To shave or not shave ?

I understand that shaving legs is as much for post crash reasons :'( as aerodynamic.<br /><br />I've never shaved my legs, I am wondering if I'm going to continue in my current thinking until I take off a whole lot of bark and then curse for not shaving.<br /><br />I ride 6 of 7 days, so do I shave on Sat night before my biggest ride?<br /><br />Any beauty tips accepted

 

[quote author=Wok66 link=board=19;threadid=2618;start=0#22402 date=1036916668]<br />Any beauty tips accepted <br />[/quote]<br /><br />You wife/girl friend could give you some tips, if you have one <br /><br />cheers

 

Aerodynamic reasons? I'm not so sure about that.<br />Crash reasons? For sure.<br />Beauty reasons? Maybe.<br />Other reasons? Shaving my legs before a race is like mental conditioning, like preparing for war. And just like warriors used to prepare for war by putting on war paint, I prepare for the race by shaving my legs.

 

Another big advantage of shaving is the post race massage. It hurts if you have someone that knows what they are doing giving you a massage on long hair.<br /><br />Aerodynamic - Read years ago that you can save about 0.5 sec per 5 minutes by shaving your legs<br />Crash - Had one with hair. The first time a doc has to scratch off the scabs to get to ingrown hair on the legs, you'd be converted for life. Not a nice feeling!

 

And the most important reason . . .<br /><br />&quot;Chicks&quot; dig it. ;D ;D<br /><br />(Well, some of them do anyway)

 

I think the whole 'doctor scratching off scabs' is enough to convince me. I never really thought that the aerodynamics is a strong enough reason (true story - I know a bloke who shaved for basketball to give him more air time ;D.<br /><br />

 

A TIP<br /><br />Don't let the hair get too long between shaves!

 

and watch out for butt hairs if you wear non-black knicks.....tee hee hee

 

What do you use to remove your hair, I use Veet Lotion. It's easy and remove the hair better than shaving.

 

I always seem to 'develop' a nasty rash if I use hair removal cream So I stick to shaving

 

[quote author=Cadence link=board=19;threadid=2618;start=0#23157 date=1038486731]<br />What do you use to remove your hair, I use Veet Lotion. It's easy and remove the hair better than shaving.<br />[/quote]<br />I've used the Veet mouse once, but could not keep it on for the required 8 minutes, it felt like it was burning my skin. My skin also felt like it was sunburnt afterwards.<br /><br />I normally just shave (either chick's silk effects or Gillete 3 blade disposable jobbie).<br /><br />Sometime get the g/f to give me a wax, but it's a long process.<br /><br /><br />I started shaving 'cause the g/f of the time wanted to see what I looked like. Never really done it for any other reason other than looks. (brings out all the definition of your muscles.)<br /><br />And as LR says, dont wait too long between shaves. I normaly shave every second or thrid day.<br /><br />Oh, and there are lots of chicks who dig it.

 

The aerodynamics reason isn't true. Smooth surfaces seem to go slower and less steady trough air/water then surfaces with little imperfections.<br /><br />For detailed information contact T.U.(technic university) Delft (holland)<br /><br />Gulf was one off the first sports to use this technique, someone just noticed the path of and old Gulf ball was smoother than the one of a perfect round one.<br /><br />This is why Gulf balls have dents, Recent aero helmets have dents, the same for the shark swimming suit and the &quot;flits pak&quot; for ice skating. The dutch Company who make the ice skating suits wanted to make a TT suit but The Uci said they would ban it right amay.<br /><br /><br />I do shave because it doesn't hurt that much when you get a massage with shaved legs and because of the looks. For aerodynamics you should leave some hair on your legs. <br />

 

a smooth leg reduces surface drag but increases profile drag (the drag caused by pressure differences around a surface)<br /><br />golf balls and other dimpled surfaces reduce drag by changing smooth flowing air (laminar flow) into turbulent flow. This prevents an area of low pressure building up behind the ball and in effect sucking it backwards a little bit.<br /><br />i'm not sure if skin itself is rough enough to trip the flow at such low speeds or even if the profile drag is significant enough around the legs to worry about.<br /><br />As for the TT suit you could make your own and no one would even notice, just wear smooth lycra with a rough seam down the side of the leg to trip the laminar flow to turbulent before it can create drag around the back of the leg<br /><br />Man the stuff you learn at uni that you thought you were never going to use again.......

 

What degree did you do?<br /><br />Would the effect be significant? Why don't other aerodynamic objects (e.g. cars) have a 'seam' to break up the flow?

 

2LAP i did a Chemistry degree but i was trying to become a helicopter pilot in the army at the same time so i had to do a year of aerodynamics <br /><br />I don't know how significant the effect is for cyclists in relation to each individual limb but you would know how much easier it is to sit on someones wheel in a long ride. Effectively you are inside the low pressure zone they create and are being sucked along (not just having the air broken up for you)<br /><br />i've got my scanner working again and i have some time to kill at work tommorrow so i will draw a few pictures and post them for you<br /><br />as for cars well most cars have so many seams and panel joins on them that they are a mess of turbulence off the back end but normal cars still develop profile drag to a fair extent<br /><br />anyway i'll get back to you

 

I know a little about the aerodynamic benefit of riding in a line, about a 1/3 less energy used than riding on the front (obviously this changes with many conditions).<br />I have also seen some SRM data that shows the differences in power output required by the different members of a pursuit team, with the first person producing most power and the third person (out of four) producing least power.<br /><br />As for seams on cars, is that why road cars have 'wings' on the back? (I know that some cars (e.g. F1) have them for down force).<br /><br />I'll look forward to the pics!

 

F1 and race cars have wings for downforce but on road cars they are there purely for aesthetic reasons. Even a big wing is no use until about 150km/hr and even then only if you want to corner at that speed. In a straight line they just produce drag.<br /><br />To further complicate things in cycling a cyclist acts as a collection of streamlined parts and bluff bodies which produce different amounts of drag from skin friction and profile drag. I'll post those pics soon which might clear things up a bit. <br /><br />I might post them in a new Aero topic cause this has gone a bit further than to shave or not to shave

 

As I posted some while ago. For all the good reasons given on this Forum for shaving I will shave my legs when the Springbok rugby team shave theirs. ;D Now it looks like the Springboks may well do that! I mean they've got to do something!!! ;D ;D ;D

 

Forget all the hype about the massage benefits, the scabby bit when you fall off. It's a good look and as we know us cyclists are into the latest of everything, it's something that we just have to do. On a serious note I seem to have sensitive skin and have tried the lot, shaving, electric shaver and creams. To be honest I often wondered why in the hell I do it as I have to repeat it every 2-3 days. Bloody leg hair grows as quick as grass. Try the artificial tanning cream as well to finish the look off.