I’ve got to admit that I’ve never actually understood why grown men shave their legs and then claim it makes them faster ?
I mean why bother shaving your legs and then have facial hair as some have been seen wearing on this years tour ?
And then when you fall off they apply that elasticated gauze ? That’s not very aero dynamic ?
I’ve also seen several wearing Gold necklaces and pendants, and wrist bangles and other clutter ? seems a bit strange being a weight weenie then throwing caution to the wind by sporting a bit of Bling ?
My mate used to shave his legs for MTBing ! This was some time ago before full sussers were even invented and farmer johns tyres with the elastic band coloured sidewalls were the only ones available ?
He claimed it was for when he fell off ? The hair didn’t get caught up in the scabs ?
Again lame ! Having hair matted up in scabs is one of the only rewards for falling off !!!!!
I did exactly the same earlier this year – my off road commute with our current climate means getting my legs splattered with mud all the time and they clean up a lot more easily with shaved legs.
A word of warning though it can get quite additive and hard to know where to stop. 🙂
Less body hair = less time drying after a shower at 4:45am before work. Cuts minutes off my time. Plus I like how it feels and makes my calves look much better 😉
the only genuine-sounding reason I’ve heard was Rob Hayles on Bespoke, who said pros do it because if a soigneur had to massage half a dozen pairs of hairy legs a night their hands would be ripped to pieces.
I can see only belonging to a clique and vanity (showing off ripped calves) as the reasons amateurs do it, and the plethora of reasons given (cleaning gravel rash, comfort for receiving a massage, aero etc) supports this.
Most talk about… plain old vanity
See, Ive never had it admitted, and I’d completely respect anyone who did.
I did exactly the same earlier this year – my off road commute with our current climate means getting my legs splattered with mud all the time and they clean up a lot more easily with shaved legs
how long does it take to clean muddy hairy legs, and how long does it take to shave them?!
I used to shave mine but I needed that extra edge for my strava segments so I got a ball peen hammer, and mashed thousands of little dents into my legs, like a golf ball. Now I’m 0.004% more aero.
A word of warning though it can get quite additive and hard to know where to stop.
You stop when you get to the eyebrows. Or when you find yourself knee-deep in pubes looking like one of these:
The aero news from Specialized is good news for us shavers, but for me, it’s about gravel rash healing, looking good, and easy clean-up after wet or muddy rides.
A quick wipe of baby oil before a mountain bike ride and crap just wipes off. Means you can look clean in the pub afterwards!
How can it be about vanity? It’s about as good a look as pokemon pyjamas.
I think it’s more along the lines of a statement of “I R cyclist!” than looking good, but I guess you could still, loosely, class that as vanity.
None pros do it purely because it’s what cyclists do.
Been tempted several times down the years but never got around to it. TBH keeping my face fuzz free is proving too much of a feat lately so doubt I could manage a much larger area. Besides facial stubble is acceptable, stubbly legs is probably a very bad look.
I do it because I like the look and feels a lot cooler in hotter weather. If I gave up cycling I would probably still shave them. I grew the hair back for the first time in 3 years last winter and Mrs MM kept nagging at me to shave them as she didn’t like them hairy. 😀
I don’t shave as such, but I really dislike being covered in claggy wattle and daub as my long leg hairs mix with the mud to form the body equivalent of a mud hut.
So i run a clipper on grade one or two over them. Enough to not be labelled a shaver, but short enough that the hairs don’t curl around and trap the mud.
OK, You’ve got me interested in shaving my legs. Those hairs poking through my tights don’t look good on a night out. What I need to know is where to I stop shaving? Above the knee? At my waist? Do I go all the way up to my neck?
Hairy is faster, the boundary layer turbulence reduces drag.*
*This may possibly be nonsense, I have very limited knowledge of the field.
It’s nonsense, in pretty much any situation smooth/polished is better for reducing friction. Drag is proprtional to the drag coefficient (Cd) and area (A). If you imagine that the boundary layer reduces friction (part of Cd) then it also increaces the area of the object, which negates any benifit.
Noteable exceptions:
Golf balls, they spin so the dinples help shed vortices, without them they’d drag a huge wake behind them.
Chimney and tall towers, the spiral on the outside does the same job as the golfball without having to spin. Without it they’d shed vortices randomly and vibrate, the spiral means that from any direction the vortices always shed off different sides at varying heights, if it was just vertical strips all the vortices would shed off the same side and the tower would be pulled over.
er, you could always check your theory by watching the video in the OP!
If you think I’m willing to spend my time watching videos on the internet that I have reason to believe won’t support my worldview then you’ve another think coming.
It’s nonsense, in pretty much any situation smooth/polished is better for reducing friction.
And you can sod off with your so-called knowledge too. Plus your spelling’s atrocious.
I had the same feeling when I saw it – just seems like far too large an effect! However no obvious fakery, and the folks in the video also expressed their surprise.
It’s not quite that simple though. Flow separation results in an increase in drag when the fluid flowing around a body can no longer follow it. It has been shown that turbulent flow stays attached for longer than laminar flow, hence roughness to generate turbulent flow can help the flow stay attached for longer and decrease drag.
It’s unlikely that hairy legs would help at all with this (and the video if it’s genuine provides real world evidence that it doesn’t), but it is a recognised effect, well beyond golf balls and cooling towers.
aracer – Member
Junkyard » Still not sure if it was true or an April fools prank
I had the same feeling when I saw it – just seems like far too large an effect
The tested guy didn’t look that fast, and as we all jnow now, aero advantages make up bigger time differences at lower speeds.