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ARGH.... Rapha
By now, you ALL know my distain for the brand of Rapha.
Well it seems that I may not be on my own for very long. I got an email a couple of days with some unofficial news about a new Rapha jersey, from a "mate" who loves to wind me up.
Anyway, I thought he was just taking the piss. He was telling me about this special edition Pantani jersey...
I thought to myself, they wouldn't dare....BUT, oh yes they would.
Not only would they dare to use Pantani as a cash cow with a jersey, they have also helped make a film about him "The accidental death of a cyclist"
April will see the official release of The Accidental Death of a Cyclist, a feature-length documentary telling the story of Pantani's dramatic rise and fall. Rapha will be commemorating the life and career of Il Pirata with a special edition Jersey due to be released in April.
This has got me REELING....What are they playing at? He died before Rapha was even around. They had nothing to do with him in his cyclist career....
Rapha are just cashing in on his life, our memories of him and his legacy.
I will stop now, because I will get into some unfriendly language. I know alot of you like/love Rapha, I'd love to know what you think of this disgusting move?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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67 comments
£140 for mitts feels rather disproportionate even if we don't know the manufacturing costs. The 'aspirational' mark up is what sticks in peoples throats. Castelli and Assos are expensive but don't get this hassle. It is just the marketing, exclusive sounds like exclusion to a lot of people.
I'd rather see a rider head to toe in matching, stylish Rapha than groaning away in OPQ full kit pretending to be Cav.
I do shake my head though, when I see someone sat in the Rapha cafe with the hat, the base layer, the jersey open to reveal the base layer, the jacket, the gilet, the bib tights and the shoes. And the gloves. Probably the chamois cream as well.
But then I'd shake my head if it was Nike or Puma too.
One thing the anniversary of Pantani's death served to remind me of was the fact that Jan Ullrich got done for taking Ecstacy.
Yeah, Jan Ullrich, ripped to the tits, boshing pills in a club.
If Rapha can get the spirit of that on a retro-wannabe jersey I'll tear your arm off for it.
Gkam84? Gkam 84? Come back. We need more ill-conceived argument on this please.
Fausto Coppi and Tom Simpson's lawyers want some advice....
I mainly wear Rapha so that the self styled "proper" cyclists I overtake get hit with a double whammy of shame for being scalped by a fashion victim with better legs.
Did I mention I have just arrived home in my new AMDB9 so I can wear a tuxedo and sing a theme tune in my head, but I have found that my Rapha merino boxers are very comfortable underneath the tux, less chaffing compared to the Armani's or Gucci boxers I own, better value too at 35 quid a pair, especially as I only wear them once and then donate them to endura kit wearers as I feel they need them.
Same, mine will soon be a quadruple whammy of style, speed, wonderful calf structure and; once I build my Colnago M10 up, spectacular steed. Then, clad in their ugly, ill fitting DHB cack, they'll mutter that it's made in the Giant factory and harumph to themselves that their TCR composite is the same bike.
I don't drink, therefore whilst some people spend hundreds of pounds on booze I spend my free money on nice bike things without caring what others think. It's great.
Lost me there I'm afraid.
Point being, I know people who happily spend hundreds of pounds a month on drink. I don't and choose to spend my money on cycling stuff. That's my hobby.
I'll happily spend £150 on Rapha brevet jersey which will last me years, I find this far less strange or wasteful than someone blowing the same amount for no return on a few nights down the boozer.
That said, I don't judge people who spend their money that way, which is why I find it puzzling that others are quick to judge and get a little angry about premium brands like Rapha. Some spend huge monthly payments on flash cars, others will settle for a 20 year old three door Corsa. Some find a weekend in a tent up Scafell enough for their annual get away, others on three 5 star beach holidays a year. Some people like premium brands of jeans and will spend £180 for one pair, others will accept some George at Asda action.
Spend your money on what you want, just piss off* with telling others how to spend theirs and judging them for doing so.
*Not aimed at you, but those who windmill into every single Rapha & high end bike thread.
