Road cyclists will cite all sorts of reasons for shaving their legs. Some claim it helps road rash heal more easily, pro riders point to the benefits for post-race massages, others chase aero gains.
But for most of us, it is probably more ritual than a rational choice. Shaved legs have long been part of cycling culture – they mark you out as a serious rider, and there is nothing wrong with admitting that.
While the ‘why’ isn’t up for debate, the ‘how’ very much is. Specifically, how high should cyclists shave their legs? Quite literally, where do you stop?
We put this important matter to the pro riders, the BikeRadar team and loyal readers, only to discover there is absolutely no consensus.
“I will do a Selma Bouvier”
Hairy face, but hairless legs for Dan Craven. (Photo by XAVIER BOURGOIS/AFP via Getty Images
Dan Craven – former moderately hairy professional cyclist and Olympian, turned founder of Namibian bike brand, Onguza Bikes – took a pragmatic view during his racing career: “For virtually all of my racing career, I would shave my legs to a point where if I crashed and my bibs were pulled up, that imaginary line is where I would do it,” he says.
Craven says the thinking was mostly practical rather than aesthetic: “Basically, if I crashed and my bibs pulled up, I wouldn’t have a hairy road rash in an obvious place,” he says.
However, he caveats this point, noting he isn’t the most hirsute rider and suggesting others may take a different approach: “As much as I have a big beard, I don’t have the hairiest legs… it’s not like I’ve got hair all over my back or anything.”
Indeed, hairy senior tech editor Ashley Quinlan goes a touch higher: “As a hairy man, I usually trim these days and spare the expensive razor blades for my face,” he says. “But were I to go full pro again, up to the underwear line.”
Is there a hairy bum under Simon’s tights? We’ll never know. Felix Smith / Our Media
Tech editor Simon von Bromley agrees. “If I’m shaving my legs, then it’s all the way up, of course,” he says. “I can’t have a set of hair shorts.”
However, he does raise an even more existential question: “Surely the real question is whether I need to shave my bum as well, or are ‘hair pants’ OK?”
We did not investigate further.
Mountain bike presenter Tom Marvin is equally anti-partial-shave: “As a man with moderately fair leg hair, I’m lucky that I can get away with rolling around with hairy shorts,” he says. “But doing so is still horribly unsightly to those lucky enough to spy my legs uncovered.
“As such, all leg hair must be removed up to the creases that define the border between leg and torso.”
Some choose an epilator in pursuit of hairless nirvana. Getty
Others take a more pragmatic approach.
BikeRadar reader and Bristol cycling scene stalwart Meg Dickerson says the decision changes depending on the time of year: “I have super-light hair on my upper legs, so I’d tend to do the bottom of my legs up to just above the knees every time,” she says. “But I would do all of my legs in summer, wearing shorts, going to the beach, etc.”
Another reader, Alice Stockwell, meanwhile, admits her approach is somewhat unconventional: “Generally I will do a Selma Bouvier,” she says. “Occasionally a hairy boxer but more often than that, it’s to just under the knee, which I know is bizarre, but my coarsest hair is from halfway down the shin.”
Canyon ambassador and founder of the All Terre cycling club, Claire Sharpe, says her enthusiasm for full-leg shaving faded over time: “[I shaved] just higher than my shorts once I started cycling,” she says. “But a general trend was I shaved lower the older I got because I’d wasted enough of my life doing it.”
She’s since turned to epilation as a leg-shaving revelation: “Now I epilate, which has given me even more time back – I would love to see a video of men doing this for the first time.”