Average commuting speeds

What would you say is a decent average commuting speed for towpaths and roads?
I’ve done it on a nobbly tyred hardtail with 140mm on the front but felt I get a decent average at 14mph

Through central London I average 15mph on a 42:16 SS hipster wagon

About 12mph on Edinbugh roads.

14mph sounds quite decent!

Do you have many red lights/city traffic/hills on your commute?

Used to avg 16mph on a cx bike over my 8 mile city commute, never timed it on my mtb, but guessing no where near 14mph.

I’m not boasting – I was just quite pleased with it. Half is on a canal towpath, half on dual carriageways/cycle paths, a little bit in the woods

the chilterns, pot holed country lanes, 15mph on the 48:18 700cSS – one big (up and down) hill each way.

14mph from a hardtail on what sounds like a fairly level but a bit of a disjointed route is pretty good i think

cool – I’ll not go busting a gut then to go faster (unless on the bits around Tinsley and down attercliffe I get chased) 8)

Copmputer is reading 13.1mph average for the last 80-odd miles of commuting I’ve done, but I tend to go faster in the morning and poolte round the shops on the way home. IIRC I ised to get about 17-18 mph on a faster road/hybrid bike a few years ago. Currently I’m on a Carerra Subway with rack, panniers etc. 🙂

My commute is just under 5 miles, reasonably flat A roads all the way (but with a few traffic lights) and I probably average around 14mph on my 456 with 150mm forks (never bother locking them out) and knobbly tyres.

Did it with an average of 17mph a couple of weeks ago, got extremely lucky with red light/traffic and just seemed to fly home!

Roadie SS, 17.5 miles each way, usually takes about an hour on the way in, a bit longer on the way home cos it’s more uphill.
Total average for the 34 mile round trip is usually about 16.8mph

If I do the off-road route on my CX it’s a fraction shorter (by about 3/4 mile) but takes 1hr 20. Mostly towpaths, some woodland, some road.

When I test-rode my commute of 7.5 miles, I got here in 25 minutes so about 14 mph? Probably a bit quicker now as that was when my legs weren’t used to 48-16!

damn – just double checked and it’s droppped to 13mph average grr

My commute is just under 12.5 miles if I choose to cycle & it’s fairly flat with a bit of a kick-up as I get near to work and so I get a nice downhill on the way back.
Depending on energy levels, mood, tiredness, wind etc. I average between about 15.5 and 17.7mph. I think the faster speeds are normally tail wind assisted, as I am not particularly fit!

This is on an Inbred with a set of ‘commuting wheels’ with Schwalbe City Jets fitted.
The route is A & B roads and there aren’t many stopping or slowing points; perhaps 4 roundabouts and 1 road crossing so I can keep moving pretty well.

13-14 on the way to work, 10-12 on the way home.

All depends on your trip i guess. My old central London commute of 6 miles was busy but mostly wider flatter roads and bus lanes. I usually averaged about 18mph on the way there and more like 16mph on the way home, even accounting for occasional red lights. That was just on a roadyfied MTB. Averaged 20mph once when i used my road bike. If i’d had a different route it would no doubt have brought my average way down. A fitter rider than me would easily have cracked 20mph most days.

depends on the terrain.
14mph on my road bike anywhere around the hilly bits of Sheffield. (5 significant hills on my commute)
If you are doing 14mph commuting in Sheffield on an MTB you are either fitter than me or have found a flat bit! 😀

About 12mph overall (don’t have a computer so can’t do a “moving speed”) on my London commute, on a Brompton. But I do stop for traffic lights.

15 miles [each way] moderatley hilly 17 ish average but no real hold ups
13 mph on towapth on SS with 4 miles on road.

Average is 13 to 14 mph on my hardtail with Schwalbe Kojaks fitted but is pretty much dependant on the red lights, I guess the actual moving average is closer to 20mph. Looking at endomondo, the sections of my commute with no lights I can get under three minutes for a mile.

8 miles, 45mins.

