I know this has been raised before but

Harry B

what is it about shaved legs? I did the Chiltern 100 yesterday (only the Corto Fondo though :oops: ). Really great ride through some beautifull scenery and some fabulous bikes on show. Nearly every club rider seemed to have shaved legs. Why? Is it about fashion or a statement that there serious cyclists? I can't believe that it makes any difference to their speed :shock:

pottssteve

It's a lifestyle choice!
Why do people buy replica kits? Why do people spend 4000 quid on a bike? Because they want to be like Ricardo Ricco, that's why!

biondino

A lot of transsexuals take up road cycling to give them an excuse for shaving their legs. If you look carefully you'll notice they all have beautifully sculpted eyebrows as well.

OllyBianchi

I don't shave mine all the time - just a couple of times a year - but it is much more comfortable riding with shaved legs - nothing for the dirt and flies to catch in and nothing for the rain to get stuck on and chill your knees.

Leg shaving has nothing to do with speed at all - it's to make them easier to clean up after a crash and easier to rub before and after the race.

Mike Healey

Harry B wrote:

what is it about shaved legs? Nearly every club rider seemed to have shaved legs. Why? Is it about fashion or a statement that there serious cyclists? I can't believe that it makes any difference to their speed :shock:

It makes massage less uncomfortable and the picking of road rash scabs less painful. Of course, the majority of club riders (mocr) do time trials, where crashes are rare, and, in any case, the mocr have never had a sports massage in their lives, sports masseurs being something of a rarity on laybys on the V718.

Far better to train (using advanced yoga techniques) the follicular muscles to position the hair along the skin so as to create a smoother, laminar airflow and therefore reduce wind resistance by a measurably larger amount than shaving does.

When I've mastered doing this while riding (instead of falling off), I'm convinced that the technique will reduce my 10 time down to below 30min.

shazzz

OllyBianchi wrote:

I don't shave mine all the time - just a couple of times a year - but it is much more comfortable riding with shaved legs - nothing for the dirt and flies to catch in and nothing for the rain to get stuck on and chill your knees.

Leg shaving has nothing to do with speed at all - it's to make them easier to clean up after a crash and easier to rub before and after the race.

.... and easier to get a nice suntan.

It's just part of the culture of cycling.

shazzz

Mike Healey wrote:

Far better to train (using advanced yoga techniques) the follicular muscles to position the hair along the skin so as to create a smoother, laminar airflow and therefore reduce wind resistance by a measurably larger amount than shaving does.

When I've mastered doing this while riding (instead of falling off), I'm convinced that the technique will reduce my 10 time down to below 30min.

This kind of makes sense, a la Zipp's dimpled wheels!

SteveR_100Milers

It's all about the uniform for amatuer cyclists, nothing more. No big deal, either you do or you don't....

Bronzie

Mike Healey wrote:

It makes massage less uncomfortable and the picking of road rash scabs less painful.

That's why pros do it. Everyone else just wants to look like a pro, even if they get dropped going over railway bridges.

That and the fact that it's a bit of a badge of honour - it says "look at me, I'm taking this bike riding malarkey so seriously that I'm prepared to faff around with razors and endure the ridicule of family and non-cycling friends just so I can feel like I truly belong". It's pathetic I know, but there you have it.

However, when you are racing, there is certain attitude that if you are behind a wooly-legged rider, it probably means they will fall off the next time the race goes around a bend. Now 9 times out of 10, this widely held belief is completely unfounded, but it's that 1 in 10 that makes it worth all the mucking about with the Wilkinson Sword Quattro.

markos1963

For someone like me, very fair skinned and red hair, I find it so much easier to apply suntan lotion to shaved legs. Admittedly I did it at first for the looks and crash recovery reason but I now do it for the above reason and riding in rain.

