I am considering buying a 36 for some bike path riding. I currently only ride MUni and with middle of the road abilities I was curious what approx speed I would be able to hold on a flat path with a beginner 36.
I can cruise for as long as I want at 15 KM per hour, and I tend to top out at about 26 on flat.
I have a log book of rides, geared and ungeared (during/before March):
http://www.corbinstreehouse.com/blog/index.php/category/unicycling/logbook/
I include speeds, time, etc.
corbin
Keep in mind, Corbin is in no way average!
But you couldn’t really be called an average rider!
I tend to cruise at about 13mph on the flat, possibly 14 or 15mph for short spurts. I don’t consider myself a quick rider on a 36er - I’ll sit at 13mph forever, but I’m no sprinter. Certainly over 10mph is very easy even for a new 36er rider.
Rob
The slowest maintainable speed (on the road) is probably somewhere around 8.5-9mph. Once you’re rolling, you’ll probably be up around 12-13mph in no time.
After you get comfortable spinning, you should be able to stay somewhere between 13-15.
My average (while enjoying the scenery) on a 20 km track is 18 km/h.
It’s as fast as you pedal it. Beyond that, you have to get more specific. Flat bike path? Tons of traffic with stops? Hills? Bumpy? All will affect your speed. For normal, flat riding, 10mph is a piece of cake for most people. 15 is more of a workout, the fastest speed I can maintain for any extended period (like half an hour if I’m in shape).
I top out at about 26 km/h and can cruise along comfortably at 20 km/h. But I’m pushing on long cranks (165 mm). They’re great for hills but definitely limit my top speed on the flats.
I would definitely be comfortable in the “average rider” classification. Although my nose might not be “average”.
Geoff
I have a cruising speed of around 22km/h. I can max somewhere between 25 and 30km/h
I think that when you start, and are able to actually ride for several km at a time, you’ll pretty easily go 16km/h. With some practice you’ll get that up to 20km/hr without much problem. 25+km/hr for a sustained distance is harder but can be done.
Come on guys, lets keep it to one measurement of speed so there’s not faffing about with conversions!
Does anybody commute or do long rides on a 20"? I only have one unicycle at the moment and can’t afford another. I mainly use it for street and trials but I recently mangled one of my fingers in a fixed gear bike chain, so I’m not able to commute on my bike for a while. I’ve tried a few 1 mile rides and it seems to be taking me around 9-10mins, so I would guess at that being about 6-7Mph average. This does seem pretty slow and I’d like to go faster without pedalling faster then a mosquito on heat. I’m running 127mm cranks and find that if I go any smaller I lose a lot of control. Is the only option to either buy a 24/29/36" unicycle or design a gearing system for my 20"?!
On our Unitours, riders usually average about 16-22kmh/r riding on the flat. Actual average speeds are much slower because of breaks/stops etc.
Check out:
www.induni.adventureunicyclist.com
www.uninam.net
www.lut.adventureunicyclist.com
Probably SINZ and Uninam had the highest cruising speeds.
On the flat, my comfortable cruising is about 24-25km/hr. I can usually wind it up to 28-30km/hr for a few minutes at a time. I can’t sprint so I probably top out at about 33k-35km/hr.
Ken
How can you tell you speed. Do you work it out mathmaticaly or do you use a cycle computer.
Ive searched for a few cycle computers but they only go up to wheel size 28"…no good for a 36"
Thanks in advance
I use this:
Some do go big enough for a 36er - I don’t know which ones though (it depends on the maximum number it lets you put into the size setting - the manual won’t list settings for 36" wheels). I just use two magnets on the wheel and set the computer to half the wheel size.
Rob
I use a Garmin 305 GPS like:
Of course I use it mainly to measure my trail-running routes but it has come in handy on my muni and infrequent 36er road rides, never have had a problem loosing a signal with this version, even under deep forest canopy… I’m not so sure how accurate the real-time speed measurement is but it does very good at measuring distance…
Well for me, it’s a all about the journey, not speed. Having said that, I’ve hit nearly 20 mph on a slight downhill section of the beach bike path, using 114mm cranks. It’s a rush but it’s also scary because there’s no way to run it out if you fall. My comfort zone is between 12-14mph.
I cruise my Nimbus 36 at 8-9 mph, peek speed for me is 10mph. I’m slow.
I also like to go slower, a repeating stop and go. Not sure off hand if it’s half or full turn between stopping the wheel.