Are bikes faster in the real world?

[map]

Just been having a discussion and thought I'd broaden the audience on here.

Now I will concede that commuting in a city a bike can be faster A to B than a car. There's been several tests and a bike or moped are suited to these urban runs.

However, for the rest of the time, on country runs for example, or in your average town, is a bike really faster?

I mention this because when I say I'll pop down on the bike I often get comments like "you'll be here in half the time then". This is on runs of say 140 miles on a mix of A roads. Now in reality the journey isn't much quicker than the car.

Another example. Coming from York (A roads again). I'm on the bike, missus in the car. I had a good journey, nice overtakes, felt I was really making progress as the saying goes. Thought I'd left the car way behind. However, only had time to pull onto the drive, put the sidestand down and get off the bike before the missus arrived. Now I know I enjoyed the ride but it didn't really save me much time.

Now I will concede that time of day can have an effect.
So anyone have any comments/experiences on this?


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[Gazdaman]

On a blast from Bristol to Chelmsford in Essex I was in convoy with a fellow biker in his 1l fiesta.

I passed him, and cruised at about 90mph until reading services, where we met up and had some food (only about 10mins difference)

We both left at the same time, (I needed fuel). I cruised at 90mph and assumed I passed him long ago, when I arrived in Chelmsford, he was sat at the breakfast table chatting to my mum with a cup of tea.

In reality, yes they're faster, and when you hit traffic they're a lot faster, but generally, you won't be arriving anywhere in half the time a car will or anything like that.

If you think about it, if you leave 10minutes after a car that's doing an average of 60mph, you'll have to do an average of 90mph for 20 minutes before you even catch them.

Gaz

[Mr.Everready]

Mostly for me the bike is faster. I tend to cruise in the car ( A roads ) at 60-75 but on the bike its nearer 85 most of the time, and keeping up the same speed on the corners. with the car I'd be slowing down for them.
Also with the bike you never get caught up behind any traffic.
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[techierob]

the only times I've done A roads on a bike I've hit at least one major traffic jam or road works that's forced all the four-wheeled traffic to a stand-still, and on motorways, I always end up with front-facing average speed cameras at a few stages along the route.
I suppose it depends on where abouts in the country you are, but nothing beats a bike in and around london

[TheShaggyDA]

If the traffic is flowing, I don't really get anywhere quicker with the bike - I still sit at about the same speeds as I do with a car. If it's raining, I drive faster than I ride, as a "slight slide" in the car is manageable, whereas I'd be on my arse on the bike.

By the time I add on the togging up, walk to the garage, unlocking the bike and the reverse at the other end, most of the time it equals out. The bike comes into its own when I hit congestion, as my commute will ALWAYS take 1 hour regardless of traffic. The car can be anything from 1 to 3+ hours.
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[Mal]

I've been looking at this recently myself. I live in Cardiff and started a new job just outside Bristol just before Xmas. The commute is 40 miles each way (or as near as makes no difference) along mostly motorways (and a 3 mile stretch of twisties ). I have a six month trial and am looking to buy a dedicated vehicle for commuting to and from work provided I get kept on at the end of it.

Now, one of my workmates finishes the same time as I do and lives in Bridgend, about 18 miles or so further past Cardiff and uses a car to get to and from work. So we both finish at 4, he switches his pc off, gets his coat and jumps into the car and is on the road in less than 2 minutes. I however, switch my pc off then go and get my leathers/textiles on, put in ear plugs, add scarf and then head off to the bike. By the time I actually get going my workmate has been on the road for nearly 10 minutes. If the traffic on the way home is quite heavy, I may catch him just before I turn off to head into Cardiff, after I've been on the road for about 30 minutes. If not I won't see him until we're both in work next.

[JGY6000]

yes you are right, for town traffic using the bike is indeed faster, but longer journeys like motorway the car is less tiering and you dont have to stop for fuel every 2 hours so will be quicker

when i blasted to the south of spain in a day i was nackard and must of stoped 7-8 times, in a car its a lot easier

[Keen]

I find the bike ridiculously faster, but I live in an area with pretty bad traffic.
Theres only one main way up into the business park I work in so every morning you have a crazy amount of traffic, the road is dual carriageway and its gridlock every morning as it joins the main roundabout, so on the bike I just filter up the middle my girlfriend never goes by car anymore because she can leave 25 mins before me and I still get there first.

But traffic aside- bikes are definitely quicker in real life, its just that the difference doesn't mean much in terms of cutting journey times if you see what I mean. On an open road you would have to be going ALOT quicker to arrive a significant amount of time before someone else who left at the same time...
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[Tarmacsurfer]

Until the advent of electronic media there were bike couriers for a very simple reason:

Bikes are faster than cars
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[quacker_boy]

Assuming you're not speeding then the only real time a bike makes a difference is in urban areas like you said.

