Anyone been yet? http://pages.rapha.cc/clubs/manchester I will have a mooch next time I am in town.

All the planned rides are in Cheshire or Derbyshire.
Most of them start down on the south side too.
At least they know their demographic, but ignoring all the decent riding to the North of the city puts me off for a start.

Might pop in for a look, but tbh I have no interest in buying lifestyle accessories as I have an actual life to be getting on with.

Wow and ouch in equal measure. Don’t forget to pick your handbag up on the way out.

Rusty spanner yesterday

My mate DJed at the opening. I might pop in and not buy anything.

I’d love a trike!

Pretty accurate apart from that though.
🙂

rapha? cheapest bibs, 160 quid… given that’s a good chunk over the cost of everything else you really have to wonder why you’d bother

Idle curiosity and a bit of people watching. I’ll buy some stuff when they have another clearance weekend.

rapha? cheapest bibs, 160 quid… given that’s a good chunk over the cost of everything else you really have to wonder why you’d bother

Unless you were after a pair of high quality bib shorts and didn’t want to pay Assos KuKu-penthouse prices? Then perhaps you would bother to enter Rapha’s northern outpost clothing emporium?

Rubbish.

Plenty of excellent bibs for far less than that.

It’s an ostentatious display of wealth but not necessarily taste.
The Range Rover Sport of cycle clothing.

I find Rapha gear is often worn by those who define themselves by what someone else has told them to buy, rather than who they are.
A personality substitute, if you like. *

* Not everyone of course.
I’m sure no one on here is at all like that.
Oh no.

Rusty Spanner – Member
Rubbish.

Plenty of excellent bibs for far less than that.

It’s an ostentatious display of wealth but not necessarily taste.

That’s me in my Rapha bib and jersey and on my Orange Five fecked for this forum’s fashionistas then.

fwiw, I ordered, in one batch, a pair of bibs from Rapha, and 20 different pairs (brands) of bibs ranging in price from £40 to £200 from Wiggle at the start of the summer. The only ones that came close to the Rapha in comfort and fit were Assos and they were even more expensive!

I fail to see why a pair of shorts is an ostentatious display of wealth, when you’re riding a £4000 PUSHBIKE. And the comfort, quality, and importantly, crash repair guarantee, make them worthwhile for me.

And taste? black shorts and black jersey will never go out of fashion.

I don’t ride a £4000 pushbike. Wouldn’t dream of it. 😀
And you may be unsurprised to find I am not a fashionista.

And I said ‘often’, not always.

The best bit about wearing rapha is the consternation and handwringing it causes in others.
You have to wonder how their minds work when a simple pair of black cycling shorts has such an effect,

It’s an ostentatious display of wealth but not necessarily taste.
The Range Rover Sport of cycle clothing.

The only ones that came close to the Rapha in comfort and fit were Assos

Yes I often find that skin tight lycra can be as harsh as sandpaper next to my baby soft skin and you can never be too careful about chaffing or fit. Do people actually mean this – I honestly dont care and i have stuff that ranges from £8 aldi to £60 shorts [ a gift] and there is no obvious difference in use that i can detect.
Without it being technical waterproof gear it is nothing but a rip off and a massive one at that IMHO

Personally i would not wear Rapha if i was given it – then again I am not like MR smith it is kind of you to make sure we can spot you as easily in the real world as it is in the internet world 😛

It’s an ostentatious display of wealth but not necessarily taste.
The Range Rover Sport of cycle clothing.

Haha – what a load of crap.

The rapha logo is about 3cm long and gloss black on matt fabric, if you are that close to read it I’ll report you for stalking.

not many other companies out there that would have replaced my 18 month old shoes after a crash, and repaired my worn out touring shorts twice for free, not even charging for returns

…..I honestly dont care and i have stuff that ranges from £8 aldi to £60 shorts [ a gift] and there is no obvious difference in use that i can detect.

In that price range I agree, not much difference – but to dismiss an item you haven’t tried just because of your perception of people that own it is just ignorance

Rapha is old hat now and fat mamil ware.
Have moved on to Le-Col, bibs are great and their winter jacket very good.

You mean being slow

to dismiss an item you haven’t tried just because of your perception of people that own it is just ignorance

Only if what I think is not true

IMHO people buy certain clothes, phones, ipads, cars, replica kits, not because they are intrinsically better but because it shows that they can afford to buy it. IMHO you pay a premium for the “brand” rather than a quality of the item.

