Record speed on a bicycle. The fastest speed on a bicycle - world records

Delivered new record speed at . The former achievement remained unmatched since 1995.

A new world bicycle speed record, 295.6 kilometers per hour, was set by American cyclist Denise Mueller-Korenek. The cyclist rode along a route laid along the bottom of the dry salt lake Bonneville in the US state of Utah.

The flat and dense surface without any obstacles is perfect for experimental races, so pilots of ultra-fast cars, motorcycles and other unusual vehicles go to this exotic testing ground.

Here in 1995, the Dutchman Fred Rompelberg set a record listed in the Guinness Book of 268.831 kilometers per hour. Since the headwind creates a lot of resistance to movement, the athlete was in tow behind a streamlined dragster (a car capable of developing fast speed on straight roads). The car cut through the air in front of the cyclist - and accelerated her to 241.402 km/h. After this acceleration, the bike separated from the car and Denis continued to accelerate on her own.

For women, the record high cycling speed was 237.7 kilometers per hour, also achieved by Müller-Korenek in 2016. Denis did not stop training, planning to beat Rompelberg’s achievement, and she succeeded on September 16.

Her bike was made of lightweight carbon fiber, had a two-speed gearbox and special wheels, similar to motorcycle ones: they provide stability and allow you to travel up to 40 meters in one pedal stroke.

Team Denis broadcast the record live, including stunning footage from the rear of the dragster. The recording shows how the cyclist begins to pedal with the help of towing, and then releases the holder and continues moving independently:

The crossbar in the body of the dragster allows you to press against it as much as possible, leaving free space for the rotation of the front wheel. After reaching the set speed, Denis straightens up, allowing the oncoming air to slow down his movement.

Denis began her career as a cyclist with adolescence. Before leaving professional sports, she won 13 national championships and two world championships.

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Since the invention of this type of transport, the question has been: what is the highest speed a bicycle can achieve? Of course, progress does not stand still and modern models cannot be compared with the first copies. Taking into account the specifics of bikes, experts separate records for each type separately.

World records

Records are being recorded:

• on flat tracks;
• on the mountain slopes(here there is a subdivision for descent on an icy and rocky surface);
• cross-country And.

This division is not accidental, because different races have their own design, which takes into account the specifics of movement, the load on the vehicle, and the rider.

Even 100 years ago, records began to be set on a bicycle in a straight line, which went down in history:

At highway speed

Worth knowing! A bicycle designed for road race, does not have a front or rear wing, it is lightweight. To increase speed, racers use the car ahead, which creates an area of ​​low pressure.

In 1995, another record was set by the Dutchman Fred Rompelberg on the salt lake plain. He moved on a perfectly flat surface, on a bike specially built for such an occasion and in... Its speed is 268.8 km/h.

The record was set when the athlete turned 50 years old. True, he took advantage of the car in front, the model had an increased gear ratio, and a special gear was installed on the rear sprocket. The combination of all components made it possible to develop unprecedented speed.

On the descents from the mountains

– this is the name of bicycles, the design of which allows you to easily move through mountainous terrain, heavier than their road counterpart.

The record holder in the winter descent from the mountain is Eric Barone. He is often referred to as the "Red Baron" because of the red uniform he always wears on the slopes.

The record set by Barone in 2000 is 223 km/h. This result was shown in the Alps in clear weather, with optimal aerodynamics of the bike and the athlete’s equipment thought out to the smallest detail.

Important! When preparing for a record, everything is taken into account - from the weight of the bike to the streamlining and highly aerodynamic position of the rider’s body.

When setting this type of record, it is necessary to take into account that in this option it is impossible to use the car in front, which increases the speed. Against. The airflow resistance increases, the vibration of the bike increases and a huge amount of effort is required to hold the bike.

In the gravel race, an honorable third place also belongs to this athlete. In 2002, he traveled only 400 meters along the Sierra Negro slope. Due to the heavy load, the bicycle was torn in half. Barone received numerous fractures, but he managed to accelerate to 210.4 kilometers per hour. Later, Markus Steckl tried to break this record, but to no avail.

