How Fast Can You Ride a Mountain Bike?

Mountain biking is a great hobby to pick up, especially if you’re already into other types of cycling.

However, you may be wondering if a mountain bike is able to reach the kinds of speeds you want to ride at.

How fast can you ride a mountain bike? And how hard is it to reach those speeds?

We found that most beginners can ride a mountain bike at speeds of up to 15 miles per hour. With more experience, 18 to 20 mph can be attained, and with regular and intense training, you can reach speeds of 25 to 30 mph.

As for the mountain biking world record, it is held by Eric Barone who reached 141 mph.

Can You Go Fast on a Mountain Bike?

If you’re looking to get into biking or thinking of switching over from a different kind of bike, you may be wondering if you can go fast on a mountain bike.

As you probably know, speed is a huge factor when it comes to choosing the kind of bike you ride.

Simply put, yes, you can go fast on a mountain bike.

However, the full answer is more complex than that. A mountain bike’s speed depends on how and where you ride it.

To get a complete understanding of mountain bikes and their speeds, let’s look at some averages.

For single track riding, the average mountain bike speed is 9.71 miles per hour.

For on-road riding, the average mountain bike speed is 32.35 miles per hour.

For downhill riding (both on- and off-road), the average mountain bike speed is 44.8 miles per hour.

For off-road riding, the average mountain bike speed is 18.6 miles per hour.

If you want a quick comparison for better context, a road bike goes 5 to 10 miles per hour faster than a mountain bike on a flat surface, on average.

How Fast Can You Ride a Mountain Bike?

Now that you know some of the average speeds for a mountain bike, you may be wondering how fast you can realistically ride a mountain bike.

After all, just because a speed is average doesn’t mean it’s easy for everyone to attain!

Beginners can often ride a mountain bike at speeds of up to 15 mph.

After some experience, intermediate riders can usually hit up to 17 miles per hour on a mountain bike.

And after regular training, you should be able to attain a range of 15 to 30 miles per hour on a mountain bike.

What Is the Fastest a Person Has Gone on a Mountain Bike?

Now that you know how hard it is to go past 20 miles per hour on a mountain bike, you may be wondering what the fastest possible speeds are.

When you take the top four speeds in the whole world, the global average for mountain biking comes in at 84.9 miles per hour.

As for the fastest speed in the history of mountain biking so far, Eric Barone set the record at 141 miles per hour while biking downhill on snow in 2017.

How Do I Get Faster on My Mountain Bike?

On a mountain bike, there are six key methods for speeding up:

• Lock out your suspension
• Bend your elbows
• Train more
• Use low-resistance tires
• Use clipless pedals
• Lower your handlebars

Lock Out Your Suspension

Let’s start with the easiest step: lock out your suspension.

If this isn’t possible with your bike, try to adjust your suspension so that it’s as rigid as you can get it to be.

By doing this, you are maximizing pedal power, which translates into more efficient biking at higher speeds.

Bend Your Elbows

Another simple trick uses your body’s position to create a more aerodynamic biking experience.

You just need to make sure your elbows are bent in a 90-degree position.

By doing this, you create less drag with your arms and elbows, which increases your biking efficiency and speed.

Train More

Although it may seem like a no-brainer, this is nevertheless a crucial point to make. To get faster on your mountain bike, train more!

Specifically, you should be training to increase your functional threshold power. By increasing this, you increase the maximum speed you can maintain for an entire hour of cycling.

You should also use interval training, where you try to ride faster than your average speed for as long as possible. This will strengthen your body and grow your endurance.

Use Low Resistance Tires

If you can splurge a bit, another great step is to buy low-resistance tires.

With lower resistance, tires will roll more easily, both on-road and off-road. Thus, it won’t take as much effort to pedal at the same speeds.

Use Clipless Pedals

Another piece of equipment you can use is clipless pedals, which increase efficiency in terms of the power transfer between your feet and the pedal.

Simply buy clipless pedals for a solid shoe-pedal connection and watch your speed increase!

Lower Your Handlebars

You can also lower your handlebars to increase how aerodynamic your position is.

You can do this by customizing your bike a bit or by buying drop ends for your mountain bike .

FAQ

Is 20/30 mph fast on a mountain bike?

Considering how hard it is to reach speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour on a mountain bike, the answer is yes; these speeds are fast.

Most cyclists can reach 10 miles per hour quickly, but to maintain speeds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, you will need to train using medium to long distances, such as 50 to 60 miles.

This long-distance training will help you build up the strength and endurance you need to keep up a speed of 20 to 30 miles per hour.

Conclusion

You can go fast on a mountain bike, and depending on the terrain, the averages range from 9.71 to 44.8 mph.

Beginners can typically ride up to 15 mph. Intermediate riders can reach up to 17 mph, while experienced riders can typically reach speeds of up to 30 mph.

The world record for mountain biking was set at 141 mph by Eric Barone in 2017.

You can get faster on your mountain bike by locking your suspension, bending your elbows, training harder, using low-resistance tires, using clipless pedals, and lowering your handlebars.

On average, 20 to 30 mph on a mountain bike is very fast and only achieved by experienced cyclists.

We hope this article helped you!