11mph average.

i’d be lots quicker if i didn’t /red lights/traffic/pedestrians in the way.

or maybe i wouldn’t…? – i should try it early on sunday to find out…

Since going SS (5 years ago) I havent fixed my cycle computer back on, because there’s only a certain speed that my legs can go (and I dont want to dissapoint myself knowing I’m only averaging 8 mph). However, I did buy one of the cheap heart rate monitors from Aldi recently and have great fun trying to constantly up my max BPM.

8 miles, 35mins so ~13.5mph. That’s on a Soul with 150mm on the front and 2.5″ High Rollers 😈

On the way back though I often try to wheelie / manual the whole way, which takes more like an hour 😛

16-18mph on the way in (v.early so little traffic), 13-15mph on the way home (recovering from a cold so shorter route through town and school run / rush hour traffic in the afternoons).

That’s 30-50 miles daily in the hilly Sussex Weald on my Airnimal running 24″ wheels clad in Schwalbe Durano / Stelvios. Was faster in the summer months when it was dryer and lighter in the mornings.

Garmin + Ascent software = much logging geekery. I’ve two years + of daily commutes data…

shortest most direct route with lots of traffic lights etc then about 14 mph, longer route with less stops then about 17mph…both end up taking me about the same time to get into work so i usually just go the longer one as it is more pleasant

this is all confirming what I’ve always thought; I’m very average 😀

17 miles each way. Half through urban/suburban route (so plenty of lights, etc.). Half through rural area, with minimal dispruption. Used to average around 19, but I’m unfit now so it’s dropped to 16-17 av.

about 10-12mph depending on what tyres are fitted.
i weigh 22.5 stone though, so i do slow down a fair bit on hills.

My commute is a measly 3.5 miles each way. As a result, I can cane it. There only a couple of junctions, 2 roundabouts and three sets of lights. Its also flat.

I’m averaging about 20-21mph on a fat tyred 1×9 5spot – still got my summer tyres on at the moment. I’m sure that helps.

My commute is 15 miles each way riding from Cornwall into Devon via the Tamar bridge.

Quickest time in was 45mins more downhills – 20mph ave
Quickest time home was 57mins more uphills – 15.7mph ave
Quickest time in & out combined was 1hr 46mins for the 30miles – 17mph ave

All done on a HT with commuter tyres 🙂

Like Scienceofficer, my commute is around 3.5 miles, so it’s all about the sprints. It’s in central London though, so very dependent upon red lights and traffic.

Manage my journey in around 11 minutes, which means an average 19mph, though this means hitting mid-20’s for most of the journey. On a Dahon with Schwalbe Kojak tyres, that’s a major effort, hence I end up like a dead thing at the end of each journey. Great for fitness though.

I take a change of clothes – dripping by the time I get there.

About 19km/h for a 14km mixture of singletrack with gates, road, off road Sustrans route and canal tow path.

depends on the bike, the route and the time of day.

at 6am on a road bike it is really easy to average 20mph.

at 9am on a jump bike it’s really hard to do much more than 8mph!

the 6 miles normally takes me around 40 minutes.

Science, I need a shower when I get to work, but then I’m getting changed anyway, so that’s no bother.

Through central London I average 15mph on a 42:16 SS hipster wagon

Really? You must be incredibly fast between all the red lights/junctions and through the traffic, etc…

I manage about 11 or so on a 38/16 SS hybrid thingy.

Fairly flat route but one hill. More down on the way in than the way home.

17.1 mph for the 14.4 miles this morning, pretty slow as I’m coming down with a cold.

I once managed it over 19 mph on each leg, but I was properly caning it!

My commute is 20 miles each way on road – quite hilly coming over Clent and Romsley.

On the CX (with slicks) I average around 16-17 on the way in and 16 to 19 on the way home – max speed was 49.8mph though!

I did it on my rigid P7 with summer tyres yesterday – 23 miles each way with about 5 off road and I averaged 13.5 on the way in and 14.7 on the way home – boy that was hard work!!

But I did get over 41mph at one point!

12.2 mph here – downhill on way in, up all the way home. 6.5-7.5miles depending on off road or on road.

used to be 14.7 but recent night rides logged as Transportation on Endodildo have reduced it a tad.

Heavily depends on the kind of roads. I used to ride from Newbury to Theale along the wide flat A4. Got the road bike wound up pretty fast on that road, since I was always late for work 🙂