Why do cyclists shave their legs – Speed, hygiene, or just aesthetics?

Watch the pro teams line up for a pre-stage presentation at the Tour de France and you’ll see few hairs on display from the waist down. Pros and most road cyclists shave their legs, at least during the shorts season, but why go to the bother?

There are a couple of straightforward answers and some more involved ones.

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Back in 2014, Specialized put six particularly hairy legged cyclists in its wind tunnel, measured the drag, then shaved their legs and repeated the runs. Its results suggested that there was a time saving over 40km of up to 82 seconds from shaving their legs and an average of 70 seconds. That’s around ten times the time saving of just 28 seconds over 100km Specialized claims for an upgrade from the Tarmac SL8 to the latest Tarmac SL9.

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That number sounds enormous and has drawn scepticism, but others have repeated the test, with similar results, although we’ve yet to try it ourselves. For example, this video from 2024 found a 13 watt advantage for a triathlete when he shaved his legs and arms.

Lotto Soudal’s speed gel was banned by the UCI back in 2018 (Image credit: Bettini Photo)

But shaving your legs completely may not be as aero as shaving a pattern into your leg hair. The late Mike Burrows of Lotus bike and Giant TCR fame suggested that a mohican stripe of leg hair just ahead of your legs’ widest point might create a trip layer and make your legs faster still.

And back in 2018, Lotto-Soudal riders smeared ‘speed gel’ on their legs for the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial. This was claimed to disrupt the airflow and create a boundary layer, lowering drag. The team came third in the time trial and speed gel was promptly banned by the UCI.

Some cyclists go further and shave their arms. When Specialized tested this in 2014, it found the gains were around a quarter of those from shaved legs, so it might be worth keeping the razor out for a little longer and finishing the job.