Do long legs give an advantage?

Well don't tell Paolo Bettini that! 😉

Seeing how the average pro is 5'8" - 140 lbs, I'd say not really.

From what I understand its not long legs per say - its more that you have a more efficient lever, than you have a longer one - and that means having longer femurs (thighs) than average for the size of the rest of your leg. Even people who are relatively short can have a good ratio of femur to tibia to foot. (I've also heard that having a long foot is less efficient and can offset a long thigh)

i would say no. It takes more energy to push a long leg so its not an advantage. i'm getting myself confused but i think a shorter leg can produce more torque. its kinda like if you put a weight at the end of your arm it is harder to hold up than if its in the middle of your arm, leverage. A shorter sprinter can accelerate faster than a tall one but the tall one may have the higher top speed if any advantage at all. But bikes have gears so the top speed thing doesn't apply. Since bikes have gears, an average height is really the best i'd say. I don't see why being tall would give any advantage on a bike...

YMCA said:

Seeing how the average pro is 5'8" - 140 lbs, I'd say not really.

It just seems like the Bettinis, Di Lucas, and Liepheimers (little guys) are poor men's Indurians, Bassos, and Ullrichs (tall guys). Pantani is probably the only small guy to have won the Tour in the past 20 years.

long legs weight more ...

Romis said:

long legs weight more ...

In some cases yes, but I bet McEwen's legs weigh more than Rasmussen's sticks. The issue is more about physics than weight I think. I'm sure a lot of us learned in high school that the longer the wrench, the easier it is to turn a screw. I thought maybe the longer the leg, the easier it is to turn the pedals...😕 :o 🙄

Yeah - that's totally true when your talking about a simple lever - the longer the lever the easier to use, the more weight you can move with it, but your leg is a pretty complex lever - it has pivot points at 3 places - ankle - knee- hip, so each of those lengths and how they work together make a big difference too.

jschaff said:

My gut instinct and experiences says NOT.

I have found there is a fine line between the energy needed to move longer heavier legs through the cycling stroke, and spinning faster. Smaller guys can spin faster because it takes less energy to move their smaller skinnier legs. Bigger guys and gals take more energy to move bigger legs so the faster they spin, the more energy it takes to move faster. You will notice the climbers on the TdF are all skinny guys with skinny legs.

That is why Ullrich could never spin as fast as Armstrong and match his climbing speed and endurance.

So longer legs may help but only if you are a real skinny person with light legs going round and round

When talking about mountain rides power to weight is all that matters. If you look at the pros the climbs are small builds( Lance and Indurian are freaks in a good way)
TTs (which are usally flat) it come down to maximum power over the duration of the coarse Ullrich was good, Lance was better, but Indurain was amazing.
All three guys are average to tall. Whats most important to be a good rider is heart.

Dont have much data to prove but im just over 6ft and 62 kgs (137) pounds. Where am i going with this, i have massively long legs in ratio to the upper half of my body, and ride high cadence. My dad is around the same height, yet has a real slow cadence compared to me at the same age. Im a climber, he was good at TT. Testament to the variation in 2 people who have very similar geometry. I dont think it comes down to length, more to the muscle fibre makeup of the legs. Although as said with the climbers they are generally shorter, id put it down to the fact that shorter people are normally lighter, giving a better watt per kg advantage

Lance Armstrong, Bernard Hinault, Stephen Roche, Greg Lemond, Eddy Merckx, Pedro Delgado, Paulo Bettini, Michele Bartoli, none of them huge guys. I think Indurain is the only set of long levers to have achieved major success.

Weight and power output, that's what you need. Long levers make no difference.

Besides, why worry about it? I don't think leg transplants are a serious option for the dedicated cyclist.

Just train well, consistently, then you'll be passing the long-legged guys with no problems!