LingfieldXC

shazzz wrote:

This kind of makes sense, a la Zipp's dimpled wheels!

actually there is physics behind the dimples. Take a golf ball.
If you hit a ball of exactly the same dimensions, weight etc, except for dimples with the same force it would take to hit a normal golf ball 280 feet the smooth ball would only travel 50 feet. This is due to the seperation of the air flow across the ball from that trapped on the surface of the ball. The quicker the air seperates the quicker it slows. The dimples hold a pocket of air on the surface of the ball.
I am not sure if this effect would be relevant on wheels hitting an average of 20mph ish but it does definately have an effect on golf balls.

Jez mon

Did you know a bike wheel isn't a golf ball :!:

The dimples might produce some small tiny aerodynamic advantage. But seeing as Zipp are happy to cover them with Decals, i doubt it's very much. Nevertheless, it's a well known fact that without dimples, Cancellara, wouldn't have won Milan San-Remo this year.

shockedsoshocked

I've been banned by the girlfriend from doing mine this year after she claimed my legs are already too veiny. She then threatened to stop doing hers to keep the status quo if I ever did. Then she just made fun of me getting up really early on a sunday to cycle about with other men in very tight clothing.

SteveR_100Milers

Have to admit that rubbing in deep heat and baby oil is just plain wrong with hairy legs.....

CyclingBantam

I do it because it feels nicer :oops: and also pure vanity. I personally think hairy legs poking out of cycling shorts look ridiculous. :oops: :oops:

Hello sailor...

shmo

Probably far more benefit to most people removing hair further up where the dark mass is more likely to form a barrier between lycra and the skin preventing it wicking and also causing chafing in contact areas. After that it'd look strange wearing gorilla stockings.

Mark Alexander

shazzz wrote:

OllyBianchi wrote:

I don't shave mine all the time - just a couple of times a year - but it is much more comfortable riding with shaved legs - nothing for the dirt and flies to catch in and nothing for the rain to get stuck on and chill your knees.

Leg shaving has nothing to do with speed at all - it's to make them easier to clean up after a crash and easier to rub before and after the race.

.... and easier to get a nice suntan.

It's just part of the culture of cycling.

Sounds dodgy to me!

bagpusscp

You can't beat a close shave :twisted:

hammerite

it annoys enough having to shave my chin, I defo wouldn't shave my legs.

I have a few mates who play rugby, one of them says his team seem to have an obsession with shaving their prviate areas (or maybe not so private when your a rugby player!)

dennisn

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

Then she just made fun of me getting up really early on a sunday to cycle about with other men in very tight clothing.

Ah yes, men in tights - a la Robin Hood. Got to wonder about the guys who wear them.
We are obviously a bunch of fags. At least according to some people. To tell the truth,
I shave my legs because my wife says not to and I'll be damned if she is going to
completely rule my life. My only reservation is that you shouldn't shave them if they are
kind of, how shall I say it, ugly. Even than I'd shave just to be different from the rest of
the world.

Dennis Noward

don_don

I've heard all the arguments about road-rash, massage etc. What tosh

I am convinced that all cyclists do it for the same reason I do - its slightly kinky. However, I never go above the navel 8)

dennisn

don_don wrote:

However, I never go above the navel 8)

You're missing the best part. Top to bottom - it's got to go. Now that's kinky.

Dennis Noward

pottssteve

I do mine to blend in with the local Chinese population...
(Mind you, I'm 6 foot 1 with a big nose so I'm not sure how effective it is...)

vermooten

I shaved mine for the first time in 2 years on Wednesday, they were like pale, uncooked sausages and now they're like pale uncoocked dsausages with itchy bristles - but they make my muscles look bigger and once they're tanned I'll be fighting them off.

SteveR_100Milers

vermooten wrote:

I shaved mine for the first time in 2 years on Wednesday, they were like pale, uncooked sausages and now they're like pale uncoocked dsausages with itchy bristles - but they make my muscles look bigger and once they're tanned I'll be fighting them off.

See you've got it in one.

I do it because it feels nicer and also pure vanity. I personally think hairy legs poking out of cycling shorts look ridiculous.

Hello sailor...

The best and most honest reason for an amatuer cyclist.

Pro riders are a different thing, the road rash and other arguments have some validity.

grayo59

Because of the prevailing wind in the micro-climate in which I live, I shave just one leg ...