I were you, I'd get out and enjoy your return to cycling rather than worrying about what others are doing. All of the pedal speeds and durations posted in this thread seem perfectly credible to me. Some were quite impressive, but all were credible. I imagine they'd also seem so to anyone who had some experience of competitive cycling.

This section of CycleChat is posted on by a friendly, honest and supportive bunch. Some of your earlier comments were slightly on the strident and accusatory side, so any tart responses you received may have been deserved.

The answer is not in Wikipedia or any of the excellent Web sources you quote. The answer is outside your front door and on a hot day it smells of Tarmac.

Enjoy riding your fixed-gear bicycle and welcome back to bikes.

 

[Ian H]

I'm not sure anyone's claiming consistent cadence much over the low100s. But it's certainly possible on a fixed to attain comedy pedal speeds downhill. I'll leave you to work out 42mph on a 43x17 gear.

 

[SportMonkey]

Hi guys
Don't wish to be rude but finding the conversation a little far fetched. I have just got home having hit the fastest average speed so far for me. I run a 42/13 and my max average over 20 miles WAS 25.6 mph and I am extremely proud of myself as tonight I managed 26.2 mph average over 20 miles.F@*KING GET IN THERE!!!!! My top speed was 31.2 mph and probably downhill . Anyhow, this makes my cadence 100.9 RPM. (Taken from http://www.lfgss.com/thread17162.html) If I ride a 27" wheel on 42/13 then 27 x (42/13) = 87.23 gear inch, which according to the website 336 divided by my gear inch and multiplied by my mph = my cadence. Hence, 336 / 87.23 x 26.2 = 100.9. So if all these websites are true then most of you are not human.

Now I have only been riding for 3 months and have only had my fixed gear for a month and I know I will get better in time, BUT according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadence_(cycling) 90 RPM is about right for professionals. Mr Armstrong does 110 RPM and PROFESSIONAL SPRINTERS do around 170 RPM for very short periods. ( http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=433 ) makes for a very interesting read on cadence actually.

You are all talking about cadences of 125/140ish for most of your riding, not including downhills which makes Mr Armstrong a complete novice. I have seen other websites where people get even more unrealistic I.E. http://www.glasgowfixedgear.com/discussion/922/working-out-cadencespeedgear-inches/p1 where one person says 207 is his cadence. ???????????????WTF

The other night I flipped my wheel over to the freewheel side 16 T and could only average 20.9 and max at 25.2 mph which tells me that for me, and I am not unique, I get a much faster speed from a higher GI. I am sorry to say that logic also says that there are some tall tales out there. At say 150 rpm your "little legs" will be rotating at 2.5 revs a second. Highly unlikely. Pro's hit around 170 for VERY short sprints which is 2.8, not much difference. While poor old slow boy Lance Armstrong who is QUOTE "known for his technique of keeping up high cadences of around 110 rpm" (as per Wikipedia website) only manages 1.8 revs a second.

I will be watching the Olympics and looking for you all to win gold medals.

Well I wasn't going to say anything. At least all my boasts are backed up by GPS data...

 

[ayceejay]

I can bench press 500.

 

[gaz]

I can bench press 500.

Grains of rice?

 

[Dave Davenport]

I've just been for a run and done 10k in 29' 30" wearing a pair of hob nailed boots, which I was very pleased with as I only started training a couple of weeks ago. Mind you, I came third in the school cross country race 36 years ago so it's not really surprising how bloody great I am.

 

[simon.r]

Point 3 The Guiness Book of Records records Chris Boardman as having achieved a world record of 52.270 km ph =32 to 33 mph. The people on here are hitting (Simon R) 29 mph for example, which he is doing on the road. You say about your commute to work so are doing it on a road as well. Therefore, if he/you had Chris Boardman's helmet, a velodrome, a 7-10 thousand pound bike etc etc then you two should be faster than the SSC II, Super Sonic Car.

I assume you've realised this from some of the other posts, but just for the record my 29mph is a maximum speed. I don't know what Mr Boardman's world record is for, but I'd guess it's something like an average speed over an hour. It certainly isn't a maximum speed on the road. This chap appears to hold the record for that, at 83mph. Though he used a recumbent.

Edit - CB's record has been broken several times, it now stands at 56.375 kph (35mph).

My maths may not be right, I'm assuming that one of the many gear calculators on the web is correct. If I can achieve a maximum cadence of 130 ish after a couple of hundred miles on a fixed gear, as a middle-aged, not particularly fit cyclist, it wouldn't surprise me at all if some people can hit 200+.

 

[TheDoctor]

I have hit 220 rpm on a bike in the gym. I couldn't maintain it for many seconds, but I did see it. I sure-as-hell wouldn't chance it on the road!!
My fixed has 39T/15 on 700c 23mm tyres for 68.4". That gives me 15 mph at a cadence of 75, and it seems to be a sweet spot for me - I can get up most of my local hills and get down them without my ankles unscrewing themselves.
I've also got a 17T freewheel on there for if I need it (or I find myself at the top of a big hill).

 

[Pennine-Paul]

I hit 53.9 km/h downhill last week,not that I could maintain that
cadence for long on a spinny 48/18!
that works out at a cadence of 160rpm.
I'm a grinder not a sprinter, gone back to a 48/14
would only need a cadence of 120 to replicate the same speed now