Bicycles of dizzying speed, weighing tons – and decadently expensive: June 3 marks World Bicycle Day, so here’s a look at not only the variety of bikes but also the extremes, and entries in the record books.
According to the Guinness Book of Records, the fastest ride on a bicycle ever was by Denise Mueller-Korenek, who achieved a speed of 296 kph (almost 184 mph) on her custom-built bicycle in September 2018.
She did so not on her own power, but was towed by a car in the salt flats of the U.S. state of Utah and then after the tow rope was disengaged, the mother of three raced along in the slipstream behind the car and reached the speed that a Boeing 747 needs to take off. The 45-year-old U.S. citizen, in what she called a “wild ride,” broke the longtime record previously held by a man.
Those who go cycling know that one factor slowing them down is headwind. But despite this, in September 2016 Canadian rider Todd Reichert, cycling slightly downhill on a straight road in the U.S. state of Nevada, hit a speed of 144.17 kilometers per hour. With his streamlined recumbent bike in the shape of an elongated egg, Reichert broke his own Guinness Book record set the previous year.
The speed champion among men in the “Hour Record” competition is Italian rider Filippo Ganna. In October 2022 the 26-year-old, riding in the Velodrome Suisse track in Grenchen, Switzerland, covered exactly 56.792 kilometers (35.289 miles). In Mexico in October 2023, his Italian compatriot Vittoria Bussi set the women’s record of exactly 50.267 kilometers, becoming the first woman ever to break the 50-kilometre mark. Both records are officially recognized by the International Bicycling Federation (UCI).
French science fiction author Jules Verne’s “Around the World in 80 Days” triggered 19th-century fantasies about a balloon race around the globe. But faster than that was Scottish adventurer Mark Beaumont, who, starting and ending at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, circled the globe on a bicycle in 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes.
The then 34-year-old cycled through 16 countries covering a 29,000-kilometer distance. His feat of spending 16 days in the bicycle saddle earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. The fastest woman to circle the globe on a bike is Jenny Graham of Britain. In 2018 she accomplished the feat in 124 days and 11 hours.
The longest ridable bicycle in the world is in Australia. In November 2020, inventor Bernie Ryan covered 100 meters (328.08 feet) on a monstrous 47.5-meter-long bike to gain an entry in the Guinness Book. As to height, the Guinness record was set on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in October 2012 when German cycling icon Didi Senft rode a bike with a wheel diameter of 3.30 meters, a total height of 3.70 meters and a length of 7.80 meters. On the other extreme, Sergei Dashevsky of Russia secured a Guinness entry in September 2019 for the smallest ridable bike: 8.4 centimeters.
His bicycle seems to be straight out of the “Mad Max” science fiction series: In June 2022, German scrap metal tinkerer Sebastian Beutler built “Klein Johanna” (Little Johanna) – a 5.2-meter-long-and almost 2-meter-tall colossus weighing 2.18 tonnes. The world record was confirmed by the Record Institute for Germany, the German-language equivalent of the Guinness Book of Records.
The most expensive bicycle ever sold at auction is one decorated with real butterfly wings. Designed by British artist Damien Hirst, the one-of-a-kind bike changed hands in November 2009 for $500,000. The reason why someone at Sotheby’s in New York would shell out so much money may have to do with the fact that it was the bike that U.S. professional cyclist Lance Armstrong rode in competing in the final stage of the 2009 Tour de France.
