our brother was pretty into rowing and shaved his legs “because it makes you faster”. I have my doubts.
my opinion about this things is, “u wanna go faster?” pedal more than the guy beside u… leave the shaving for those who still have the same pair of “lucky socks” since high school…haha…
or strap a small scale jet engine to your bike…its been done.
Chistina is right about the amount of leg hair being inversely proportional to speed at the ECCC, but that’s just because there is way more peer pressure in men’s A than in men’s D.
When I first started racing I did a fair bit of research on this particular issue. And the one reason that I found that seemed even remotely reasonable (besides massages and chicks digging it) was that when/if you are sliding along the pavement at 40kph, hair will cause the road rash to be deeper than it would be with bare skin.
I shave since I turned 12. what’s the big deal?
just shave it, you know you always wanted to anyways.
i dont want a beard/stuble when im older… … if it goes… the painful way is the only way
You don’t say! Haha.
Don’t worry, your flowing leg locks grow back with all the body and healthy shine once you stop shaving.
I just find that if anyone still have some questions about shaving or not but it’s in french:
then click on : “La capsule de Daniel Atienza” then “Atienza au poil”
Thread revival!
Now why wouldn’t anybody want to be a dolphin? That’s more convincing than any “road rash” excuse.
I don’t even want to know why Pete… just happy it’s been done
I would like to take this opportunity to point out that science has caught up to this important question, and at least one study found significant difference between shaved and unshaved legs:
If anyone knows of other studies that affirm or refute this, I think we would all benefit from learning about this very important topic!
I am pretty sure this is bullshit. Skin drag accounts for a grand total of about 2% of the total drag experienced by a cyclist according to fairly detailed flow measurements at representative cycling speeds.
That makes a 7% gain impossible.
Now, if you’re pro/olympic even 1% matters and that’s why they freely dispense money for skinsuit work.
A highly optimized skinsuit that dramatically changes the location of turbulance transition and controls flow seperation nets you maybe, 4%.
Also, this:
…was written by an idiot. You can pretty much get just about ANYTHING published in some journal (shitty or otherwise) if you are tenacious enough. Peer review is a shit test, not a credible and thorough application of the scientific method.
While it is hard to get results which are a 100% direct reproduction of someone else’s work right down to the same conclusions published, anything reproduced using different methodology, different equipment, especially with the aim of correcting deficits in prior art, is readily and easily published.
If it was proven in the Specialized wind tunnel, you probably should do it…cause you know, aero is everything
Exactly Phil. Plus you have the added advantage of looking “pro” which is the essence of everything you should strive for in life.
We spend alot of money nowadays on frames and equipment to shave every gram possible for increasing speed. Shaving is a no-brainer. If you have hairy legs you will get rid of extra weight for free and blades last a long time. You will be more aerodynamic. It will work in conjunction with you hi-tech gear. In other words you will be faster.
DIXIT