Who's shaving their arms?!

:rofl:

Yup Iā€™ve been shaving my arms for over 12 years. Started when I started swimming and now I do it for vanity reasons. Having shaved legs and hairy arms looks weird to me. Iā€™m probably hairy than most so it more necessary for me.

It takes 2 seconds in the shower.

I lost a bet while I was camping with friends when I was 17/18. The penalty was to have one leg shaved. Getting into my sleeping bag that night was very weird. I could only feel my hairy leg and the other was devoid of sensitivity. It felt like I had one leg.

Do it. Itā€™s a crack.:+1:

3 Likes

Iā€™m not going to disappoint my wife so I can theoretically gain 4 seconds over a TT, when my position and clothing would likely cost me 60+ seconds alone. If youā€™re racing at a level where youā€™ve accounted for all other major variables, or you like the look/feel, rock on. If you are shaving your limbs to ā€œget fasterā€ and have not tweaked your position, clothing, helmet, etc. then LOL

Bike, position, helmet and clothing are pretty well optimised. Iā€™m sure if I spent a wedge of cash at a wind tunnel I could shave a bit more off but thereā€™s certainly no low hanging fruit. The saving in the link I pasted was 19 seconds over 40k, Iā€™ve had multiple occasions where Iā€™ve missed a podium or could have been a step higher on a podium by smaller margins than that, itā€™s a meaningful amount of time. If my wife is disappointed at the fact that I trim my leg hair and spend a large amount of time hanging out in garish lycra outfits with other men then sheā€™s hiding it very well, and Iā€™m sure a bit of arm trimming isnā€™t going to tip her over the edge.

For my wife, itā€™s a no go, and frankly not something I personally want to keep up with either. Iā€™m also skeptical of any meaningful figures unless your usual look is that of Robin Williams. If youā€™re at the level where it makes or breaks a race win, by all means. However I think most cyclists just do this because they think its just something you have to do to fit in in the cycling community. Some videos I saw (I believe from GCN tests) showed a savings being there, but much less significant, I seem to recall 4 seconds or .4w or something of that nature.

One more reason to ride gravel. Save on razor blades to buy more tires.

3 Likes

The only issue with LS SS is that they can get very hot. Skin is slow. So that can be a balancing act. May depend on how much you sweat, how hot it is etc.

I have started wearing UV sun sleeves to cover my super hairy arms. They not only provide UV protection so that I donā€™t have to put on sunscreen, but also provide (I hope) some level of improved aerodynamics.

1 Like

You can get aero arm sleeves for not too much money. Iā€™ve never tried them tho

https://www.nopinz.com/product/nopinz-blizzard-arm-warmers/

Always shave them in the summer. Easier for sunscreen, easier to bandage in the case of road rash.

1 Like

iā€™m surprised at that aero! i trim them, but when i shaved them I didnā€™t like how it looked when they started growing back inā€¦

Can confirm. Iā€™ve removed bandages from a hairy arm that was more painful than the crash that required 12 stitches in it. Fark. Now = trim.

I clipper my upper arms as I donā€™t want to look like a gorilla. Iā€™m 53, it happens to us all eventually :joy::joy::joy:

1 Like

Shaving is just part of the pre-battle ritual - Today is a good day to Tri.

You start with the legs, then wonder about the hairy feet, then how high do I go? Then the armsā€¦armpits? Yeah ok, now your body looks too hairyā€¦and so on.

Then you google Veet and have a good laugh.