This is particularly true in the city, where average speeds will almost NEVER go below a three minute mile (stop lights are a strict limiting factor), and thus, the loss of precision that comes with 1- or 2-minute-miles will never be a concern. When using the bicycle for utilitarian purposes, it's very useful to be able to quickly estimate the amount of time that a particular route will take, since multiplication is much easier to do in your head than division.
| minutes per mile | mph | |
| 3:00 | 20 mph | |
| 4:00 | 15 mph | |
| 5:00 | 12 mph | |
| 6:00 | 10 mph | default average biking speed in city through traffic lights |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 | 7.5 mph | |
| 10:00 | 6 mph | conservative estimate for city biking speed, when factoring in possible delays such as active snowfall |
| 12:00 | 5 mph | |
| 20:00 | 3 mph | average walking speed |
To convert from mph → minute-miles: