Femur length and cycling better?????

[Andrew Albright]

I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio results in better cycling, i.e. some
dude with a longer femur would be a better cyclist.

Is this folklore or is there a peer-review scientific reference for it? Someone asked me and I could
not recall if someone had actually done this type of study, or did it fall into the folklore
category (like a lot of what is done and said in cycling).

 

[Jay Hill]

Andrew Albright wrote:
> I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio results in better cycling, i.e. some
> dude with a longer femur would be a better cyclist.

I've read this about Greg Lemond, but not in a serious study. I've also read that that is
responsible for the geometry of the bikes that carry his name.

If nothing else, you'd get more quads with a longer femur, wouldn't you?

> Is this folklore or is there a peer-review scientific reference for it? Someone asked me and I
> could not recall if someone had actually done this type of study, or did it fall into the folklore
> category (like a lot of what is done and said in cycling).

 

[Alex Rodriguez]

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
>
>
>Andrew Albright wrote:
>> I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio results in better cycling, i.e. some
>> dude with a longer femur would be a better cyclist.
>
>I've read this about Greg Lemond, but not in a serious study. I've also read that that is
>responsible for the geometry of the bikes that carry his name.

Big Mig is also supposed to have a longer femur.
-----------------
Alex __O _-\<,_ (_)/ (_)

 

[Kurgan Gringion]

"Jay Hill" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> Andrew Albright wrote:
> > I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio results in better cycling, i.e. some
> > dude with a longer femur would be a better cyclist.
>
> I've read this about Greg Lemond, but not in a serious study. I've also read that that is
> responsible for the geometry of the bikes that carry his name.
>
> If nothing else, you'd get more quads with a longer femur, wouldn't you?

It would be more of a leverage issue.

There are computer programs which model biomechanics. Paleontologists have been using them to
determine what different species of dinosaurs were capable of based upon the skeletal data.

I'll guess it would be much easier to run one of those programs on a human cyclist because they
wouldn't have to infer muscular data.

As an aside, I've also read that Indurain had an ideal femur to inseam ratio, but people may just be
saying that without actually knowing if it was the case because he was so abnormally gifted.

 

[Tom Kunich]

"Kurgan Gringioni" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Jay Hill" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> > Andrew Albright wrote:
> > > I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio
results in
> > > better cycling, i.e. some dude with a longer femur would be a
better
> > > cyclist.
> >
> > I've read this about Greg Lemond, but not in a serious study.
I've
> > also read that that is responsible for the geometry of the bikes
that
> > carry his name.
> >
> > If nothing else, you'd get more quads with a longer femur,
wouldn't you?
>
> It would be more of a leverage issue.

The problem here is that most big time racers don't have physical abnormalities. Eddy Merckx was
close to dead normal. Axel had a long femur length I think I read. Armstong is in the normal
range as well.

You can tell that LeMond had a weird shape because the bike of his they tested in one of the
magazines had measurements of 52 c-c 59!!!

> As an aside, I've also read that Indurain had an ideal femur to
inseam
> ratio, but people may just be saying that without actually knowing
if it was
> the case because he was so abnormally gifted.

I guess it takes an abnormal to recognize an abnormal.

 

[Heinz Getzler]

Alex Rodriguez <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] says...
> >
> >
> >Andrew Albright wrote:
> >> I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio results in better cycling, i.e.
> >> some dude with a longer femur would be a better cyclist.
> >
> >I've read this about Greg Lemond, but not in a serious study. I've also read that that is
> >responsible for the geometry of the bikes that carry his name.

Bernard Hinault's book: Road Racing and cycling technique talks about this as well. Hinault also had
a higher ratio as well. I think it does give a rider bigger advantage, but I don't think it explains
everything such as training and or technique.
>
> Big Mig is also supposed to have a longer femur.
> -----------------
> Alex __O _-\<,_ (_)/ (_)

 

[Bruce Johnston]

That's interesting and makes some sense to me because I know a serious racer where I live that has
long femurs and he is a powerful rider. He is slightly taller then me but I sense his legs have more
power because of that. He is great on the flats but I can best him on climbs when I am in the zone
with my climbing fitness. It seems climbing doesn't suit him that well even though he lives in the
hills because he usually opts out of long hard climbs. He is thin with very little fat, but not a
flyweight.

B-
--------------------------
"Andrew Albright" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have heard or read that a longer femur to lower leg ratio results in better cycling, i.e. some
> dude with a longer femur would be a better cyclist.
>
> Is this folklore or is there a peer-review scientific reference for it? Someone asked me and I
> could not recall if someone had actually done this type of study, or did it fall into the folklore
> category (like a lot of what is done and said in cycling).