# Why won't my road bike do 100 mph?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-road-bike-do-100-mph/73579>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 24, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-road-bike-do-100-mph/73579 "2001-07-24T01:23:39Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![douglips](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@douglips](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/douglips)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-road-bike-do-100-mph/73579/21 "2001-07-25T05:44:53Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by waterj2 \*  
> **Track bikes also have the “no coasting” setup. Originally intended for indoor races on tracks, these are often used by bike messengers. I’ve read that the method of stopping them involves lifting the rear wheel and stopping pedalling. This is obviously rather harsh on the knees. From what I understand, about half of all bike messengers use track bikes.**

No need to do something as radical as stopping the rear wheel and destroying your tire every time you want to stop. All you need to do is put a brake on the front wheel - that’s the wheel that does most of the stopping anyway. Then, just resisting the pedals works to slow the rear tire without skidding.

Also, a minor quibble - I wouldn’t say that track bikes were originally intended for indoor races on tracks. The first bicycles, designed for riding on “roads” (such as they were) as transportation were fixed gears. The first several Tours de France were done on fixed gear bikes (see [Bicyclopedia entry: Tour de France](http://my.voyager.net/~olderr/bcwebsite/text/t/Tour%20de%20France.html), under “equipment”.)

I’d characterize the use of the track for these bikes as a way to a) maintain the older fixed gear racing and b) concentrate the racing for spectators. After all, there is no technical reason one couldn’t use a freewheel and derailleurs on a track - while I don’t have a cite I believe the reason why track bikes are still fixed gears is simply tradition.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Briminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba9def/32.png) [@Briminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briminator)\
**Post date:** [July 25, 2001, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-road-bike-do-100-mph/73579/22 "2001-07-25T16:07:37Z")

</div>

I’d characterize the use of the track for these bikes as a way to a) maintain the older fixed gear racing and b)  
concentrate the racing for spectators. After all, there is no technical reason one couldn’t use a freewheel and  
derailleurs on a track - while I don’t have a cite I believe the reason why track bikes are still fixed gears is simply  
tradition.

Track bikes are direct drive bikes, track racing is not done to preserve tradition it’s a seperate class of biking, you cannot just go from pro-road racing (cat-1-road) and attempt to do a pro-track race (cat-1-track). The reason why you don’t use a freewheel, brakes, and derailleurs is a matter of weight, track bikes are incredibley light. There are many types of track racing, team, single, tandem, etc…

As to ruining the tires when you stop, that only happens to rookie riders who don’t know what they are doing. If you have experience you can either slow down by under pedaling, or you can skip the tire.

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-wont-my-road-bike-do-100-mph/73579.md?page=1)