Lend me £500

an email from rapha (only got it because i brought a jersey in the sale)

*July 7th has to be the most exciting day on the 2007 racing Calendar. The Tour de France prologue is being held in central London. There will be two million people on the streets.

The best place to watch the event will be with Rapha. Working with Face Partnership and Fran Millar(David's sister) we have taken the top floor of the Royal Yacht Club overlooking the course in Knightsbridge. We are offering 20 VIP hospitality packages for sale to our friends and customers.

The package: Exclusive view of the course from the Royal Yacht Club. Panoramic windows and balcony. Two 62" plasma screens showing the event. Fine food and wines all afternoon. Exclusive Rapha event jersey. Price £500 per person.

As places are strictly limited, please let us know if you would like tickets to this exclusive event by 1st May. E-mail enquiries@rapha.cc telling us how many tickets you would like. We will reply in the first week of May to the first 20 people to contact us.*

anyone going? :-)

I wouldn't want to mix with the sort of people who can afford that ;)

If I had £500 spare, I'd be buying that chromed Hetchins.

As much as i like rapha gear, the prices are starting to get to me. £40 for a t-shirt. £500 to watch the tour de france (on television). £130 for a leg shaving kit?

yeah, it's elitist bollox

I was told about the leg shaving kit on April 1. I truly thought it was a joke.

But the one that gets me is the pad. That thing is ludicrous.

Still, I have a ton of Rapha gear and I do love it all. Well nearly all of it. Chrome shants beat Rapha shants without question.

yeah, it's elitist bollox

yeah true, but some of it is so pretty! i'd get this in the online sale for 45 if i could afford it:

but i'll make myself wait till they have another sale at velorution, where the stuff was proper cheap. On a side note, the Sportswool they use in their jerseys is just about the perfect material for cycling clothing.

i also have some rapha gear, but can only afford them when they have their sales. but there's something weird about paying £130 for a brush and razor or £135 for a riders journal.

it's nice kit if you buy it in the sale, overpriced wank for cityboys at full RRP.

So when you see someone wearing it, how do you know the difference?

I saw a messenger yesterday head-to-toe in Rapha gear. He also kept it clean, yet the cap and shoulder had clearly worn. It was strange, it's so expensive that I just don't really expect to see it on messengers. The caps, the gloves... perhaps. But this guy had fixed shorts, sportswool jersey, cap... I didn't get to see if he had the socks too.

But anyhow, yes it's way out of budget at full RRP. But the sales bring it to more realistic but still expensive levels, and once acquired, the stuff is heavenly. I don't really care if it's worn by city boy wankers, us or messengers... it's nice stuff and I think that the discerning eye will pick it out. To messengers we're probably the city boy wankers, after all, how can you tell the difference on the street?

it's all cycling, it's all good

:D

velocity boy:So when you see someone wearing it, how do you know the difference?

i don't. it's just that at full RRP only bonusboy can afford the stuff and not wince at the markup.

having fun on my bike is more important than kudos from a messenger.

A leg shaving kit? For 140? Dude, I have this bridge that goes to Brooklyn... wanna buy?

Call me sexist, but unless you are a professional athlete, I have a hard time taking seriously a man who shaves anything other than his face.

velocity boy:So I saw a messenger yesterday head-to-toe in Rapha gear. He also kept it clean, yet the cap and shoulder had clearly worn. It was strange, it's so expensive that I just don't really expect to see it on messengers. The caps, the gloves... perhaps. But this guy had fixed shorts, sportswool jersey, cap... I didn't get to see if he had the socks too.

A messenger with rapha gear usually did a photoshoot for them. They pay you in clothes :S
Imagine if guys with 'proper' jobs can't afford it, how are messengers gonna do it.

Anyway, I have my own thoughts on them (know to some forum members) but I'll spare you the details

Chrome shants though... they rock. The more I use mine, the more I love them. My Rapha shorts barely get touched anymore (shit, maybe I should sell them!).

not 30in waist are they? do you fart a lot? have piles?

They're medium... I think they're 30in waist, that's what I am.

I don't fart that much, just the usual amount.

if you wanna sell them whisper or email me

Let's compare, Assos is crazily expensive, and their stuff is made in Swizterland... Rapha prices are even higher than Assos, and their clothes are made in Taiwan! Argh!

The guys with the rapha shit are "sponsored" aka do product testing and pose for pics to give rapha street cred. I almost got to be one of them, blast it all to hell.

PS: the only rapha shit i own I won or got as a present.

Feck me! £175 smackers for this:
http://www.rapha.cc/index.php?page=284

I've so got to unsubscribe from their distro list.