If you're NOT a law abidding citizen then you tend to be able to get there faster, if you know where the radars are
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[Keef]

Me (on a blackbird) mate in (porche 968)
we went from edinburgh to aviemore . around 100miles
i stoped for fuel and fag . hoped back on. was sitting in aviemore with another fag when he arrived . think i only made 15mins on him . fast roads with lots of overtaking

[G]

A) It depends how you ride them.
Keeping a constant 90 won't put you that far ahead of a car - but keeping a constant 130 is much harder for a car to have a hope of following .

B) It depends how long you spend faffing with kit. Unfortunately they seem to have stopped doing them at the moment, but I can highly reccomend something like the gimoto suit which is a one piece armoured textile suit that can be put on in 30 seconds. Then neck/face mask, helmet and gloves and you're away in under a minute if you're in a rush. Not much longer than the car driver who's adjusted the stereo, etc etc.

Part of the reason I prefer bikes is that you can be pretty sure you're not going to be held up too badly. In a car you may be almost as fast as the bike, but then you may be stuck in a traffic jam for a couple of hours.

[The View Askew]

In the towns and against amateur drivers and semi tuned cars they are faster.

In true races the car will always win, it has 4 wheels, plus can be made stupidly light to go with it.
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[Pte1643]

A lot depends on the roads (as already said).
If your talking longer journeys, say on Fast A-Roads and /or motorways, then 80mph in a car is the same as 80mph on a bike.

But you'll most likely have to stop for fuel more often on the bike (depends on the journey length obviously).

If you live in (or have to commute through) a city/large town, then the journey time on the bike is, most likely, going to be quicker.

I commute on mostly rural roads (NO traffic jams, except the odd tractor or two ) so the car is actually quicker for me, as I don't have to faff about getting it out of the garage and putting a load of gear on.

"Swings and Roundabouts" really.

[G]

[Pte1643]

[Kickstart]

Hi

Depends on the situation. There are 2 main routes I can use to work, one takes the same by car or bike (route I use, no cameras......), on the other is quicker by bike (up to 15 minutes on a 1 hour journey in normal rush hour traffic).

However, if I go down to visit my mothers than the car is quicker. Both will cruise as quick as I am prepared to cruise for any great length of time. And both can go a fair amount quicker if I am prepared to take the risk of getting nicked. But the bike will need filling with petrol, the car won't (having about twice the range), and the difference in time to fill up is minimal.

All the best

Keith
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[fredsredhat]

[tsmith]

I filter past loads of traffic crawling along on the motorways every morning, so yes the bike is way quicker for me. Cheaper too and lots more fun

[eddclarke]

[Kickstart]

[Mal]

[map]

I think the perception is that on a bike it's much quicker.
That's because you can overtake easier and in general have a better view of the road and traffic (except certain head down arse in the air rockets & riders of course).

Certainly on the ride from York I was making progress and having a good time enjoying the ride.

I'm a bit concerned that the general perception is that bikes are much quicker. The you'll get here in half the time comment is not unique. So therefore the perception must be that bikes are more dangerous. After all, if you believe propaganda Speed Kills (whereas those of us who have a brain know it's really that inappropriate use of speed may kill/maim/injure - except that's a bit hard to get into a media sound bite ). Quite often the media will report a biker's accident as 'riding a 200mph machine', therefore implying it may have been doing such a speed, where the truth may be that it was a 30mph SMIDSY.

Sorry if the paragraph above is a bit off-topic. Just playing word association football in my head


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...and the whirlwind is in the thorn trees, it's hard for thee to kick against the pricks...
Gibbs, what did Duckie look like when he was younger?

[MementoMori]

Hmm. Yes, I was thinking about this the other day.

A while ago, I posted about going from here in Feilding to Tauranga on the back of a CB1300 which took around 9 hours. The way back took about 10.

Not long ago, I travelled up to Paeroa which is south of Auckland, about an hour further north than Tauranga in a yute trailering a race bike and it took us around 6 hours to get there, bang on time for scrutineering and another 6/7 on the way back, taking the long and complicated way home.

This must have been mostly down to stopping so much for petty and a rest on the bikes, whereas the yute went on forever on one tank and there was less concentration involved on Jon the driver's part as we weren't treating the roads as a race track this time round and again, he had a trailer with a race bike on it to look after.

So yeah, on long journeys I think bikes are probably slower due to tiny tank ranges and rider concentration and fatigue, but for pootling around town I think the advantages of a bike (filtering, pulling away quickly) come into play.
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[dew]

hmm yes, if you travel in rush hour on M25 (with no half term/christmas holidays)
End to end though, for my 25 miles one way commute, it's makes a difference of 10-15 minutes plus the fact that am quite fresh if am on bike.
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