How to make a mountain bike go fast on the roads and slopes ?

Question

There are a number of factors that contribute to a fast bike.

Be it weight, gears, tyres and so on. But is it possible ever to reach above 40 mph ? I wonder...

Answer 1

Its hard enough to reach that on a road bike.  At 40 mph you have to expend 4 times the energy required to do 20 mph.

Answer 2

To reach any where near 40 on a flat road you need to be an elite cyclist, reaching 40 going downhill can be done but takes some effort.

To get a mtn bike to go fast on a road change the knobby tires to a road tire, there are plenty to choose from. If you are looking to gain speed up a slope that is entirely up to you to do it, no magic, just hard work.

Answer 3

I'll second what MtBikr has to say.

Additionally, hitting 40 on a flat road with mountain bike gearing is difficult.  In comparison to a road bike which usually has 53 teeth on the biggest chainring, a mountain bike usually has only 44 teeth.  Lower gearing, coupled with a smaller diameter wheel, means you really have to be able to spin the pedals to be able to hit 40 mph.

That said, I've gone 40+ mph on my mountain bike on long descents.  This is usually only possible on hard packed dirt roads.  It's a lot of fun until you hit gravel in the turn at the bottom of the mountain!

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

yea, it's possible. But like the other guys said, it's hard as h**l. You'll need to get some bigger chainrings on your bike for sure, and all kinds of expensive equipment (cliplesss pedals, jerseys,short, etc.)to be able to reach the speed and sustain it for any amount of time.

I can't tell you about slopes but i suggest asking a downhiller, they go unnecessarily fast down anything that looks fun (check out some of those movies http://thecollective.com ) but for road get very thin tires