Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

@ Oliver

It's very relevant. I agree the stats are not exclusively about racing bicycles and lycra, the commuters in jeans and suits etc. have also been included in them. But you can see the size of the market in total.

Sure, my argument is just that ...

I don't think you see how big cycling as a sport is (and has always been) here in NL. If you were to come and ride with me on any Sunday morning with my club we'll see 20-25 more clubs on the road, with pelotons up to 30-40 riders in one 2.5 hour/80km ride.

... the size of the overall market for 'cycling' bears no necessary relation to the market for the sort of stuff that Rapha sell.

Given the high population density, it's also rather easy to meet lots of people in NL. (Rhetorical trick to confuse the discussion. ;) )

Sports cycling has increased much faster (relatively to overall number of participants) than commuter cycling in most areas in the UK, for instance, and the two are not proportionate. Both are still relatively small compared to NL, of course.

Among those there are more and more people who are willing to pay a little (...) extra for cycling kit without logo's and screaming colours. Racing bikes have become hip over here too, so people start with them as a fashion accessory and many grow into the sport, taking their ideas of style with them. And there are many riders who buy top of the line Colnago's and Pinarello's, Assos clothing, hand made steel bikes, so the market for Rapha is definitely increasing.

Your remark "As for those who do want Rapha, there are enough other jerseys in the collection to wear Rapha without having the embarrassing word on the front." is stepping outside the style choice/poor translation (deliberate or not) discussion at hand, a rhetorical trick I would not expect from you ;-) Of course you can choose to buy another jersey, that doesn't make this one's design less awkward.

Er? No rhetorical trick here--I was just saying that even if there's one duff design (on whose appeal I obviously agree with you), Rapha have other arrows to their quiver. I'd imagine that as they probably like the Vleeseter design and want to produce it, anyway, they won't be too worried about it not selling in Flemish-speaking countries. I certainly didn't mean to sidestep anything by that remark. Or do you think that this design is so bad that it'll actively put Dutch people off Rapha?