The items are not intrinsically better quality than alternatives.

I would be amazed if you were to blind test users that they could tell you what is cheap and expensive and guess the price etc. The huge variation in price wont be explainable by anything other than “branding”.

The Wilmslow contingent will drop Rapha like a stone once all the local dealers on stolen Cannondales are head to toe in it anyway.

I’ll give it six weeks.

😀

You really do have a huge issue with your geographical location don’t you Rusty. Did your heart want Bramhall but your bank balance say Bolton?

I bought a pair of Levi jeans for £60 because they fit better, feel more comfortable and will last three times as long (at least) as two pairs of £30 jeans from Next. If I find myself needing a couple of pairs of bib shorts at the same time, I might buy one pair of Rapha because I’ve never read or heard of anybody complaining about the quality, comfort, customer service, longevity of the product that I have with Endura.

The items are not intrinsically better quality than alternatives

Who really cares about that? It’s a pair of shorts we are talking about here, not making a purchasing decision for the NHS worth millions to perform open hear surgery with. Try them, like them, keep them. Don’t like them? Don’t buy them again. It’s just a pair of shorts.

Only a bedwetter would worry so much about what shorts other people buy.

…I would be amazed if you were to blind test users that they could tell you what is cheap and expensive and guess the price etc.

On some things maybe, there must be a level when performance gains become so marginal they are virtually undetectable.
I was probably one of the most reluctant Rapha buyers and certainly find them expensive for my budget, but I can certainly tell the difference.

Only a bedwetter would worry so much about what shorts other people buy.

Your trolling is so subtle and well executed its a joy to watch it played out
I have fed you enough today.

“The items are not intrinsically better quality than alternatives”

Yes they undoubtedly are. Night and day difference between Rapha and Altura for instance.

I admit to being the proud owner of a pair of Rapha over socks. I hope to graduate to a pair of 3/4 bib longs this autumn. Not the Shutt VR crap I bought last year. Oh no, never again.

Monksie.

I may not be entirely serious.
Hold onto that fact and we might all just get through this ok.

It could even be fun.

Burnley btw.

£180 😯

Someone is getting fleeced – See what i did there

*Minor Wilmslow (and two Cannondales) thank you very much 😆

Ohmygodhesaid…..”Burnley”. It’s worse than I thought. You have my sympathy.

You really do have a huge issue with your geographical location don’t you Rusty. Did your heart want Bramhall but your bank balance say Bolton?

oh i see? it’s a regionalist thing?
well people always moan about London sucking up all the money and talent so when a class leading brand decides to open a store while not exactly complementing the others in London : Tokyo : New York : San Francisco : Sydney, it might just give them a taste of the high-life the locals turn their noses up at it?
theres no pleasing some people.

Some people aren’t happy until they’re unhappy junky- Mr.Smith.

that comment upset me
Thanks for cheering me up

Me? i’m as happy as a mamil in rapha getting a gold sportive time. 🙂

‘wobbles, punches-air’

Your trolling is so subtle and well executed its a joy to watch it played out
I have fed you enough today.

It’s just banter.

Aaaaannnnyyywwwaaayyys up, anyone actually been in the store yet?

I know Rapha to some induce mild panic and bedwetting, but I’m not interested in that..

Wot’sdaShopLike??

I was at the opening ‘working’. It was fun because there was free beer and cured meats, of which I consumed much. I didn’t buy anything. It’s nice though, in a branding kinda way. Some photos here:

Rapha Store Opening

They’ll only need to advertise it in the Bike Rooms on Deansgate. Thats their demographic covered.

Part of their demographic anyway. Advertising on King Street will cover the other half – people who don’t know them as a clothing brand with exclusive aspirations.

Bought a water bottle in the London store. And not one of the bright-but-will-scratch-to-pieces ones, either. I thought the £4 premium for the witty information was a premium worth paying (once). The young lady in front of me paid £745 for a modest sized bag of clothing 😯 . I hope it makes her faster, but I can’t help but thinking that a year’s coaching might have been a better investment.

The young lady in front of me paid £745 for a modest sized bag of clothing

Flipping heck. I hope you informed her that she could buy a bike for that.

I think I’d have been dumbstruck though!

My take on Rapha Manchester – it’s not too far away from me but family and work mean I get very, very little spare time – so I think I’ll continue to use it riding my bike instead of buying fannyish clothes to do it in.