Big Changes at Rapha

[charliedid]

I was always partial to this one - https://youtu.be/db1Au4Qymwo

It's even funnier if you know the whole series they did - https://youtu.be/-ibYnYoJ1jA

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by GregL

I respectfully disagree. This is the best commercial ever!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdFKcETEPg

Greg

Excellent

[bicycletricycle]

That leaked financial info showed roughly 50% of Rapha’s budget going to the supply chain so it’s not like they are making boat loads of cash from an extravagant mark up. If they made the same clothes here the cost would go up dramatically. Everyone already complains about their pricing.

Willingness to pay more for a medical implant doesn’t seem like much of an insight. Besides, only insurance companies know what the cost of medical implants are. If we had to pay for them out of pocket they would also be made in China.

I didn’t mean anything positive or negative about unions. Just that they make production costs higher.

Originally Posted by Heisenberg

Not to derail, but this is an interesting insight - we're willing to put up with extremely inflated costs for things that save our lives (or don't, if we're poor), but not for a plastic t-shirt with a zipper up the middle and three pockets out back.

Something is broken. Late capitalism, yo.

I'll hold off on cutting the organized labor snark.



Rumors about a team in pink, these days.

[fiamme red]

Originally Posted by colker

"At the Munich Olympic Velodrome in 1978, lateral thinking Swiss engineer, Tony Maier-Moussa, unveiled his latest creation: Daniel Gisiger of Switzerland riding in the first anatomical skinsuit. Whilst Gisiger's results didn't garner much attention, his one-piece suit certainly did, and the first Assos skinsuit was born."

https://www.condorcycles.com/blogs/j...assos-skinsuit

Assos is about technology and performance. Rapha is about technology too but marketing and attitude is the game play ...
Assos is swiss. Rapha is brittish. Brits have a tradition of selling attitude and image.

Besides their clothing, Assos also started as a designer of aerodynamic, lightweight components: rims, saddles, cranks, pedals, etc.

http://www.classicrendezvous.com/Swi...Assos_main.htm

http://velobase.com/ViewBrand.aspx?B...a-839310dd66fe

http://www.cyclist.co.uk/in-depth/81...-factory-visit

Assos’s early innovations included rims, chainsets, pedals, bottom bracket, hubs, saddles and a belt attaching a rider to the stem for more climbing power. Despite failing to establish themselves as long-term saleable products, several of Maier’s inventions were successes. Assos’s impressively light, aerodynamically curved, anodised aluminium rims were ahead of their time, and met with significant acclaim: ‘Fignon and Hinault were riding on my rims, re-badged. My biggest problem was that I didn’t have the money to pay them.’

So Assos continued with innovation in clothing, and ideas such as the 1995 line of kit that was the first to be made available in a full range of colours would cement the company’s place at the top of the industry. While things have changed a little from the early days when Assos clothing first made riders looks like aliens, it is certainly a brand with an enduring peculiarity. But as Cyclist learns during our visit, it’s that unusual approach that has made Assos such a prominent name.

[choke]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

Best commercial ever:

https://youtu.be/gm_n76Dsl0c

Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by GregL

I respectfully disagree. This is the best commercial ever!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXdFKcETEPg

Greg

Sorry gents, this is the best ever...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVS1UfCfxlU

[fourspin]

You weren't kidding about the green! Enough to outfit an army!

Originally Posted by dbnm

Look for new products tomorrow, including lots of dark green items.

[Grant McLean]

Originally Posted by fiamme red

Besides their clothing, Assos also started as a designer of aerodynamic, lightweight components: rims, saddles, cranks, pedals, etc.

And superhero costumes too!

[dbnm]

Apparently, Rapha is closing the Sydney shop and did not tell anyone.

[Grant McLean]

Originally Posted by dbnm

Rapha is closing the Sydney shop

That's not really surprising. The majority of Rapha sales in all countries is from on-line orders.
(something like 80-85% is what i read).

I don't know how they fill the orders or restock just 1 or 2 stores on a continent.
It makes much more sense from a logistics perspective to just deal directly with
the consumers shipping either from Asia or a distribution center in Europe.

If Rapha opens in Canada, they'll fill stock from the USA warehouse, otherwise
there would be no way to have a sustainable business plan in a country this size.
Currently, customer orders fly from the UK. There is no way to service small
markets will domestic infrastructure required for 1 store.

-g

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by dbnm

Apparently, Rapha is closing the Sydney shop and did not tell anyone.

Somebody was told, otherwise how would you know? ;-) Are you saying the employees of the shop were completely blindsided one day and told they were out of a job....and good luck?

FWIW I heard about this sometime in the past couple week, maybe even posted in this thread or another.

[Clean39T]

FWIW - I received excellent customer service from a CS rep named Bennet at Rapha.com today..

[cgolvin]

Originally Posted by Clean39T

FWIW - I received excellent customer service from a CS rep named Bennet at Rapha.com today..

I've ridden with Bennet, super nice guy.

[m4rk540]

Today, I wore a pro team aero jersey from a few seasons back. Fits great. I wore it over shorts and not bibs. My hope was that the great fit and style would distract from the fact that I was wearing 10 year old Mavic shorts which had lost their elasticity at the hem.

[dbnm]

The latest rumor going round is that in addition to closing the Sydney shop, they are going to close Boulder, Seattle, and Chicago.

Really sucks.

[cgolvin]

I think this is the source (or at least one source):
https://medium.com/@amandakgordon/ra...e-b335d7589d52