Just a curious question. CX, road, TT, crit, they do seatpost and jersey back numbers.
MTB and gravel the big ugly front bar headtube numbers. From local yokel races to USAC and UCI, same thing.
Why?
If it’s to keep the numbers clean the bike in front of you will still spray your bike behind. So that is out.
There is mass start MTB just like CX.
Makes zero sense to me. Like “where is the ugliest freaking place to put this 8.5x11 number???â€.
Suspect it’s simply historic.
road / TT / CRIT / CX all came from road so do the roadie way.
Mtb developed separate to road and so did its own thing. And when racing downhill on mtbs (some of the earliest racing was DH not XC the number on the front makes sense to see who is coming !) + is more MX style which mtb more closely emulates).
Stupidity. Easy to mount “plate†style on a flat bar with exposed hydraulic cables. It’s asinine on gravel bikes. I’ve had 3 gravel bikes and a number hasn’t fit properly on the front of any of them.
Last gravel race I just used packing tape and wrapped it around the headtube.
Stupidity. Easy to mount “plate†style on a flat bar with exposed hydraulic cables. It’s asinine on gravel bikes. I’ve had 3 gravel bikes and a number hasn’t fit properly on the front of any of them.
Last gravel race I just used packing tape and wrapped it around the headtube.
I am an aero nutter. Even then I would lose my mind simply hearing and seeing it flap around on a gravel bike.
DH mtb makes sense. None of rest do.
Just was looking at race photos and noticed it and made me think.
Even our local gravel event years back had helmet chips but still did the silly front number. Nobody was looking at your front number. They just looked up your chip time.
But that’s the real reason: scoring. On a road bike they have a timing tower and cameras. For mtbs you want to see who is coming to the line, this the number in front. Honestly when I’ve hand timed a couple cx races I wished the numbers were on the front, but as mentioned it’s roadie style. And gravel, who knows something about the spirit of gravel tends to dictate.
In CX you use multiple bikes throughout the the race meaning you would need to have multiple numbers.
I recently did a CX race where we had small number plates with chip timing that you mounted on your seatpost with velco straps. If you had a pit bike you got a duplicate plate. also had small stick on numbers for your shoulder. Much better than pinning a number on imho.
The biggest local cross races in my region has done number plates on the front of the bike. Thought it was kind of odd
I am an aero nutter. Even then I would lose my mind simply hearing and seeing it flap around on a gravel bike.
If it’s “flapping around” you didn’t attach it well.
It’s an aero wash if it’s regulated by rule. Just like the rule against full bike fairings.
Suspect it’s simply historic.
road / TT / CRIT / CX all came from road so do the roadie way.
Mtb developed separate to road and so did its own thing. And when racing downhill on mtbs (some of the earliest racing was DH not XC the number on the front makes sense to see who is coming !) + is more MX style which mtb more closely emulates).
^^^^^^^^This
At my first gravel race (i think it was 2013) they had thick number plates that were supposed to go on our handlebars, but nobody told me that. As a roadie, i had no idea it was intended to go on the bike. I pinned the thick/stiff plate on my back. I just thought they were crappy numbers. The mountain bikers all got a good kick out of it when we rolled out and they noticed.
Suspect it’s simply historic.
road / TT / CRIT / CX all came from road so do the roadie way.
Mtb developed separate to road and so did its own thing. And when racing downhill on mtbs (some of the earliest racing was DH not XC the number on the front makes sense to see who is coming !) + is more MX style which mtb more closely emulates).
^^^^^^^^This
Same with BMX - we were literally pretending to be motorcycles
Scored dozens of cx races. Can’t imagine doing that without numbers on the side. Way too many sprint finishes as well. Extra complicated when changing bikes is allowed.
For road races, apart from being impossible to score bunch sprints, you need to easily be able to note centerline violators and other shenanigans. Moto is usually to the side or behind.
Livelynx camera scoring does a pretty good job of identifying numbers, even in muddy races a little help from officials usually gets everyone without much trouble.
Scored dozens of cx races. Can’t imagine doing that without numbers on the side. Way too many sprint finishes as well.
I have flashbacks to having worked for a running race production company in the 80’s. Before RFID. For big races, e.g. into the thousands of runners. Oh man it got intense when runners started coming in in huge bunches. I remember being up on a raised platform with the old Compaq portable computer madly typing times and numbers into like Lotus 123.
We always had the fallback of at least getting the finish order right by forcing everyone into a single file chute, then tearing off the bottom of their bib and putting on a big string so you could go back and sort out order.
We always had the fallback of at least getting the finish order right by forcing everyone into a single file chute, then tearing off the bottom of their bib and putting on **a big string **so you could go back and sort out order.
Unbent coathanger
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We have a running timing company that still does pull tags. They staple them to a big sheet of plywood
Our local turkey trot used to be hand scored with over 5000 runners. They used a bunch of chutes and fish stringers and time machines. My results were always right, but I’m sure stuff slipped through
I think it was Philadelphia Distance Run a few decades ago where I first saw “Chip Time” vs “Gun Time” on the little Official Results postcard that would show up in your mailbox about three weeks after the race
And we wore our numbers on the front 
Other than BMX as a kid, I’ve never done any bike racing - other than bike legs in a tri
We do a bike tour for MS every year and our numbers go on the back, but occasionally you’ll see someone with a bib on the front; most likely a rookie with a Running background who doesn’t know any better
I’ve also seen people who pinned the number on the back in such a way that it covered the back pockets of the jersey; not the best strategy, if you like carrying snacks back there
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For CX and criterium races, you wear the number on your side. Usually, your left side because officials counting laps need to be able to see it. Plus in CX, people swap bikes during the race.
For cx the numbers are sometimes also on the shoulders. Most races hand score each rider for each lap, so number placement is important and sometimes lower category races are tough as riders do a crap job. One year I tried sticky numbers on the front of the helmet as an additional number and really liked them. Some races score with Finish Lynx video systems and others use chips. Front plates would work fine for cross I suspect, assigning a second number for a pit bike would require a little thought. Timers will assign a second chip in that case or affix the chip to the rider.
In CX you use multiple bikes throughout the the race meaning you would need to have multiple numbers.
actually it is a UCI rule (probably also national) that for mtb and I suspect gravel as well you must use the same frame for the whole race, whereas in cyclocross you can do bike changes as needed within the rules. Therefore having the number on the body is required in CX and on the bike for mtb and gravel.