Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

Running and cycling aren't the same though. Wind chill for cycling is significantly greater and it effects your arms more as they are also out there unshielded. If the blood in your arms is cold your fingers will be too.

When you run you pump blood to the hands through the movement. Makes a massive difference.

I cover my arms when it's cold enough to wear gloves. Makes a difference to me.

I am, doesn't make it the safest thing to ride in though (even if it looks uber cool)

"thought piece" in "guardian"

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/bike-blog/2016/jan/20/why-do-so-many-cyclists-love-to-hate-rapha

First comment

My personal beef, is that when Rapha first started it was about making kit in the UK, of excellent quality - that is why it was so expensive - but at least you understood why. However, Rapha was sold to private equity, Simon lost control of the brand. Now it is just another "premium brand" that manufactures where it can for lowest cost. I am sure the design is innovative, but what the brand stood for has been lost.

I lol'd

“For £260 I could buy 32 and a half pairs of Decathlon’s finest!,” screamed another.

Standard.

Can also confirm Mr Bourgeois tale about salty old Leeds dudes, you get some right glares from miserable 1990s threadbare club kit / 2012 Giant TCR blokes when stopping for a coffee in decent clobber.

Moral of the story: Dont go to Leeds.

Maybe @Tp88 and @Dick could share their experiences in this safe circle.

Should have seen their faces when I had the FxM kit on.

edit: Christ I just read all the comments on that article, some people take the Lidl contrarian thing pretty seriously.

Cross posting from the jobs board:

Work at Rapha!

https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/280293

im certain I've read that exact same article in the guardian before

edit: could have been road.cc

And its been stolen by new London Banker cyclist turnip head.

So much anger in them comments.

There's so much hate for Rapha by people who've never worn the stuff.
I remember a mate at uni, he couldn't understand why people ate out at expensive restaurants - you get food at Nandos (not actually sure Nandos was a thing back then, but whatever it was), why would you pay more than that for anything?
There's diminishing returns with anything, doubtless, but if you spend 12+ hours a week in the saddle you want your clobber to be decent.

They are your 'can you show me how its fixed?' lot in bike shop or 'why do you charge £10 to replace an inner tube?' etc.

The guy who wrote this is clearly an idiot.

"I’ve always been puzzled as to why Rapha in particular is the focus of such ire from a substantial section of the cycling community." he says, after writing not one but two paragraphs about how expensive Rapha is and how some people hate that.

Is it too much to ask 'journalists' to re-read paragraphs they've just written?!

There is no such thing as bad publicity!

Exactly - look at Donald Trump.

Sales of SHADOW have gone crazy this afternoon.

Possible lie.

I can't see it doing any harm. Massive piece of clickbait for the Gruniad too. Win win.

Fit on the Shadow jersey is odd. Fits normally everywhere but the shoulders. I normally wear a medium pro team jersey but the Shadow was super baggy above the nips. Returned. Impressed when I ran it under the sink though.

Anyone experience getting refunded an amount LESS than what they paid?

It's the second time it's happened in the last few months... I think it has to do with the fact that when you buy an item at a higher sale price, when they process the refund, if the items current price is lower than what you paid, you get refunded the lower (incorrect) amount... Im sure it'll get sorted out though.

the long sleeve jersey is indeed very nice.

that is all.

This may or may not be the place but I have a Paul Smith 531 merino hoody that's now sold out.

It cost me £175 so, before I send it back for a refund, does anyone here want it for £175. I think the original RRP was quite a bit more. (It's black, pictures available on request etc.)

If there's no takers, I'll send it back on Monday. (It's nice but pricey and sadly doesn't fit due to a winter on the Jan Ulrich diet.

It's this one:

What size is it?

Sorry, it's a small.

The opinions of the Decathlon Peloton are a bit irrelevant really.... They generally fall into two groups:
1) Never had quality gear & don't know what they are missing/talking about (I.e. Cows talking about motorbikes).
2) Don't need it (On their once weekly club spin / 5 mile commute).

As for all this malarky about rapha/expensive gear guys getting passed by hero in lidl's finest, The front bunch of any decent race isn't populated by the gregarieos of the Decathlon Peloton.
Long hours of training is hard enough (Especially in winter) without making it some kind of survival test. 5 hours a week commuting around Leeds (For example) is hardly the true test of whether Rapha/Assos is value for money or not...... Ive been to dhb / shitkit & its not a pretty spot....

A Few times. A call to CS will sort.