I have a few replica rapha items of clothing , only costs £22 ish per item. Best part is telling other cyclists at cafe stop then getting treated like i've drowned a bag of kittens.
Great episode guys. One thing I used on my winter bike is a neoprene cover that wraps around the headset which keeps water , mud and salt out. I also made sure I have a small back red light on my helmet so matter where I am I always have a back up rear light to get me home.
Sunday was ace (again!) and great to chat to you about 'the enjoyment' of it at the start. Were the shorts from the famous 'decorating chronicles'? As for Rapha - I think people have woken up to the fact that ridiculously expensive doesn't mean the best - and they aren't the 'cool kids' they were once seen as. I only realised recently how much they charge for 'club' membership - £70 a year. Whilst this isn't much, many clubs are £5 a year for exactly the same thing.
In winter I always switch to cargo bottle for tools, usually you drink less when its cold out so can get by with an 800ml bottle for a 50 mile ride and have less kit sag at the back. I usually pack: Inner tube, patch kit, valve extenders, multitool, front light, rear light, cloth, zip-ties, pump into my 'vel. 700ml storage can.'
A space blanket/ foil body sheet in your saddle/bar bag can be used in the event of an accident to help retain body heat of a casualty. It can also be worn under a jersey if you get a terminal mechanical while you wait for a lift home. For its size and weight it could be invaluable.
I think I recall Francis mentioning his friend Rachael a few years ago. Nice dedication from the chap that won. Rapha have just made less profit but lots of product sales have dropped. Gravel kit can be Lycra but it's different and jerseys are becoming like hybrid tshirts or even polo shirts with back pockets.
For looks I'm mildly obsessed with the last few years of canti brake CX bikes before they were replaced with discs. There's just something about how they look that I can't put my finger on.
A correction to Mechanic Nick from someone who has actually ridden this years UCI World Gravel course - the 2024 course is much more like those featured on Cade Media gravel rides - mud besides fields, trails in the woods, light gravel tracks plus some cobbles and some paved surfaces.... the fact that the pro's went fast on it say s WAY more about their capabilities than the course being a "bikepath world championships" (the bit at the start by the canal on light gravel then mud then cobbles is on the opposite bank of the canal to the actual bikepath! - 5 meters wide smooth tarmac both direction and separated from the road).
I have seen the Align Mips helmet that is super well rated and is very affordable, but the issue is that it is built very cheap, the padding comes off and there is no replacements on sale. So this is something to take into account as well. That helmet is going to be less durable unless you super glue the falling parts every now and then and don't lose them in one of the rides.
I Silca hot wax bikes including my commute bike, just dry or rewax chain on wet days. I don't degrease or deep clean chain except when new just wipe with microfibre cloth, dry and rewax. Use an Xpower air duster to dry chain, cassette mechs etc. as needed. The benefits of a waxed drivetrain far outweigh the grimy black mess my commute bike became in Winter with wet lube. Rotate 2 or 3 chains per bike so you don't have to rush rewaxing.
I live in Canada so our winters can be very cold, subfreezing, so washing is challenging (hosing outdoors is nigh on impossible). Also, I don't have a heated garage and no wife-friendly means of bringing my bike indoors so drying also is an issue. Despite the cold, I'll ride my fat bike only on very cold days when there is little to no chance of melting snow. I'll also avoid routes that haven't been cleared of salt. If you buy a winter-beater bike for cheap, then you can choose not to do much cleaning.
Ski socks, high viz does not matter, reflective strips does. The tin foil hack is new to me. Good saddle bag, by that I mean something like a Carradice. 4 season tyres, good gloves.
Rapha still has the best apparel logo 😆 but unfortunately it feels like the brand has lost its relevance. Such a touching speech at the end of the hill climb. Thanks for another great episode.
That speech for his/your friend was very moving. Short, simple, and yet said so so much with so few words. Had me crying, I guess it speaks to something so many of us are going through. Thanks for sharing it. It's important for countless reasons, some of which might never occure to others. Look after eachother people 🤙
Rapha still have a positive earnings (EBITDA) so in a business sense they are still viable - more viable than many large companies. They would say that their losses are due to some 'one off' expenses and don't effect their long term performance.
Rapha is a big part of the reason why cycling kit became so expensive. Any company charging $300 for a paid of bib shorts certainly isn't trying to get my business.
To the last point: You have to like it to ride it. I agree on this. But the thing is: YOU have to like it, not anyone else. I love my ratted out early 90s custom made Pinarello with a Crust Clydesdale fork and fully original Campa Record 8s. It might be the most uncommon, out of the park bike I own and people either hate it or love it. But it's the most comfortable thing in my stable and when riding it I know it's my bike. I can identify with it. Also nobody would ever steal that beautiful piece of crap on a grocery run hahaha
Was at the Rapha Clubhouse (Rapha's name for their retail store) in San Francisco the other day. What a depressing place, employees completely disengaged, uninterested in customer service, and not much inventory in stock. However, the coffee bar latte was pretty good, and you can outside on an old Citroen H Van converted into outdoor seating and enjoy the City vibe. I think Rapha is definitely well past their glory days.
