sorry got stacked at work today - give me a day and I'll give you both.

---

--
Mark Cote
MITAerobike
Specialized Bicycle Components

Sweet. Will do.

---

http://bikeblather.blogspot.com/

I'm sorry, I just realized that I have completely overlooked a whole new market for products. I'll need to consult with Josh @Silca but now with the fashionable compression socks that racers wear, I think I will come out with some leg moulds that you put on under the socks. Then right before the race you rip all that off and you'll have some good dimpled leg skin. Hair or not shouldn't really matter if you get the dimple pattern right. I'm seeing the whole new thing where we put team names or clubs names in the dimple pattern and then you could just shave the high areas to give some good contrast. Oh yeah, check my web site soon..

Honestly I don't understand this. Your wife married you because of you, not your legs (regardless of what she might say). You have done the work and it is your body. Shave if you believe it gives you an advantage. I'm married and I shave and it works for us. Having said that I don't believe it makes you significantly faster over any distance.

so how many seconds slower would the infamous slowtwich gorilla be in a 40k TT? 3 minutes vs. the shaved man? I will volunteer to wear the gorilla suit when you decide to test this. keep me in mind.

in all seriousness, if two shaved legs makes a 15w difference, you guys at specialized better be finding ways multiple ways to make your bikes 15 w faster!

The people sponsoring the testing weren't selling razors. Thereyago.

---

------------------

- I do all my own stunts

A few years ago David Warden tested some apparel and tested a few compression sleeves. Give it a listen. http://tri-talk.com/77/ But I would assume like most aero benefits, it's dependent on the individual and not this brand is better is always better.

I just have to say, as a fellow graduate from the 'tute, I believe you, but I'm very disappointed to see these results. I never ever really considered shaving before, but now, to learn it's as effective as an Aero helmet?

My wife didn't say that she would divorce me, but I did get the 'aren't you just doing this for fun?' response.

I've still got a few weeks to work on her before my next triathlon.

15 watts?! I don't buy it. The combined additional frontal footprint added by average leg hair (vs no hair) can't equal even one additional exposed brake cable and there's no way that's going to be 15 watts. I know, I know - can't argue with the numbers. Something is up here. Flame away..

BS... I've seen Gillette's Mach3 commercials and they've got fighter jets... they've been to the tunnel. ;)

---

My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

Believe me, that was my exact reaction after testing the first couple of people. We still haven't spent enough time to answer the "why" - this was just the "what." One thing to keep in mind is that frontal area is not everything and in this case likely isn't the primary factor. An interesting anecdote: men and women use different balls in tennis. The felt/fuzz on the men's ball is thicker to slow down the game (or conversely speed up the women's game with a lighter felt ball).

---

Chris Yu
Applied Technology
Specialized Bicycle Components
@chrisyuinc

"no roadie razor"

Roadies are great shavers--around all the bumps, corners of the knees, odd contours.

Trigeeks will only be able to shave two long straight patches on our shins and thighs.

---

__________
"At the end he was staggering into parked cars and accusing his support-van driver of trying to poison him." A description of John Dunbar in the 1st Hawaii Iron Man

One more suggestion for testing... I'm sure it's minimal (if measurable) but what is the difference between an uncut steerer tube and one that is cut to size?

---

-------------------
Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

Just a matter of time before we start seeing this.... probably saved 40 watts.

---

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Founder: BestBikeSplit
Amazonian

Theorically friction drag & interference drag could be at work here. The former is directly related to the surface area in contact with the fluid. These 60 hairs per square inch on your legs have some surface. The later is related to the interaction of the airflow around each individual hair. Two cylinders next to each other both facing the flow will have more drag combined than the sum of thier individual drag.

---

____________________________________
Pain is inevitable. Suffering is up to you.

Completely agree. Maybe I'm a bit odd (well, I know I am) but I really don't understand the shaving=divorce thinking/attitude.

---

/Howie Nordström

she was only saying it as a joke..

as an aside, when i look at the competition in triathlons and see shaved legs i automatically think that person is fast. If i shave down, i better lift my game ;)

Hahahaha. Guys don't understand women and then don't understand why they don't understand women.

---

---

---

Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

I think it would take incredible confidence to the point of arrogance to do that. If you're world champion, and you give away something that makes someone else better than you, and that loses you a ton of cash and world titles over the following years, you'd feel pretty stupid, wouldn't you? So the only reason you'd give away information that might make that happen is if you believe you are so much better than everyone else that there is nothing they can do that will make them match you. As I said, confidence to the point of arrogance.

Suppose that the latest information from Specialized on shaved legs is correct, we have a counter-example right there. It wasn't common knowledge that those time savings were available. But it's highly likely that some people did already know about it and didn't tell anyone. If they believed that there are no secrets, then there would be no point them telling anyone, as everyone would already know. OTOH if there are secrets, they have gained a valuable advantage over the competition, so again, no point telling anyone (unless they have confidence to the point of arrogance, or are so slow that they really don't care how anyone else performs relative to them). So whether there are secrets or not, either way there is no point them telling anyone about it. The situation for Specialized is relatively rare as they aren't trying to obtain an advantage, they did the research and published it as a marketing exercise, but I can see no reason why an individual athlete would have published such information in the past if they discovered it for themselves.

....the only thing you can be sure of is that the tri razor version will cost twice as much....

 
>I think it would take incredible confidence to the point of arrogance to do that. If you're world champion

And that's also what it takes to be a world champion, generally.

>Suppose that the latest information from Specialized on shaved legs is correct, we have a counter-example right there.

I understand the concept of exploiting arbitrage. I'm sure there are other examples of proprietary knowledge that gives an advantage. I just think you're overstating its importance in the grand scheme of things.

Should horses be shaved before races? Seems like it would help.

You've seen all the people riding out of aero on their TT bikes right? With an aero helmet? All those heel strikers in Newtons? We love to spend more on stuff that makes us faster to then use it completely wrong! :)

Maybe Zipp will partner with Bic to introduce a line of carbonfiber razors selling for $129.99 a piece.

---

Remember - It's important to be comfortable in your own skin... because it turns out society frowns on wearing other people's

Unexpected results, and then trying to figure out why, are my favorite part of testing. Keep up the good work, Chris, & congrats on the degree!

---

Jim Manton / ERO Sports