# Highest cadence



## Pottsy (24 Aug 2007)

I've only been riding fixed for about a year and my highest cadence is creeping up slowly, currently about 150rpm.

I've heard some can reach 200rpm but I feel certain my legs would detach at the hips and beat me death at that speed.

I'm interested to hear how high others have gone and any tips for getting faster.


----------



## Pottsy (24 Aug 2007)

Oh, I used this to work it out by the way as I don't have cadence on my bike computer but I do have speed:

http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/ecadence.htm


----------



## domtyler (24 Aug 2007)

Yeah it looks like i'll be around the 150 rpm mark as well going by that calculator. 200 rpm must be going some.


----------



## Keith Oates (24 Aug 2007)

I've not seen that one before Pottsy, will need to save it for other occasions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Pottsy (24 Aug 2007)

I'm going to start a league table. 

1= Pottsy 150rpm
1= domtyler 150rpm


----------



## yello (24 Aug 2007)

200 seems in the realms of the impossible to me! Even 150 is going some. I think I've peaked around 135 but, to be honest, I like to keep my cadence on fixed around the same as on gears, i.e. 80 - 100, though obviously circumstances dictate that will be more variable on fixed.


----------



## Pottsy (24 Aug 2007)

Yeah yeah, excuses excuses, you're last. 

1= Pottsy 150rpm
1= domtyler 150rpm
3 yello 135rpm

This is a good way to get my post count up.


----------



## Canrider (24 Aug 2007)

I start to wobble around 120-130. I think it smooths out above that, but the one time I may have gone over I was more focused on not crashing than working out my cadence!


----------



## piedwagtail91 (24 Aug 2007)

1've had over 180 on a long downhill. others in the club who regularly rode the track have had over 200. i use dthe same calculator in the link above.
you can get crazy amounts of revs. if you work out how many you do over a certain distance. but thats another thread


----------



## domtyler (24 Aug 2007)

150 is not too difficult, I can even approach that on a long stretch of flat, downhill I feel I could top it with a decent tail wind but I do start to get out of breath quite quickly pedalling that fast. 

Overcoming the wobbling is easy when you know how, you just have to keep trying to accelerate basically and it smooths everything out.


----------



## Chuffy (24 Aug 2007)

Not fixed, but over 100 is a challenge on my SS.


----------



## Pottsy (24 Aug 2007)

I'm sure it is. You need the momentum of the bike pushing your legs around to really get spinning fast i.e. fixed and on a descent.

1 piedwagtail91 180rpm
2= Pottsy 150rpm
2= domtyler 150rpm
4 yello 135rpm


----------



## xroads (24 Aug 2007)

35mph downhill on my 48x18 27" fixed works out to a cadence of about 160rpm. Dont want to be doing that again on my suicide hub.


----------



## Mr Phoebus (25 Aug 2007)

Just checked my bike computer, highest speed 39.7.
That'll be the other week going down Maxstoke Lane overtaking all the gearies.

52x18/ 78" according to that site that's 182 rpm.
I didn't even know I was turning that high, so I'm all chuffed now.


----------



## Pottsy (29 Aug 2007)

I've now just managed 168rpm (32mph on 48x19), last night in Richmond Park, and then only touched that very briefly. I'm finding hard to comprehend 200rpm even more so now!!

Good effort on 182rpm Mr Phoebus.


----------



## BentMikey (29 Aug 2007)

182rpm here, just confirmed as 185 using that calculator. It probably helps that I'm skinny and was a spinner to start with. There are plenty who spin faster than me though, I don't think 182 is particularly high. Fixedwheelnut has managed 199rpm.


----------



## Mr Phoebus (29 Aug 2007)

BentMikey said:


> I don't think 182 is particularly high.



It bloody well is when you weigh 95 kgs....It's like a runaway freight train!!!


----------



## zimzum42 (29 Aug 2007)

I took the 'puter off, but I know I do well over 30 at times, so I might be able to get up there.......


----------



## BentMikey (31 Aug 2007)

Mr Phoebus said:


> It bloody well is when you weigh 95 kgs....It's like a runaway freight train!!!



You're right, I've no experience there since I weigh 68kg.


----------



## andrew_s (3 Sep 2007)

My best is around 195 (37mph on 65"). 
It seems to work best if you try to accelerate into the bottom of a dip so you can slow down quickly if it starts to go pear shaped.
Down a moderate hill I can keep 160rpm/30mph up for the best part of a mile, and I've also done 160-ish on the flat when I'd tagged onto an Evesham Wheelers club ride and they started sprinting for signs.

I did once try keeping up with the pedals going down a steepish hill (with an arrow on it), and shan't be trying that again. 
If you aren't actively pedalling forwards the back wheel keeps lifting and skidding when it comes back down, if you are you go faster which isn't a good idea when you are at your limit, if you try braking the back wheel unweights and bounces around even more. 
Fortunately the bottom of the hill arrived before I'd come off.


----------



## Ravenbait (6 Sep 2007)

I've done 182 on fixed, 168 on SS. Got cadence computers on mine.

