British and Commonwealth
Bicycle Speed Record

Current record: 110 mph
Record holder: Dave Le Grys
Nationality: British

Record set: 1986

The Challenge

‘100 mph on a pushbike? Surely not!’

IKE most people, I started riding a bike when I was still a kid.

I had a Raleigh Chopper and a Raleigh Mustang before I started

moving on to really serious stuff like the Whyte 46 mountain bike

or the Cotic that I use every day. That’s what I call a proper bike. It goes

pretty much everywhere with me and I ride it to work. I can easily get up

to 30 mph on a normal road – a lot faster on a downhill stretch – and

keeping up with traffic is never a problem. So when they told me that

I was going to get the chance to ride a fast pushbike, I thought, ‘All right –

but I do that every day.’

L

Then they told me that I was going to ride a pushbike at over 100 mph,

and my ears pricked up. Was that really possible? On a racing motorbike

at the Isle of Man TT we can average 130 mph round the course, which

means hitting over 180 mph at times, but that’s with a race-tuned engine

screaming away beneath you. With only pedal power to rely on, can you

get to 100 mph, or more? This is on the flat, remember, not downhill with

gravity lending you a helping hand. 100 mph on a pushbike? Surely not!

◄ 10 ^MPH Average road speed

◄ 30 ^MPH Guy’s road speed

110 ^MPH BrItIsh and Commonwealth speed record ►

◄ 60 ^MPH Guy’s top downhIll speed

167.4 ^MPH World speed record

◄ 1 ^MPH

THE CHALLENGE    13