The flow of solar wind from the Sun is bimodal. High speed, low density plasma comes from high magnetic latitude regions and low speed, high density flow from near the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). We investigate whether this bimodal flow combined with the HCS tilt controls the solar wind velocities in the outer heliosphere near solar minimum when the Sun's magnetic field is roughly dipolar. We present a simple model of radial solar wind flow with regions of fast and slow flow and a HCS tilt provided by the Wilcox Solar Observatory. This is the first time a model has been used to make quantitative predictions of the solar wind speed in the outer heliosphere based on solar observations. A reasonable fit to the main features of the observed velocity profile at Voyager 2 is obtained if the fullwidth of the slow speed region is 30¿. We conclude that the main physical parameter determining the solar wind speed observed by Voyager 2 near solar minimum in the outer heliosphere is the tilt of the HCS. ¿ 1998 American Geophysical Union