With respect to “cleaning tires” while riding…instead of using your gloved hand, use a water bottle. It’s a habit I got into decades ago and one I still use. After passing through questionable road debris, grab your bottle by the neck and simply lay your bottle over the tire while riding. Done…tire cleaned up. Takes a little practice, (especially safety first on group rides) but saves your tires.
Rapha's parent company is RZC Investments, which is an investment company of Steuart Walton, who is a Walmart director who is worth > $80B. RZC also saved Wahoo from a bank callback last year. The $21M loss will likely be managed as a 'pivot opportunity'.
Helmets are funny things as Nic points out, being a fashion accessory almost as much as a safety device. I don't think an expensive helmet is necessary, but it's not bad either. For example, I currently use an Oakley ARO 5, which as you may know aren't exactly cheap. But I love being on my bike and I've thrown so much money at cycling that it doesn't seem that big a purchase to me - and I think I look cool riding with it (lame I know!). By comparison, my partner's bike probably only cost a fraction more than my helmet did, so she certainly wouldn't want to spend that sort of money. Instead, we went to a few local bike shops, and found a Specialized Align II in hot pink that she loved, probably cost a third of what my helmet cost, and has the same MIPS system as my helmet. Whatever you do, wear a helmet! I've only needed a helmet once in my life, but I wouldn't be here to comment if I hadn't been wearing one. Even if you think "Oh I ride sensibly and I have good awareness". Does your brake caliper that's about to fail due to a manufacturing defect care? Does the shard of glass that's about to puncture your front tyre care? Does the muppet show in the white van right up your ass care? Crashes happen all the time for all sorts of reasons, and often at no fault of our own.
4:48 Feather didn't pay for the bike. There are several sponsored videos on youtube about it. The podcast is entertaining, but the lack of research on information that would be so easy to find is frustrating, and it's consistent.
With Rapha, you really have to look at their financial statements. From one article I read, it seems that they do have a lot of cash on hand but that the loss is massive for the past year because it is due to a one time commitment. That commitment being the shutting down of the US warehousing operation. Once they swallow that loss, it should be smoother sailing going forward.
I just got into cycling 3m ago, and right now I have continental gatorskin 25mm, In my area it rarely snows and gets icy so... can any1 recommend some good tires? I have a giant contend sl I think it can get up to 38 mm but I am a heavy rider like 100kg so from what I read online I still need quite a lot of pressure
Heavily disagree with Nick here. Companies have no obligation to not take business from smaller businesses. There are already laws in most developed countries regarding competition practices. If a company is losing money, they are allowed to sell stock on extreme sale to get rid of the product. There's a difference between that and intentionally massively undercutting competition at a loss specifically just to drive competition out of business. A prime example of this is DTC bike brands. Just because they sell a cheaper, often better spec'd product for the price and "take" the sale from a bike shop, doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. Most of the largest businesses in the world operate at a loss. See; Uber, Twitch just to name a couple.
Clipping in is not necessary I’ve done 8000 road and gravel miles on a Topstone 2 Lefty this year on Stamp 7s flat pedals it should of been 10,000 miles but I had to have an operation next year I’m hoping to ride 12,000 miles with SPDs just so I can say you don’t need to clip in based on my personal experience and I’m a proud member of the RCC and spend 1000s on Rapha kit and now I have started buying EF pro kit because regular Rapha is getting boring and too common.
I don't think Rapha is taking away from customers from other brands. It's always way too expensive and focused on the urban yuppies (formally hipsters) who outgrew their fixed gear bikes. State side or north of NYC you see packs of them riding around the Catskills and/or the Berkshires on weekends. At some point they'll lose interest in cycling and Rapha will go away with them.
Again, with Rapha, auditors will only say that the statements are done correctly according to accounting rules. They are really not in a position to give an opinion on how the business will perform in the coming year(s).
46:35 lol good joke, i'm totally gonna buy a new helmet every 3 years mr bike shop owner. I actually love throwing all my perfectly good stuff into landfill to keep the consumerist machine churning
Ya gotta hand it to Mottram, selling this turd off to the Sprawl-mart dolts before it tanks! It's a business model - create something, market the hell out of it, then sell it off to some rich morons and laugh all the way to the bank while it tanks. Nothing new here. But RAPHA was a made-up thing from the jump - "We want to be ASSOS but don't have any heritage, passion or history. So let's make it all up!" Marketing-marketing-marketing while having their stuff made by contract-makers but calling it original/artisanal/blah blah blah. Everyone figures out eventually if your stuff is overpriced crap..and they go elsewhere. S-WORKS? Same s__t, different day: marketing-marketing-marketing!
A helmet won't save your head in a bad crash, lost a fellow club rider when he crashed on Dartmoor last Summer, his £250 helmet did nothing. I don't bother with one except on group rides, they do give false confidence, don't believe the hype and try to ride sensibly with full concentration, avoid dangerous roads.
Rapha kit is too expensive. I buy Castelli because I know my size and I buy discounted products. I got two Gabbas from Merlin for £65 each earlier this year.