Sam


----------



## Fixedwheelnut (8 Sep 2007)

BentMikey said:


> 182rpm here, just confirmed as 185 using that calculator. It probably helps that I'm skinny and was a spinner to start with. There are plenty who spin faster than me though, I don't think 182 is particularly high. Fixedwheelnut has managed 199rpm.



 Hi Mike, I've hit 199rpm once and 198rpm several times but conditions have to be right a mix of legs feeling loose, a smooth straight downhill preferably one that dips out and rises again as Andrew S said.
Usually it is around 170-180 down the hill on my commute to work.

Tips for spinning apart from the above conditions are to grip the bars firmly but not tight, relax your hips and concentrate on moving your feet in circles out of the way of the pedals, actively push the pedals round to accelerate into the dip of a hill.
I do find there is almost a harmonic effect of the legs going up and down that things get wobbly around 140-150 then smooth out again until 170+ where the back of the bike gets skittish and twitches around a bit.


----------



## GrahamG (9 Sep 2007)

184 is my max - the irony was that it was a 'late at night just fine tuning set and saddle height' quick run up the road, cold out and in the dark. I've got a great little hill with a (very quiet) roundabout after a dip before another hill - short run with the slow down after, superb!

Not done more than 170 in real world (other random hills!) riding.


----------



## TheDoctor (1 Oct 2007)

I've seen a shade over 220 on an exercise bike at the gym (warming up for a spin class) but I couldn't do that on a real bike. It was all over the place!


----------



## Fixedwheelnut (23 Oct 2007)

I didn't write down yesterdays mileage until this morning and saw a max speed of 41mph, I knew that would be over 200rpm and the max rpm function was just flashing 04 [it's max reading is 199]

I've been waiting all day to get home and work it out on gear calc. 

46 x 18 on 23c tyres = 67.26" gear @ 41mph =205 rpm


"Oh yes










rpm"


I was coming home down Stonehouse Lane from Halstead it gets to its steepest near the bottom and I was racing two others to the bottom and just really went for it, I knew it was 190plus but never imagined I'd cracked two hundred 

I am chuffed


----------



## bonj2 (23 Oct 2007)




----------



## Blonde (23 Oct 2007)

Dunno - No cadence sensor, so I've no idea, but I've never 'maxxed out' or felt like the pedals were turning too fast for me to keep up - not yet anyway, but I haven't yet done any silly hills on it either! I've managed 31mph, briefly (you never get above that on my commute, there's too much stopping and starting and traffic queues) but I ride 72 inch gear, so I guess that's not particularly fast spinning - 154 according to that cadence calculator.


----------



## yello (19 Dec 2007)

Hit 157 today. I had a long, straight and wide downhill that then went into a climb - so I figured it was on. Basically I tried to drive the bike, accelerating ahead of the spin. It was surprisingly comfortable. Someone said that it smooths out after 130 odd... and it did for me.


----------



## BringMeMyFix (27 Dec 2007)

269rpm on turbo trainer in 39x23 with as little resistance as possible.

217rpm on the road, same gear.

Nudged over 200rpm on fixed a few times, same as Fixedwheelnut.

Averaged about 215rpm for 20 seconds in a roller competition - but still only came second ;(

Fast twitch fibres run (ride?) in the family


----------



## bianco (27 Dec 2007)

According to that calc I've done 221 rpm, 35 mph on a 42 x 15


----------



## andrew_s (27 Dec 2007)

35mph = 56.3kph = 938 metres per min
at 221 rpm => 4.25 m per pedal rev
on 42x15 => 4.25 x 15 /42 m = 1.5m per wheel rev 

so your wheel is 48cm in diameter - 20x1.5"?

If you are using 700c, something's gone wrong somewhere. 35mph on 42x15 should be more like 160rpm (25mm tyres)


----------



## Fixedwheelnut (27 Dec 2007)

There is a free calculator you can download here
http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/

it takes into account tyre size aswell 

or go to google;


> Hello, I am Bruce link=topic=27141.msg360227#msg360227 date=1168259616]
> I was playing with Google's Calculator, and came up with a formula for calculating cadence that I thought I'd share.
> 
> Just go to www.google.co.uk and type in
> ...


----------



## andrew_s (31 Dec 2007)

The google method is better, as so long as you give it the same circumference figure as you used to calibrate your cycle computer it doesn't matter how accurate it is.


----------



## simon l& and a half (1 Jan 2008)

as one who has witnessed FixedWheelNut pedalling at 198 and 199 I have to say that it takes some believing. His entire body oscillates. His legs, well, forget it, they're just a blur. It's actually a little frightening. One imagines bits flying off in all directions - and he's not a small man, so some of those bits could do some damage.

I just follow behind, freewheeling...


----------



## Fixedwheelnut (1 Jan 2008)

simon l& and a half said:


> as one who has witnessed FixedWheelNut pedalling at 198 and 199 I have to say that it takes some believing. His entire body oscillates. His legs, well, forget it, they're just a blur. It's actually a little frightening. One imagines bits flying off in all directions - and he's not a small man, so some of those bits could do some damage.
> 
> I just follow behind, freewheeling...


 LMAO 

Hiya Simon


----------

