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agree with doubletap .. I've heard stories where companies have sourced from far east and got better quality. One story went along the lines of the far east company engineering manager actualling having some product made incorrectly boxing them up in a seperate box marked faulty and sending them to the US company because the US company couldn't understand they had achieved six sigma
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Oswald agree with doubletap .. I've heard stories where companies have sourced from far east and got better quality. One story went along the lines of the far east company engineering manager actualling having some product made incorrectly boxing them up in a seperate box marked faulty and sending them to the US company because the US company couldn't understand they had achieved six sigma
i'm not surprised. american apparel is so called made in the states and that hoodie that cost me 24quid (ok, nothing compared to that rapha thing) that i didn't actually wear too much broke along the seams and threads are fraying everywhere in less than 2 months. i don't even have problems with clothes i buy for 2 quid at the charity shop, or any other clothing item that's obviously made in china. what gives?
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You can't kill this one, it keeps coming back.
Yeah, the marketing is cringe-worthy and the whole 'fixed' concept is pathetic, but what Rapha stuff I have got is bloody brilliant. I put up with cheap shit for years and it's been a revolation to use something that works properly. The quality is similar to stuff like Assos, so is the price.
Their stuff is made in China, which isn't just a problem because of poor working conditions, it also means supporting a regime with an appauling human rights record. But 75% of most crap that we buy is made there! The only answer is to source fabric that hasn't been made in dodgy countries (which isn't easy, there aren't many out there) and make your own stuff, or wait for someone like smear to do it.
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punkpixel I think its a decent jacket. Possibly overpriced but my wive spends 300 quid on a pair of Marc Jacobs shoes she only wears once. Thats insane.
my wife does exactly the same thing. actually in terms of £numbers prob 4x more than what i spend in cycling gear (incl parts/equipment). i pointed this out a few weeks ago and just to make up for it she bought me a jacket for my upcoming birthday...rapha. sorry guys.
the quality is good. hopefully its technically good to match other outdoor technical jackets out there, which are pretty much priced the same. but really dont think id be able to tell. still think its way overpriced
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hippy What's 'normal shitty polyester cycling gear' though? You could buy a whole factory to churn out shitty cycling gear for the price of two Rapha items.
My polyester kit works quite well and has done for the last ooh 5+ years. Rapha is boutique, not better.Polyester stinks, i can't stand it. i can only wear it once, and it has to be washed, which is a real pain when i want to ride every day. you either end up buying lots more tops ( expensive) or running the washing machine every day, which is expensive and enviromentally unfriendly. i can wear a Rapha merino base layer 5, 6, 7 times, and it still doesn't smell. it's amazing, and i don't need to own lots of them cos they aren't always in the wash.
it's just better stuff. yes, it's a bit Gay, and yes, you pay for it. but it's better.
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atomic.a Just out of interest where do your fabrics come from Smeear?
vegetarian troll hair
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nimhbus
Polyester stinks, i can't stand it. i can only wear it once, and it has to be washed, which is a real pain when i want to ride every day. you either end up buying lots more tops ( expensive) or running the washing machine every day, which is expensive and enviromentally unfriendly. i can wear a Rapha merino base layer 5, 6, 7 times, and it still doesn't smell. it's amazing, and i don't need to own lots of them cos they aren't always in the wash.it's just better stuff. yes, it's a bit Gay, and yes, you pay for it. but it's better.
but you really mean merino vs polyester.
the make isn't that important, it's the properties of the material you are talking about
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nimhbus [quote]hippy What's 'normal shitty polyester cycling gear' though? You could buy a whole factory to churn out shitty cycling gear for the price of two Rapha items.
My polyester kit works quite well and has done for the last ooh 5+ years. Rapha is boutique, not better.Polyester stinks, i can't stand it. i can only wear it once, and it has to be washed, which is a real pain when i want to ride every day. you either end up buying lots more tops ( expensive) or running the washing machine every day, which is expensive and enviromentally unfriendly. i can wear a Rapha merino base layer 5, 6, 7 times, and it still doesn't smell. it's amazing, and i don't need to own lots of them cos they aren't always in the wash.
it's just better stuff. yes, it's a bit Gay, and yes, you pay for it. but it's better.[/quote]
Yeah, merino is really nice. But Rapha Merino better than any other Merino?
Nah.
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atomic.a Just out of interest where do your fabrics come from Smeear?
for the caps its mainly from Linton tweed in cumbria, they make stuff for chanel and other big designer names,
much of it is recycled fabric,
and some of it is from london markets
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i do like rapha stuff
its clean and simple looking, very classic
and it seems to work very well (so you guys say)basically they are doing what i would love to be doing (but with a little less smeear style!)
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was in the market for a windproof temperature adjustable jacket recently and had boiled my preferred options down to arc'teryx or rapha, but ended up winning a windstopper gore-bike wear all-black jacket off ebay for only 30-odd quid. One of my best purchases this year. Ebay wicked sometimes.
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lpg [quote]nimhbus [quote]hippy What's 'normal shitty polyester cycling gear' though? You could buy a whole factory to churn out shitty cycling gear for the price of two Rapha items.
My polyester kit works quite well and has done for the last ooh 5+ years. Rapha is boutique, not better.Polyester stinks, i can't stand it. i can only wear it once, and it has to be washed, which is a real pain when i want to ride every day. you either end up buying lots more tops ( expensive) or running the washing machine every day, which is expensive and enviromentally unfriendly. i can wear a Rapha merino base layer 5, 6, 7 times, and it still doesn't smell. it's amazing, and i don't need to own lots of them cos they aren't always in the wash.
it's just better stuff. yes, it's a bit Gay, and yes, you pay for it. but it's better.[/quote]
Yeah, merino is really nice. But Rapha Merino better than any other Merino?
Nah.[/quote]
Perhaps not, but it isn't really particularly expensive either, IMO.
Their gloves are unbelivably well made. I saw a pair of those crochet ones they had this summer, they were so good.
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If i had to choose between Assos and Rapha, i'd be Assos as the quality is much better than Rapha. Rapha's designs are very good, but I sometimes question its quality.
Ultimately, if you don't like a product, don't buy it. Simple.
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dubtap
Oswald
nimhbus
hippy
stompy
punkpixel
edmundane
Tris
fatboyralph
atomic.a
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About
Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?
Posted by
@Velocio
One of the Rapha guys is interviewed in Cycling Plus; they tried UK manufacture but no-one could get the stock to them on time or with all the arms attached.
they also point out that they are using fabric of quality that no-one else does whIch might be debatable.
Re. the made in China debate, I followed a thread on another forum about a snowboard company who moved their production to China with huge reluctance and found their stuff came back better than any US facility could manage. They visited the factory and found a team of people obsessed with making the product better and cheaper in a 'proper' light industrial factory unit. It ain't all sweatshops any more.