Leg Shaving
07-31-07, 11:50 AM
#1
Ever seen a pink Bianchi?
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Leg Shaving
I know it's done for aero reason.
But how much do you really gain from it?
Did you guys who do it feel a difference the first time out with your Nair commercial legs?
But how much do you really gain from it?
Did you guys who do it feel a difference the first time out with your Nair commercial legs?
07-31-07, 11:52 AM
#3
guppy
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yes. oh and my girlfriend insisted on touching them for the rest of the night... stop it honey, i am trying to type here
07-31-07, 11:53 AM
#4
....gets the cheese
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This has been discussed a couple of times before. Basically, it all comes down to vanity. 
https://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=4035675
https://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=4035675
07-31-07, 11:55 AM
#7
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Makes it easier to see the disgusting vein thing I'm developing on my calves.
07-31-07, 11:55 AM
#8
i got nothing.
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it is also done to help with road rash....it's typically allot worse with hair on the leg for some reason...i am not a scientist or anything....that's just from my own independent studies.
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07-31-07, 12:00 PM
#9
Portland Fred
I also don't feel the hair blowing around in the air when I ride or swooshing around when I swim. You will also feel very different in social situations. People who have known you for a long time will most likely notice and comment in public.....
07-31-07, 12:02 PM
#10
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Here we go again ...post # 43 about shaving.
I do it because it's MUCH easier to massage.
I do it because it's MUCH easier to massage.
07-31-07, 12:03 PM
#11
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If you get a massage after each ride or are expecting that unexpected road rash is on its way, then shave them.
Or don't.
Or don't.
07-31-07, 12:05 PM
#12
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having has nothing to do with aerodynamics. It is done for 2 reasons.
1. If you crash it is far easier to treat and bandage the wounds without leg hair being in the way. It helps with bandage removal as well.
2. Massages are much better with smooth legs without hair than with hair.
Swimmers shave their body hair for hydrodynamic purposes though.
1. If you crash it is far easier to treat and bandage the wounds without leg hair being in the way. It helps with bandage removal as well.
2. Massages are much better with smooth legs without hair than with hair.
Swimmers shave their body hair for hydrodynamic purposes though.
07-31-07, 12:07 PM
#13
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having has nothing to do with aerodynamics. It is done for 2 reasons.
1. If you crash it is far easier to treat and bandage the wounds without leg hair being in the way. It helps with bandage removal as well.
2. Massages are much better with smooth legs without hair than with hair.
Swimmers shave their body hair for hydrodynamic purposes though.
1. If you crash it is far easier to treat and bandage the wounds without leg hair being in the way. It helps with bandage removal as well.
2. Massages are much better with smooth legs without hair than with hair.
Swimmers shave their body hair for hydrodynamic purposes though.
07-31-07, 12:19 PM
#14
everyone has a plan...
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i really DID NOT want to add to this... as its what? the 44th time its been asked-
but shaving is much cleaner.
when the roads are a little wet and a bit grimy/sandy... it can clump and collect in the hair. then the sun invariably comes out and dries the mess.
****in NASTY and a regular pain to get out.
but shaving is much cleaner.
when the roads are a little wet and a bit grimy/sandy... it can clump and collect in the hair. then the sun invariably comes out and dries the mess.
****in NASTY and a regular pain to get out.
07-31-07, 12:24 PM
#15
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Shaving alone only added about 1 mph to my average speed. However, when I rubbed Vaseline all over them right before the ride, my average speed went up 5 mph! I also got another 3 mph when I did the same to my arms and yet another 2 mph when I shaved my head and lubed that up too.
I just discovered this last week, so it was too late to enter in le Tour, but I will win it next year... without EPO.
I just discovered this last week, so it was too late to enter in le Tour, but I will win it next year... without EPO.
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07-31-07, 01:30 PM
#17
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Swimmers used to do it for speed. Suits have become advanced enough that they are actually faster then your skin (hence the full body suit). Most swimmers do it for a speed/psychology reason. You only "shave down" for big meets. You feel different in the water and only feel this way at big meets so your mind automatically triggers you to go a bit faster, classical conditioning at its greatest.
07-31-07, 01:35 PM
#18
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When you're posing at the corner Starbucks, you can check your calf and guad definition in the reflection in the pastry glass a lot easier with shaved legs.
That's why you shave.
That's why you shave.
07-31-07, 01:45 PM
#19
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Swimmers used to do it for speed. Suits have become advanced enough that they are actually faster then your skin (hence the full body suit). Most swimmers do it for a speed/psychology reason. You only "shave down" for big meets. You feel different in the water and only feel this way at big meets so your mind automatically triggers you to go a bit faster, classical conditioning at its greatest.
I used to be a competative swimmer in high school (city team, not the high school team which was crap). It is all psychological; you feel faster and smoother in the water, which in turn makes you swim faster. It doesn't have that much to do with hydrodynamics.
I just shaved my legs for cycling for the first time; the occasion was a supported century my club put on. The one thing I noticed, and the only major thing, was that I couldn't feel the wind on my legs. I also felt cleaner after my ride as well since I didn't have salt and dust clinging to my leg hairs. I haven't made the decision about whether to keep doing it or not - it might not be worth all the maintainance; it only took a day to start feeling uncomfortably prickly.
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07-31-07, 02:03 PM
#22
Chases Dogs for Sport
It is RUMORED that, in wind tunnel tests, some hair actually improves aerodynamics because it disturbs the boundary layer of air. (Much as a dimpled golf ball flies much farther than a smooth one. An intact boundary layer really slows you down.)
07-31-07, 02:06 PM
#23
Rick Schulze
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This is it, no aero reason. For the average cyclist that is just making coffee runs, it's not worth it. If you race crits a dozen times or more per year and your chances of road rash are fairly high; shave. Hair + road rash can equal scars and often does.
07-31-07, 02:10 PM
#24
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07-31-07, 02:14 PM
#25
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However...in all seriousness and honesty: It's a simple, sure-fire way to prejudge people who are riding bikes.
Shaved? Serious about the sport.
Unshaved? Not as serious about it.
That's not MY opinion, nor is it probably the opinion of the majority, but it is an immediate way to categorize a rider. There are toolbags with shaved legs that couldn't pull a paceline out of the driveway, and there's hairy gorillas that could drop you in 3 pedal strokes.
If I go to a group ride, I freely admit that I look to see who is shaved.
Me? I'm shorn...I don't like little stubble, so I take a #0 to my legs, which also helps keep my 11 month old from ripping swaths of hair with his little talons.
Shaved? Serious about the sport.
Unshaved? Not as serious about it.
That's not MY opinion, nor is it probably the opinion of the majority, but it is an immediate way to categorize a rider. There are toolbags with shaved legs that couldn't pull a paceline out of the driveway, and there's hairy gorillas that could drop you in 3 pedal strokes.
If I go to a group ride, I freely admit that I look to see who is shaved.
Me? I'm shorn...I don't like little stubble, so I take a #0 to my legs, which also helps keep my 11 month old from ripping swaths of hair with his little talons.