Like Gkam84 i'm not a Raphaelite, i bought one of their jerseys when they were just starting out - y'know when they were producing B&W A5 booklets and it was all "sport wool this and merino wool that". Anyway i bought one thinking that at the price they were going for they must be what an imagined John Smedley made cycling jersey would be like. Well, what a disappointment! - wool blend knocked up in a sweatshop in China, definitely not the "premium product" that i'd hoped for. I used to wear it a bit but not any more - just too embarrassed to be seen as a fashion victim.
I now have two beautiful Wabi Woolens jerseys - one winter series long sleeved jersey and one sport series short sleeved jersey, 100% merino wool and made in the USA where the owner, Harth Huffman is supporting his own economy by employing local labour - these jerseys are so much better than Rapha it's laughable.
Interesting Q&A with Matt Rendell, author of the book about Pantani:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/02/analysis/pantani-biographer-sees-...
Apart from a couple of T shirts and the skincare they do, I can't afford Rapha. I know that fundamentally, it's all bollocks, their image and "heritage", it's all synthetic - a brand formed in the 90s (?) and yet trading on the aesthetic of the 60s and 70s continental scene, borrowing the icons of the era.
That said, I always percieved roadies as tightwad, deeply unstylish and uncool - early Sunday morning runs in mismatched kit bought at much-haggled discount prices on boring bikes - stark contrast to the baggy shorted MTB types on bikes dripping with cnc-d (and purple anodised) high end esoterica. MTB-ers were cool, roadies of the early and mid 90s certainly not.
Whether Rapha created the current wave of style and coolness that road cycling currently enjoys, or whether their brand image is just very adept on surfing on that wave I'm unsure, but they do it very convincingly, and I consider their clothing very desirable - their evocations of romantic suffering up alpine ascents by mahogany skinned continental types fuelled by espressi is much more desirable than images of 8am time trials along some grey British bypass by blokes in faded dayglo and deep heat.
I understand how Rapha may provoke sniggers at well-paid but chubby MAMILs forming mobile chicanes on 5k bikes all clad in their gear and fervently Strava-ing their slowness, but equally I would chuckle slightly at the ebay and aldi warriors who rejoice in their reverse snobbery. Ride your own road and let your legs and lungs earn respect.
Hatred of either group? Nope. Each to their own.
Dopers aside, what is your issue with Rapha Gkam84 ?
People butthurt about Rapha are usually this way cause they can't afford it.
I don't know how accurate that is, and bringing money based snootiness to the table just adds fuel the the anti-Rapha fire. Let's face it, we're not talking Briatore pricing here - just the upper end of a well worn cycle clothing price spectrum. If a cyclist wants it, a cyclist can usually afford it.
I think the beef stems from the way Rapha market their product; as an aspirational item, a club for those in the know, a select clientele of like minded connoisseurs. I admit I don't really get it all but then it's not really aimed at me. I just like the jerseys, they work well and look good to my taste - I don't care much about how epic my Regents Park laps are, I just want to be comfortable. Luckily I'm able to make a distinction between the product and the sales pitch and you have to say, The Marketing Works. People buy into it and they make money and who am I to begrudge them that? Good luck to them I say, I'd do the same if Rapha was my idea.
I love Rapha kit. Quality stuff, my opinion, just like you don't like it, I doubt you don't have a real argument too why you don't? Just like I don't like endura kit, I have no real reason I just don't. I have a number of Rapha items and they wear well wash well and are extremely comfortable and will last for a good time.
I started to watch the youtube clip but turned it off as soon as the header flew on saying...
'Natural talent'
That has gripped me more... Hero worshiping a confirmed PED and coke user hmmm what an idol, do people worship him, because he died early.... Of drug use. He is worse than armstrong IMHO, but as he was an Italian with flair?? If your an American it's called arrogance and bullying! I don't support Armstrong in anyway, but it is looking like one rule for one and one for another, Pantani was a drugs cheat and coke head we new it then we know it now, let's not brush over it when others are being vilified over it and the sport is trying to give us clean new icons of the sport. TBH it makes me sick. And to be clear that is one item of Rapha kit I have no interest in.
