Rapha launch 2013 City clothing range

I'm already writing it in my tiny head.

Uh - 1 top for women? Seriously? Why don't we get jeans you can cycling in? FFS Rapha - you do so well with the performance stuff but let yourself down here...

I'd be interested to read both a data mining blog post from Dave and an article on clothing manufacture from Vulpine. I saw your stuff at the Manchester Bike and Tri show and it looked quality.

Outside of the ludicrous stuff like the Rider Journal, or that handkerchief they wanted £50 for a few years ago, I mostly think "à chacun son goût".

I have a Belgian cap from back when they were the only people doing winter caps with earflaps - good quality. Making the same purchase today, I'd probably go for Walz, but the Rapha cap is nicely made and jolly warm.

You get what you pay for.

I wear Paul Smith jeans because they fit perfectly, others don't, the same with my cycling gear.

I admit I was drawn to Rapha because of the styling, initially I'd said no because of the price, however having tried it it performs well, fits extremely well and so far has been worth every penny. I have tried gore, didn't like it, castelli is nice but the styling isn't always great.

In contrast my club kit at £50 for a pair of shorts is to be honest poor fit, uncomfortable after an hour and not worth the money. Appreciate not all cheap stuff is like this.

It's simple, if you aren't happy buying expensive stuff that's fine but why bother chelping about it on a forum and suggesting that others are fools. Each to his own, everyone has different preferences in life. By sounding off you just make yourself look like another forum tw@.

Cycling is all that matters........it's just clothing, seriously get over your prejudices towards others, like Dave said reverse snobbery.

I'd very much like to change the view of 'Value'. We only ever get marked down on Value (and I hugely respect Roadcc reviews as they are very honest and therefore when we get a good one it means so much more), yet as the company owner I know the huge time and resources, quality of fabric, stitching, etc that goes into each garment.

I think the misinterpretation is often that everyone always makes the same stuff, just marks it up more heavily. Which is absolutely, very provably not the case.

I'd be happy to throw the doors open to our world and describe why garments such as our £195 Original Rain Jacket (sold out in most sizes) has a poor markup for us (a big industry bod once laughed in my face saying I was an idiot and should charge £300), and is exceptional value for money.

I'm quite serious.

After digging out rapha and dhb scores to compare them i did some data mining on the other brands we've tested too, just for comparison. i might knock up a blog post to that effect. it's kind of interesting

Oh and I've also got some 3/4 commuters and they rock.

I'd like to make a comment on this if I may *shakes nervously*. I own a fair bit of Rapha gear ( I own other stuff) and I am pretty much covered for most eventualities through a range of full price, sale, sample sale and identified gift items. I buy it because I like it, I like the styling of it, I like their innovation, I like the materials they use and I like the amount of effort they put into promoting the amateur sport, but most of all after years of cycling I have had much to complain about my personal fitness failings but never has their gear let me down. My definition of value.

Well said Dave.

incidentally, you know what gets almost *exactly* the same spread of review marks on road.cc as rapha gear?

dhb gear.

funny old world

I would be interested to know what clothing the rapha bashers wear.
As far as I can see their prices for jerseys, bibs, jackets are no dearer than assos ,castelli etc.
I personally think their jerseys are the best on the market, the bibs are on a par with assos,
And the soft shell and rain jacket are as good as castelli radiation and assos air block , all of which I own.
IMO best value kit is DHB
I have to agree , rapha s marketing is rather pretentious, but the quality can not be denied.
The other thing I like about raphas kit is the style , plain not gaudy .
Ps gloves and mitts brilliant too.

Some lovely kit here. I don't have this kind of money to spend on cycling clothing, sadly, but if I did I'd probably treat myself to a couple of pairs of jeans, the pinky shirt and definitely the (actually quite reasonably priced) jacket.

I wouldn't knock anyone for spending their dosh on this lovely stuff. Team kits, on the other hand..

My point exactly.

I own a fair bit of Rapha, mostly bought at full price, and funnily enough, mostly bought before I started writing about cycling for a living, starting with the classic jersey in around 2006.

A few things I might not have forked out for myself I got as presents from my wife. She paid full price too.

Most recent thing was the Primavera t-shirt they did for Milan-San Remo, I liked it and paid £30, same as everyone else.

I like a lot (but by no means all) of their stuff, and I'm happy to pay for it, as I am for some other things I own - if I told you how much I paid for my (non-Rapha) wallet, you'd probably wince. God knows, I do just thinking about it but I love it.

My money, my choice. What's the problem?

Ah, better late than never, eh?!

"Karbon Kev" wrote:

the jeans look absolutely hideous for that kind of money, madness!

The jeans are superb. I got my pair for £75 but would pay full price for another pair when these wear out. Might be a few years though as they are so well made.

the jeans look absolutely hideous for that kind of money, madness!

"Dr_Lex" wrote:

The Brick Lane Bikes for H & M range earlier this month has been a value alternative in the 'urban gear' category.

The H&M stuff is dreadful, badly designed and badly made.

Nice clothes though.

The photographs on the Facebook page are hilarious. Every single one of the models has got their mouth open (in what can increasingly be described as 'The Rapha Look') - as though to say 'Although i am just standing in a studio looking into the middle distance really im a bit of a bad arse and work it to the maxxxx in my fine clobber and am always pretty much on the limit and ive just cycled 100k at full gas but i still look the beez kneez"
Almost beyond parody really.

I'm sorry, but this simply is not acceptable for a road.cc Rapha article - none of the comments are hating on Rapha or the people who buy it!

i've got a pair of falke 3/4s, swear by them. great for about 8 months of the year

There are at least two (and I suspect more) members of the road.cc team who pretty much live in Rapha 3/4s come the nicer weather