How fast mountain bike

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Sep 27, Cheapest Road Bike Upgrade. Sep 22, Excess Coffee Consumption. Sep 20, Sources: E. This mtb race took place on a hard dirt trail. The majority of the time the path was flat. Sometimes there was grass on the trail. The average speed was The fastest the riders rode was There really was not a slowest speed as they were able to keep up their tempo throughout the race. Only sometimes did the pace dip lower to around Generally the average speed difference is a road bike goes 5 to 10 mph faster than a mountain bike on a flat surface.

Some reasons why are, the road bike weighs less, and there is less roll resistance because the tires are thinner and have more pressure.

You can go a longer distances faster with less effort on a road bike. Plus as you ride the body position is more aerodynamic. It is easier to lean your torso forward and position your elbows at a 90 degree angle. Going downhill a mountain bike can go 31 to 37mph whereas a road bike can go 43 to 49mph which is a difference averaging around These rates depend a lot on how steep the hill is.

Both bikes can go faster on a very steep hill. In short yes, because the fitness of the rider does make a difference. If a mountain biker has trained well he can keep pace with the average speed of the road biker even though he may have to work harder at it. If the road bikers FTP, functional threshold power is not as good as the mountain bikers then the mountain biker can even pass by the road biker on road.

But it will not work in reverse because a road bike is just not made for off road and therefore will not match a mountain bikers average pace. You should quickly start to feel more in control and, as such, be less aware of your speed. The more you do this, the more comfortable you will feel, and the better you feel, the happier you will be to let the bike accelerate. Bearing in mind that the brain controls the body and emotions can control the brain, keeping emotional control is key.

That said, there are certain physical skills that when applied will help us maintain better physical control of the bike and thus our emotional control.

What physical skills do we need to develop in order to carry speed? As we go faster, we are subject to greater force. Bigger inputs in higher frequency require us to simply do more of the good stuff that actually we should be doing all the time. Don't only think about these elements when you get to the edge of control - practice on applying them all the time. Looking - we refer to it time and time again. Sorry to be repetitive, but the importance of looking up and through sections doesn't change from ride to ride.

See the article 'Re:vision' in an earlier issue. Don't beat yourself up if you momentarily look down, but try and reduce the 'dwell time'. If you approach looking through sections to the exit point - even if you do look down, you still have a point of reference to look back up to and through, once you have raised your eye-line. Footwork - our primary point of contact with the bike and through which we drive a lot of the energy.

Remember, we want that energy to be delivered down and through the bike, not push us as the rider up and forward. It is easy when trying to create speed to push a higher gear, yet pedalling hard in a high gear it is easy for the toes to drop. This can lead to the rider getting too forward of the centre line from where the inputs from the trail can push us up and forward, accelerating you as the rider but not the bike.

Remember as heels and wrists drop the bike accelerates, as your toes drop you accelerate but the bike doesn't at least not as quickly. Body Position - with your heels set and sat in the pocket just behind the centre line of your bike it is easy to keep your lower body where you want it.

Don't forget the upper body, though. This recovery takes some time and effort and creates a 'time spike'. A little push here or there may not feel too debilitating, but they all add up and cost you time. Mentally you have dropped down what we call the 'concentration ladder' and physically you have just added to the number of things you have to do to the list.

The combination of the physical and mental 'stall' is a loss of speed. Even if the bike has not slowed as a result, you may feel the need to grab a little bit of brake just to buy you some time to deal with what is now occurring and regain mental control. Controlling both upper and lower body position, and not allowing yourself to get pushed, is key to carrying speed. Energy Management - the best way to deal with the terrain and avoid getting pushed is by developing your energy management skills - pumping to create speed or lift or both and opening up the levers of the heels and wrists so that you can better deal with inputs from the trail is key.

Watch a top rider over the most aggressive terrain and if things are going well, their upper body and head are steady even if their legs and arms are working hard. Absorbing some inputs by softening up, and driving into and through the bike to stop it slowing for others. Setting ourselves up early prior to the entry point and applying the physical skills needed to get us through the section more unconsciously allows us to focus on what is next beyond the exit.

The more quickly we see things and the more prepared we are, then the more we are ready for what follows. Staying mentally ahead of the bike and thinking through sections will keep us relaxed and thus less aware of the speed we are going. Dealing with performance cues early will reduce the desire to slow the bike down. Speed Control - remember there are three aspects to this: slow down, ease off, speed up.

To carry speed right through a section, it is important to set our entry speed. Go in too hot and brake mid-section and your exit speed will be down. Set your speed prior to entry and accelerate through and you will be less likely to over slow before the entry or feel the need to decelerate in the section. Slower in may well mean faster out. It is also well worth thinking about how we assess our ability to be able to ride a section.

Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group. Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. How do on-road mountain bike speeds translate to road bike speeds? Ask Question. Asked 11 years, 1 month ago. Active 10 months ago. Viewed k times. What sort of speeds can I expect to get on a road bike?

Improve this question. Goodbye Stack Exchange I think this is a slightly different question - it seems to be "If I can go X mph on bike A, and switch to bike B, what will my speed be? As Gary. Ray points out, you seem to be asking how to estimate your road bike speed based on your mountain bike speed, but many answers seem to ignore this. Admittedly your title seemed to me to make it pretty clear, but I wonder if you might not emphasise this in the body of the question as well.

Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Typically, I tell people to try three things first : Swap out your knobby tires for high pressure slicks. You can find 1. These will dramatically reduce rolling resistance. If you have a suspension either lock it out, or set it as stiff as you can. Locking out your suspension will cause more of your effort to be transferred directly through the drive-train and translate into less loss of momentum from shock absorption.

Try clipless pedals. Your pedal stroke will be more efficient, again resulting in an increase in speed. Improve this answer. Ray I would also add that in a road bike I find that you can put power into the pedals easier than on a mountain or especially a cruiser bike. I suspect the difference is even greater for someone in good physical shape. My touring bike, unloaded, is about 25lb and has 26x2. Don't underestimate the effects of weight, stiffness, and rolling resistance. This answer ignores the primary difference between a road bike and a mountain bike.

That's fine, for commutes or solo rides, but not so good if you ride with someone who's on a road bike while you're on a mountain bike. The difference is gear ratio. Standard 53 x 12 is about 32 mph. I first read your post and was like "clipless pedals", huh? But then I came across this article which explains why they're called "clipless" when they do actually clip in One minor difference is the rider position.

Most road bikes have drop bars so the rider is crouched over vs sitting somewhat upright. You can add drop bars to your mountain bike to help with that.