Also just maybe, trying not to be cynical, but maybe Millars redemption could be down to having a sister in cycling PR? Just a thought. I have know doubt whatsoever that in a room on his own he has toasted himself too a job well done!
I guess when you run your own cycling attire company which is super-successful regardless of the pricing/branding strategy then you will be able to make a jersey in reverence of one your heroes.
Simon Mottram is happy to call Pantani a hero of his, he owns Rapha, therefore he gets to do what he wants.
My guess is that it will be elegant and understatedly classy, and will sell like cakes that are hot!
If you are getting outraged by Rapha then you really need to take a long hard look at your priorities in life.
To me Pantani is a drug cheat and celebrating anything about him is akin to saying Saville was an OK DJ despite his decades of abuse.
Yeah the Prendas stuff would be more controversial on the face of it than Rapha -take the giro d'italia Magni Jersey, for example.. Yet I still own and wear it as it's a quality garment that looks nice!
Agreed that Rapha are annoying though - it's a bit irrational and probably to do with their success and particular following rather than anything they've ever done to me!
Pantani basically confirmed that the drug testing was inadequate to me. The nonsensical rides of Virenque puzzled me until the Festina affair and then you have this lunatic dancing up the mountains like he was filmed with helium.
There's a part of me that was spell bound and fascinated at it as a feat, but in the same way that I was spell bound by Lola Ferrari's monumental tits. It was amazing to see, but also appalling because of the artifice. It wasn't real.
For a long time I didn't really understand how he was caught and Armstrong wasn't. I was disappointed that he was unable to upset Armstrong's domination when he did come back. That actually helped to kill cycling for me a little bit.
I think it a bit sad that Rapha is commemorating him. I see him as a tragic character, but not one worthy of hero worship. From all accounts he was a deeply flawed character and a victim of his time. Pity him.
I do miss her
Because some (Pantani) you can forgive in the way you would forgive a child that gets mixed up in trouble.
Others (Virenque) can never be forgiven for appearing to be a horrible, fox eared twunt of a child who courts trouble.
I still don't get the astonishing double standards that some people have over the issues of doping. The different reactions to Armstrong, Pantani, Riis, Landis, Millar, Virenque...
How one person can be a flawed hero and one seems to have a special place in hell reserved for him. How some can be ignored or forgotten, others become famous (or infamous).
The overreaction to Rapha is highly entertaining too.
IMO, part of it is how they handle the admission of doping, do they deny to the end, hold their hands up but say they made me do it, or do they try and do something to stop others making the same mistake.
Pantani and what would have happened, we will never know.
This is largely how I respond to dopers - Di Luca is a joke for being unrepentant, Millar is reached redemption for his actions since. Millar's probably the only one to go from doper to revered again, the only others I can think to do some good are Hamilton and Landis but they're motivated out of a sense of self-centeredness ('Why is it just me getting popped for this?').
I like Miller too. It's a nice story for someone whose sister does cycling PR. I'm being a bit cynical but the cover story of reformed doper has allowed him to avoid greater scrutiny and suspicion. But given that he's not a regular winner he at leasts knows better than to shine the spotlight on his achievements.
I am very skeptical of Millar's 'I took drugs and it made me sad. I am very sorry, please buy my book,' bit. He still has an asterix beside his name.
It's the forming of Garmin with Vaughters that's done a lot to convince me he's fine since the ban - pretty much everyone major on that team the last few years has been a doper (obviously there are exceptions) but it seems to be a home for the former dopers to be happy and be clean. Has anyone on Garmin been popped for doping recently for example (I bet I've missed someone obvious...)?
Could argue a fair few of the other teams like say Astana/RadioShack at the time Garmin started were not necessarily anti-doping.
This is largely how I respond to dopers - Di Luca is a joke for being unrepentant, Millar is reached redemption for his actions since. Millar's probably the only one to go from doper to revered again, the only others I can think to do some good are Hamilton and Landis but they're motivated out of a sense of self-centeredness ('Why is it just me getting popped for this?').
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