With cyclists such as Bradley Wiggins emerging from the winter break with luxuriant growths of facial hair, one of the burning questions in cycling over the last few months has been: “What DOES he look like?” Er, we mean: “Does facial hair slow you down?” The good folks at Specialized have found an answer.
Specialized built its own wind tunnel at its Morgan Hill California headquarters last year, and has already produced videos showing how much time you can save by changing position on the bike, and how you can more aerodynamically carry water and food for a long-distance time trial or triathlon.
After building up to it with those trivial projects, the Specialized aero R&D team turned their attention to the vital issue of the aerodynamics of beards.
In this video, Specialized’s Mark Cote and Chris Yu first measure the drag of bearded rider Joe Self, from a Specialized dealership in Texas. Joe then shaves of his beard and the measurements are repeated.
Which is faster? Watch and find out for yourself:
23 thoughts on “Video: To beard or not to beard”
careful, I think Specialized
careful, I think Specialized have a TM on beards
jason.timothy.jones
Yeah – and I wonder if they’re going to start charging Ferrari for using a wind tunnel..
If you have a decent beard,
If you have a decent beard, you can tuck it into the top of your shirt and that removes the vortex that builds up under your chin and slows you down. So I think that if Spesh had down the same tests with Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top guitarist for those too young to know), and then shaved him, they would have found a statistical difference in the results.
It’s also possible to soak your beard in energy drink ahead of a race and lick that off if your energy levels are starting to flag… which also improves performance.
Shave Billy Gibbons?????
Shave Billy Gibbons????? That’s like messing with the space/time continuum!
just goes to show it’s
just goes to show it’s muscles not silly things like hair that really make the difference.
I would like to see Usain Bolt take on a sprinter though!
I’m pleased to see that my
I’m pleased to see that my beard isn’t slowing me down. I would now like to see how the beard compares to other artificial chin warmers, as on the occasions I’ve shaved mine off, I’ve been reaching for the snood.
Wonder if my Norris (norse)
Wonder if my Norris (norse) Skipper has any significant (dis) advantages….or my oft seen soul patch…couldn’t quite get to grips with my hollywoodian phase…cos I just aint gonna get rid of my sidies….
I believe sidies act like the
I believe sidies act like the F surface on a Ridley Noah forks and calm the airflow on to the ears!
If you shaved Billy Gibbons
If you shaved Billy Gibbons (or Dusty Hill) I don’t think that he would ever stop looking for you! :S
And for those who shave other body parts. 👿
” Why do you shave your legs?”
“Aero!”
“No you don’t!”
“Ok! I shave my legs because it feels soooooo gooooood. Can I still do it?”
“All right. So long as you don’t say ‘aero’ ever again.”
“Yippee!”
To misquote a t shirt I saw
To misquote a t shirt I saw the other day
‘A man who shaves his beard to win a medal deserves neither’
The most interesting fact in
The most interesting fact in all this is that the only member of ZZ Top who didn’t have a beard was called Frank BEARD!!! =))
Beards are good in the winter
Beards are good in the winter when cycling but …. there is more to this trend for cyclist growing beards….. has it something to do with shaving the legs ?
I am sure they did test on hairy legs vs shaved legs years ago and they found that hairy legs were faster. Something to do with smoothing the air flow over the legs.
Rupert wrote:Beards are good
I’ve made this joke before, but in my case shaving my legs might help me on the hills because of the weight saving <:P
with a wind tunnel driven by
with a wind tunnel driven by hair dryers I’m not surprised a beard makes little difference B-)
I doubt Rigoberto Uran optimised his position in that bit of marketing gimmickery they call a wind tunnel. 🙁
My time trial times as an 18
My time trial times as an 18 year old with a beard significantly bigger than the chap in the video, were way better than my times when I returned to the sport 20 years later when shaved. Proves beards help. Sadly that was a low point in my life from which have now recovered.
Bet Cadel wishes he had a beard.
It cushions insect impacts.
It cushions insect impacts.
If you ask me, that wind
If you ask me, that wind tunnel test resulted in a close shave.
But don’t knock beards. They are especially useful at meal times, for catching bits of food for you to eat later.
See
See https://www.google.com/patents/US3440991
But I suspect that this rider needs to continue growing for at least another year. And as for leg hair… well… I wonder when they’ll begin working on appropriate treatments…
Why do not people see the
Why do not people see the obvious?
Over the course of a year, the time saved by not shaving will all add up. Definitely a help to time pressed cyclists.
Let’s say you shave for 3 minutes every 3 days (I’m being conservative); that’s roughly 6 hours you’ve wasted faffing about with a razor. Well that’s almost 100 miles of riding.
With my beard, I look rugged. B-)
In fact, I’m not sure, but I think there’s a kinda Samson effect with beards too. Allow me to explain. When ever you see someone survive against the odds in the wilderness after a crash or that’s been stranded, they always emerge with a beard. 😀
Surely you have to factor in
Surely you have to factor in the additional power that the rider gets from having the beard? #BeardPower
Anyone we recignise?
Anyone we recignise? 😉
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Beards-Of-Bath/1376571189297074?ref=ts&id=1376571189297074&sk=photos_stream
Appropriately enough though mine came off thisweek. I am still waiting for the aerodynamic advantage to kick in.
I like the idea of the Sampson effect though. I felt like Sampson with the Beard and still feel like Sampson without it 🙂
This week I has been mostly
This week I has been mostly sporting a tickler…not too sure of the aero advantages as I hasn’t been on the bike…been to busy
on other ‘projects’…
This week I has been mostly
This week I has been mostly sporting a tickler…not too sure of the aero advantages as I hasn’t been on the bike…been to busy
on other ‘projects’…