What benefits are there to being a taller rider?
07-04-11, 11:03 AM
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What benefits are there to being a taller rider?
What benefits are there to being a taller rider??? After wrestling through a number of days with some breezy conditions I started thinking about it and I'm struggling to come up with any positives. Maybe if you're really the social type and like collecting a lot of folks riding your wheel I guess that could be an asset. It's pretty easy to spot "Big George" in the Peloton-maybe that's another positive???
Help me here.
And no-the view is not that much better.
Help me here.
And no-the view is not that much better.
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07-04-11, 11:22 AM
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You can help your mates out by being the "WindShield"?
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07-04-11, 11:25 AM
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If you ride MTB it's easier to lift your bike over kissing gates and stiles?
07-04-11, 12:15 PM
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People like to say "you do pretty well for someone your size".
07-04-11, 12:40 PM
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I do have great legs!!
Other than that, I can't think of any benefits. Our bikes are larger and heavier than others as well.
Other than that, I can't think of any benefits. Our bikes are larger and heavier than others as well.
07-04-11, 01:33 PM
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There are no benefits to being a tall cyclist as height relates to performance. I'm considered lean at 6'3" and in the 180s but very heavy for a cyclist especially one that lives in the mountains. I have to be skinny, skinny lean to even think about hanging on the hills. Perhaps if I were a track cyclist my size wouldn't be as much of a handicap.
07-04-11, 01:38 PM
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No benifit. More weight. Less aero. Bikes don't fit as well and the handling suffers.
07-04-11, 01:43 PM
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I need speed
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And the weather is the same as it is for those asking how it is "up there'. Although I've been known to say it suffers from all the hot air rising from below. 
One benefit is that we have a built in excuse when we are dropped on hill. But of course the last thing we need, motivationally, is an excuse to fall off the pace.
Nobody is likely to consider us a threat in a race, so we can sometimes 'sneak off the front'?
People are less likely to steal our bikes, because they are unable to ride away on them?
That's all I got.
(6'6" - 195#)
One benefit is that we have a built in excuse when we are dropped on hill. But of course the last thing we need, motivationally, is an excuse to fall off the pace.
Nobody is likely to consider us a threat in a race, so we can sometimes 'sneak off the front'?
People are less likely to steal our bikes, because they are unable to ride away on them?
That's all I got.
(6'6" - 195#)
07-04-11, 01:48 PM
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The ability to run big crank arms for better power strokes. The ladies really like the big bikes (i ride a 64cm). They get a kick out of how massive it is.
07-04-11, 03:50 PM
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I do notice some extra speed down hill. It's about the only time I break off the front.
07-04-11, 03:55 PM
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Being tall and thin (6', 144 lbs) I get the extra wind resistance of being larger, but not the power.
However the Schlecks are tall and thin and seem to do ok, so I can't use it as an excuse to be slow.
However the Schlecks are tall and thin and seem to do ok, so I can't use it as an excuse to be slow.
07-04-11, 04:21 PM
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You protect you fellow riders from this.
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Bicycle-Safety
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...Bicycle-Safety
07-04-11, 05:12 PM
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At 6'2", I'm the size of one of those short, quick NBA guards. So maybe I'm not so tall.
07-04-11, 07:07 PM
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There are no benefits to being a tall cyclist as height relates to performance. I'm considered lean at 6'3" and in the 180s but very heavy for a cyclist especially one that lives in the mountains. I have to be skinny, skinny lean to even think about hanging on the hills. Perhaps if I were a track cyclist my size wouldn't be as much of a handicap.
07-04-11, 07:24 PM
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Team Kona riders Barry Wicks and Ryan Trebon, the twin towers of cyclocross, seem to benefit from being tall.
Last edited by Allegheny Jet; 07-04-11 at 07:45 PM.
07-04-11, 08:31 PM
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You're in good company: Alfredo Binda, Fausto Coppi, Hugo Koblet, Enrico Baldini, Felice Gimondi, Eddie and Axel Merckx, Francesco Moser, Fons DeWolf, George Hincapie, Magnus Backstedt, Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins, and Johan VanSummeren.
07-05-11, 12:35 AM
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Size is actually an advantage in sports. In cycling, your size gives you longer levers, more strength, and mechanical advantage. Yes, you have more weight to carry up hill, but that weight goes up far more efficiently than for those with shorter limbs.
The top trackies are usually over 6 feet tall and about 190 lbs. Eddy Merckx was my size, 6'1" and 175 lbs.
L.
The top trackies are usually over 6 feet tall and about 190 lbs. Eddy Merckx was my size, 6'1" and 175 lbs.
L.