Other records

The following world achievements in cycling:

1. The current hour record of 49.7 km/h was set by Ondrej Sosenka, a 30-year-old athlete from the Italian team. This happened at the velodrome in Krylatskoye in 2005. The bike had a high saddle, had one speed and a fixed gear.
2. In 1994, in Las Vegas, Peter Rosenthal accelerated to 29.7 km/h. He covered a sprint distance of one hundred meters in 12.1 seconds.
3. Sebastian Bowyer turned his bicycle into a real cocoon, from which the wheels were barely visible. The ideal streamlined shape made it possible to reach a straight line speed of 134 km/h.
4. François Gisi installed a jet engine on his bike in 2014 and challenged none other than Ferrari. It accelerated to 333 km/h in 4.5 seconds. It was a victory. Today this indicator is considered the most high speed, developed on a bicycle.

You can watch the video of the Zhixi race here.

To increase the speed, a simple cyclist needs:

1. Reduce bike weight. This is achieved by removing the wings above the wheels and other unnecessary parts in it.
2. at such a level that the position of the human body is as streamlined as possible.
3. Ensure steering angle is tilted so that the rider’s muscles experience the least amount of stress and get tired later.
4. Increase gear ratio.
5. Professional racers use bikes made of special lightweight and durable alloys. They are expensive, but if you want, you can get such a bike.

There is no doubt that the athletes will make every effort to ensure that the records do not stand. Such vain desires move progress forward and force us to look for unexpected solutions.

Improvement of this popular method of transportation continues. Underwater models have appeared, although not many people can judge how convenient they are for travel.

American Denise Muller-Korenek set a world speed record on a bicycle, accelerating to 183.9 miles per hour (295.6 kilometers per hour). The race took place on a track located at the bottom of the dry salt lake Bonneville in the American state of Utah. Its smooth salt surface reduces friction, so various car races are regularly held on it to establish maximum speed.

The bike of 45-year-old Mueller-Korenek, a former U.S. mountain biking and track cycling champion, was attached to a dragster that propelled it to speeds of 150 mph. After this, the cables were unfastened, and Müller-Korenek accelerated independently for five kilometers.

Müller-Korenek set the record on a special custom bicycle: it was made of lightweight carbon materials and equipped with special gears used on motorcycles - they ensured stability at high speeds and allowed her to travel up to 40 meters in one pedal stroke.

The previous world record belonged to the Dutchman Fred Rompelberg: in 1995 he reached a speed of 268.7 kilometers per hour. The record among women was previously set by Müller-Korenek herself: in 2016, she accelerated to 237.7 kilometers per hour. Both times she planned to block Rompelberg's achievement; It failed on the first try due to technical problems.

Many people wonder what maximum speed bicycle ever achieved? Despite the seemingly direct question, it is quite difficult to answer. Do you mean the speed of the bike on a straight section of the road? Or can we also take into account options related to free descent? Should you create an artificial reduction in air resistance in advance, or leave the rider to fight the wind? Let's try to answer these questions.

Let's say right away that an untrained person who is “not in a hurry” can move in city traffic at a speed of about 12-15 km/h, if you take into account both ascents and descents. It is this range of values ​​​​that should be taken as the average speed of the bicycle.

If the cyclist is more or less trained, “some conveniences” have been created for the movement, such as toe clips, allowing the use muscle strength not only when pressing the pedal with your foot, but also when pulling the pedal up. If the bicycle is equipped with good gear shifts and, most importantly, good brakes, then in such cases the cyclist is able to “moose”, that is, move at a speed of about 30 km/h for a long time.

If a trained person switches to a lightweight road bike, (if you remove the front and rear wings, for example), then on a flat section of the highway you can accelerate to 40 km/h and maintain this speed for several minutes.

There is even a world record for maintaining speed. In the summer of 2005, on the famous cycling track in Krylatskoye, the Czech O. Sosenka kept his bicycle speed for 1 hour (an hour-long men's race) at least 49.7 km/h. He probably held 50, but just barely held it. His bike had only one gear and a very high saddle. By wear physical strength this record is very difficult.

On mountain passes, if there are good roads in that place, for example, at the Seminsky Pass, in the Altai Mountains, you can comfortably maintain a speed of up to 60-70 km/h on a 9 km long descent, even in the case of fairly heavy mountain bikes. Apparently, these values ​​​​should be taken as the maximum speed on a bicycle for ordinary amateurs.

Records

If we talk about world records, the absolute world speed record on a bicycle was set relatively long ago - in 1995 it was 268.8 km/h, more than a quarter of a thousand km/h!

Its author was Fred Rompelberg, a resident of the Netherlands. This victory can be considered very valuable, because the cyclist turned 50 this year. The track for setting the record was located in the USA, in the state of Utah - a perfectly flat surface of an ancient salt lake called the Bonneville Plain.

