How fast is too fast for you?

Riding beyond your braking systems efficiency and panic-stopping distance. Anything less than a quality 4 piston Magura or other high-end hydraulic brakes is just plain not using common sense. Just my personal opinion and rule. YMMV
 
Eh, not really sure. MC rider here, and am not uncomfortable riding the X2 or the BBHSD at 30-something MPH...but having said that, I'm also not ignoring the fact I ride with fairly $ gear on the motorcycles, because, well - most cage drivers are truly scary and inattentive plus of course, s**t happens. With the 200mm F/R rotors I run and pads, I can stop the bike effectively pretty quickly, but were I commuting a majority of my riding vs trails, greenways and less populated roads, I would probably stop wearing shorts as I kinda feel like a 'squid'/no-gear, and 30MPH is fast enough to hurt/shred some skin and break things. Most of my trail rides are closer to typical MTB rides, meaning 5-15mph or so.

I've 'comfortably' hit 40-something MPH on downhills of course, and generally have faith in the bike(s), just not so much car/truck drivers.
 
I love going 30mph+ on flats max my bike is able to do is about 33mph, I get up to about 38 on downhill. I have m2s 750ht. I think I would be satisfied with a bike that could sustain 40-45mph on flat...but too fast haven't done it yet. I assume at 50+ i would want motorcycle parts.
 
41.3 MPH max downhill so far. Bike felt pretty stable, is probably good to about 45, but I would only do that under ideal circumstances. More typical high speeds are about 34-37 MPH, though I sometimes have runs where I barely break 30.

I am on blood thinners, so I wear body armor for every single ride, motocross style in the summer, armored jacket in the winter.

On flat terrain, a good workout is cruising at 16-17 MPH in ECO, max on the flats seems to be about 19.2. I can do that for about 3.5 miles or 13 minutes.
 
I stopped riding fast; I prefer a good workout to "being ridden by the e-bike". I love cruising at 25-30 km/h on my Vado SL with rare situations of riding faster than 30 km/h (my top speed on Vado SL was a little above 40 km/h). With the "speed" Vado, I feel comfortable up to 40 km/h (25 mph) but avoid riding that fast.

Mountain road riding is different, as it is hard to avoid fast descents (and I only select my "big" Vado for the mountain rides, as it was made for speed). Whenever the downhill speed exceeds 45 km/h (28 mph), I become careful. My top speed must have been some 64 km/h (40 mph) but I allowed myself riding that fast on a wide smooth road with minimal traffic.

The worst situation I met was riding downhill on totally cracked asphalt: you cannot avoid riding fast but you cannot ride fast because of the potholes! I applied intermittent braking there to avoid overheating the brakes. When we stopped at the bottom of the hill, I was as stupid as to touch the front brake rotor with my fingers: I actually burned my fingers!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
I stopped riding fast; I prefer a good workout to "being ridden by the e-bike".
Click to expand...
Riding fast in no way negates getting a workout, your simply trying to make an excuse for your lower power Vado SL and human power. If you enjoy riding it, more power to you but dont try to negate the experience of anyone who wants something else. Whats important is that your getting out and enjoying your ebike which allows you to ride alot despite your disabilities.

Most of my rides these days 'average' around 15-17mph for about 25-35 miles and I am 'averaging' 150-200w of human power during my ride (todays ride was 196w average for 2 hours) at 1.5x assist usually at 300w. About 5-8 miles is slow due to pedestrian traffic. On most gravel sections Im at 18-23mph (which are anything but straight since they are following streams) and on nice wide paved bike paths Im usually above 25mph battling a 15mph+ headwind(2.5x to 3.5x assist at 500-1500w) in an aero position which are allowed by my handlebars (origin 8 strongbow).

There are days where I just feel like going slower(13-15mph average) and enjoying the scenery with less assist. Ironically my power output and heartrate is still about the same although slightly lower (10-20W). Just more focused on the experience and less focused on tire traction.

Anything slower than 12mph average and I would rather be on my acoustic bikes which seem to average 10-12mph for less than 20 miles.

Max speed wise, I hit mid 30s pretty much every ride (on and off road), mid 40s(road) a few times a week. Lots of rolling hills in the front range of CO.

Highest ever speed was mid 50s 20 years ago in the hills above Boulder, CO (gotta love the lack or air resistance at 8k ft)

I have burned my fingers (only once) as well when I was silly enough to test my brake rotors with a finger. We all get to do that once
 
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linklemming said:
...

There are days where I just feel like going slower(13-15mph average) and enjoying the scenery with less assist. Ironically my power output and heartrate is still about the same although slightly lower (10-20W). Just more focused on the experience and less focused on tire traction.

Anything slower than 12mph average and I would rather be on my acoustic bikes which seem to average 10-12mph for less than 20 miles.

...
Click to expand...

if you're riding at 200w of human power, other than steep climbs it honestly takes a TON of battery power to make a significant difference in your average speed. double your power, go 5mph faster. physics is a harsh mistress!

my ride profiles are somewhat similar to yours; 200-220w average for 1-6 hours, average speeds in the 15-18mph range depending on the amount of climbing. when i ride my e-bike for fun i use the motor only for big climbs, insane headwinds, or because i've bonked and it really makes fairly little difference in the overall average speed!
 
Like any good driver you adjust your speed to match comditions. The more likely something may suddenely block your path, the slower you go. This has been engrained in me over 40 years of motorcycling. Never been seriously hurt on or in a motor vehicle. Defensive driving!
 
Stefan Mikes said:
The worst situation I met was riding downhill on totally cracked asphalt: you cannot avoid riding fast but you cannot ride fast because of the potholes! I applied intermittent braking there to avoid overheating the brakes. When we stopped at the bottom of the hill, I was as stupid as to touch the front brake rotor with my fingers: I actually burned my fingers!
Click to expand...
I bet you'll never do THAT again though, right? :)

Driving cars at track events I've seen car rotors literally glowing which have a LOT more heat dissipation capabilities (but heat up more due to mass of cars, of course), and people were routinely boiling DOT3 brake fluids, being heated up as it flowed through the calipers, etc.

Have also had claimed 'race pads' - literally disintegrate within a single day - so much for being 'race pads.'

Not my vehicle below but you can Google some fun videos on glowing brake rotors..
2015-Chevy-Corvette-Z06-on-a-track-with-glowing-brakes_o-1024x357.jpg
 
If you ride the brakes on long downhill stretches as opposed to shifting into 2nd gear in a car you can warp the rotors or even suffer catastrophic brake failure. At Pike's Peak they would stop you half way down and use an infrared thermometer on your rotors.
 
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I’m ok going 30MPH, but that is illegal in my area to ride that fast in the bike lane. I’ve limited my motor to 20mph. On downhills, I might reach 23-25mph. Also, bumps are less intense at a slower speed. So my chain doesn’t bump off anymore (even though that has only happened twice in a year).
 
I find my normal cruising speed to be between 15 and 20 mph which certainly gets me places. Seldom use the throttle. My build is well suited for reponsible urban use.
 
tomjasz said:
Riding beyond your braking systems efficiency and panic-stopping distance. Anything less than a quality 4 piston Magura or other high-end hydraulic brakes is just plain not using common sense. Just my personal opinion and rule. YMMV
Click to expand...
I would like to replace the ho hum front brake on my Trek with a high end unit.
 
Pine_marten said:
Like any good driver you adjust your speed to match comditions. The more likely something may suddenely block your path, the slower you go. This has been engrained in me over 40 years of motorcycling. Never been seriously hurt on or in a motor vehicle. Defensive driving!
Click to expand...
Keep riding Mate!
 
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