Cyclist0108

It seems if you want to get aero, having a large saddle to bar drop is ideal. For those of us with short legs relative to body height, this is a challenge. But what I am wondering is if other aspects of riding, including hill-climbing (where aero really shouldn't be a major concern) might also be affected?

WhyFi

I don't think you're starting off with a solid assumption.

Lemond1985

I have come to the realization I probably have shorter than normal legs for my size (5'10"). I can't tolerate 175 mm cranks at all, 165's and 170's are my preference. But I don't look at it as having "short legs" I look at it as having " a long trunk". I have 130-150 mm stems on all my road bikes, and every seat is slammed back as far as it will go. I love the long low horizontal riding position.

I figure, if you are turning the cranks around and keeping up, what's the difference? I used to think there were advantages to being a taller rider, but the vast majority of past Tour de France winners are between 5'8 and 6' tall. For whatever that's worth.

merlinextraligh

Caleb Evan, 5’5”, seems to do ok. As does Nairo Quintana,

topflightpro

Correct. Arms bent at 90 degrees is more aero than having a huge saddle to bar drop with straight arms.

mstateglfr 

I am 6'5 and even if I have 20cm of saddle to bar drop, I will still be a much larger parachute trapping wind than my 5'2 daughter who has probably 2cm of saddle to bar drop.
I dont see an inherent disadvantage for shorter people(short legs) when it comes to being aero- I see an inherent advantage, actually.


If you compare 2 people of equal height and one has legs that are 6" shorter than the other, then sure I guess maybe there could be a difference in wind resistance between the 2 riders since bike setup will be different.

Carbonfiberboy 

I think the point is that, even having arms as you say and slammed -17° stem, back is still not flat (level?). That's the issue. Two things:

1) Negative stem angles of greater than 17° are possible, so my point is a bit of a red herring.
2) If a short-legged person can get their back flat, their swept area will be less, thus less watts required per unit speed plus fast descents.

So no, I don't think it's a disadvantage, I have short legs and it's worked OK for me. Main thing is to not be so fat one can't get all the way down and still breathe!

Looking at tall, long-legged pros, one is struck by the gap between thigh and chest with pedal at TDC. I think that's a function of crank length as much as anything.

Iride01 

You just aren't looking around to find the right bike for you. It's out there somewhere. More people have short legs than long legs, IMO.

woodcraft

Those with long legs require a higher saddle position- arguably less aero.

Blaming my limited climbing ability on leg length is not necessary- I have other excuses at the ready.

smashndash

I have no clue where you got the idea that short legs = harder to ride with more saddle to bar drop. Maybe this is true if you end up needing an XXS frame, where the reduction in stack is limited by wheel size. But most people of average (or greater) size with shorter legs do not have this issue. And even then, you can just compensate for this with a longer and more steeply angled stem.

Also, saddle to bar drop is not the best heuristic for how aero you are. It’s torso angle. Saddle to bar drop is affected by reach (bar, stem, frame etc), torso angle, torso length and arm length. You’d have to claim that people with shorter legs have a harder time maintaining the same torso angle.

The ability to hold a certain torso angle is determined by saddle position, belly fat, hamstring flexibility, saddle comfort (to be able to rotate onto your pubic ramii), crank length, thigh diameter, hip socket mobility, ankle mobility and tibia length. I see 2 potential foundations for your claim.
1) tibia length. But in this case, a shorter tibia is actually more beneficial for aero because your knee doesn’t come as far up at the top of the pedal stroke, minimizing hip impingement.
2) Crank length. It’s true that if two people, one with shorter legs and one with longer legs, ride the same crank length, the person with shorter legs will have a longer crank relative to their leg length. This would cause what I call “overstroking” where the crank stroke (2x crank length, say 34cm) is greater than the amount of stroke the rider’s leg is able to cope with, causing an exhaustion of ankle mobility, acute knee angles, and potentially a positive femur angle at the top of the stroke, which causes hip impingement, which forces a more upright torso angle. But I don’t see a good reason for this to happen besides ignorance. It’s also possible that the person with shorter legs has much shorter tibias and similar femurs and therefore is actually more aero on the same cranks.

Let me know your thoughts.

RChung

Not really. In particular, having a relatively short tibia (relative to the femur and the torso) may be an advantage.

tomato coupe

Yes, people with short legs are at an aerodynamic disadvantage. They spend their whole lives closer to the ground, so they aren't used to bending over to pick up things. That leads to tighter hamstrings and overall lower flexibility which, in turn, makes it harder for them to get into an aero position on the bike. It's tragic, really.

frogman

Psimet2001 

In fairness he said short legs - not short in stature.

I have short legs and a long waist and have never been able to get into a particularly good TT position. Sure there's other factors at work but the saddle to bar drop has been the bane of my riding existence and constantly put be between frame sizes for 30 years.

Princess_Allez

with the female population, Yes. No woman wants an oompa loompa

Carbonfiberboy 

OK, I want a count of the folks in this thread who posted that having short legs is not an aero disadvantage AND who also have short legs, say 29" and less.

Cyclist0108

I'm 5'10" and 29" inseam, fwiw.

I got a bike with a custom frame. (Wound up being fairly similar to a Trek Domane 54cm.)

smashndash

It’s tough to separate short people from people who just have short legs relative to their torso. I’d say short people have an aero disadvantage mainly because the bike industry likes to put them on absurdly long cranks and also because there’s a limit to how low you can go with 700c wheels. If the bike industry weren’t so euro-male centric, short people would have the aero advantage for obvious reasons.

Fwiw I’m 5’ 7” and have long legs for my height (31” jeans?) and had to downsize to 165mm cranks to get aero without impinging my hips.