Naturally, the bicycle was not simple, but specially equipped, with a special, significantly increased gear ratio and a special transmission system to the rear sprocket. In addition, in front of the cyclist, naturally, as with many other records, a special car was moving, creating a zone of low pressure behind it.

The following picture shows the hero himself, as well as the process of riding behind the “leader”

The highest riding speed recorded on a bicycle descent is also divided into two - if we take into account the ice surface and the dirt surface separately.

IN downhill on a winter track, on a mountain bike, with all the bells and whistles, namely the excellent aerodynamics of a piece bike, aerodynamic cycling equipment, the record is firmly held by Eric Baron. In the Alps (by the way, on Cosmonautics Day, April 12, 2000) he accelerated to a speed of 222 km/h.

This record was less than absolute, despite the fact that the bike was going downhill. But we must remember that air resistance was increasing, and vibration was also increasing, worsening the stability of the bicycle.

It was the vibration that almost led to the sad outcome of the attempt of the same Eric Baron to set a world record in downhill on a gravel track. 2 years later, on the Sierra Negro slope, he still took third place, after his own second, “driving” 400 meters down the gravel.

It’s not for nothing that the word “passing” is put in quotation marks, since it was real hell: at the end of this period, the highest speed was 210.4 km/h, and the bike was simply torn apart, despite all the precautions. If it weren’t for competent cyclist protection and a high-quality helmet, Baron would not have been able to accept congratulations, even in the hospital.

A few more records

Bicycle with jet engine at the airport accelerated to a speed of 263 km/h. This experiment was carried out by specialists from the Swiss company Exotic Thermo Engeneering. The engine ran on hydrogen peroxide, and the dashing extreme sportsman Francois Gissy drove this bike. This, of course, is a very high speed, but the principle of movement using muscular power was not preserved.

If you keep the principle of human muscular power, and not an extraneous source of energy, but slightly change the design from a classic landing to one, then you can accelerate to 133 km/h on a 200 m section of road. This is exactly the speed that the Dutchman Sebastian Bowyer was able to achieve. He moved lying down in a special aerodynamically configured capsule made of carbon fiber. In order to reach such a speed on a given section, he had to accelerate about 8 km!

In conclusion, I would like to say that in the world of sports records dedicated to cycling, there can always be room for your dream to come true, unless, of course, you stop “reinventing the wheel”

It is rightfully considered one of the most convenient, simple, environmentally friendly and quick remedies movement. Since about the same time, numerous enthusiasts have been trying to determine what the average and maximum speed of two-wheeled horses is. Let's try to understand this issue too.

Average speeds

The speed of movement on a bicycle depends on many factors: from physical training, road surface, wind, conditions. For example, in a busy city you can drive with average speed 10-15 kilometers per hour solely due to the abundance of obstacles, traffic lights and reasonable restrictions.

On a flat road, a trained (but not athlete) man can reach speed 30-50 kilometers per hour. At the same time, on the way up the mountain the pace will drop to 30 km/h and below, and on the descent it will increase. up to 60 km/h.

On average, mountain bikers on downhill in pits and bumps accelerate to 50 kilometers per hour. Participants of the Tour de France “squeeze out” the same speed on the flat sections of the route. On cycling tracks, athletes accelerate on average to 90-100 km/h.

Records

The recorded world speed record for a bicycle is 268 kilometers per hour. It was installed in 1995 by 50-year-old Fred Rompelberg, originally from the Netherlands. To achieve such an impressive result, the cyclist chose the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah (USA), whose thin air provided less resistance when moving. Another assistant to the record holder was an air bell from the racing car in front. Excellent preparation and accurate calculations are the key to maximum cycling speed.

Downhill world record in 212 kilometers per hour installed in the same 1995 by the Frenchman Christian Taillefer. The surface was a well-worn ice ski slope in France. A special flat futuristic frame with a flat handlebar, an integrated saddle and a speed-reducing fork helped reduce air resistance.

For mountain bike the speed record is 130 kilometers per hour. It was also installed by a Frenchman, Eric Baron, on the slopes of an extinct volcano in Nicaragua.

The speed and endurance record was set by the athlete Francesco Moser. In 1984 he was able maintain a speed of 50 km/h for an hour without slowing down for a second. To this day, the record is considered the height of human capabilities.

What speed do you accelerate to on your bike?