Rapha Announces Plans to Launch MTB Collection in 2021
Rapha CEO Simon Mottram announced in an Open Letter to mark the start of 2020 that the renowned brand in road cycling will be entering the mountain bike apparel space in 2021.
 | Back in 2004, Rapha started out with a small exhibition in East London where every photograph was taken on the tarmac. Since then, we have grown into something much greater with a mission to support cycling in all its forms. Though the cycling world seems at times to be divided into tribes, we believe we can have a legitimate place in each of them. In 2021, Rapha will launch its first collection of mountain bike clothing, making the most of our design expertise and a new office in a mountain biking mecca, to take the brand somewhere entirely new. More specific details will follow over the course of the year before this exciting new chapter gets fully underway in 2021. |
NICA was among the initial grantees of the Rapha Foundation last year and when we inquired about plans for mountain bike product to go alongside the advocacy efforts, Rapha stated that they have "a mission to help make cycling the most popular sport in the world and taking that into account mountain biking is incredibly important but we’re a long way from product."
They also said that, although the brand has always been inspired by mountain biking, the investment from Tom Walton and Steuart Walton (RZC Investments), both of whom are avid mountain bikers, played a role in the decision to enter the mountain bike apparel market.
"Mountain biking has always been a source of inspiration for us: from the technical innovation that road bikes have co-opted to Mountain Biking's open-minded approach to developing new formats. Steuart and Tom Walton’s manifest passion and support for mountain-biking has certainly brought MTB into sharper focus for us."
We look forward to seeing Rapha's first mountain bike apparel collection.
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Even better, you couldn't ride your NAHBS one-of-a-kind-yet-similar-to-all-the-rest-steel-lugged-singlespeed wearing nothing else!!!
And no there's not much emotional baggage to carry when looking at the world like that. Not at all. Quick reaction: "douche" and you move on forgetting you met them.
.. i know i'll be waiting for 2021 after-xmas sales....
Rapha at retail? Hell f*ckin' No.
Rapha core series on closeout for some merino bits? Ya sure.
www.bicycling.com/bikes-gear/a20014412/rapha-bought-by-walmart-heirs-heres-how-the-brand-might-change
Also interesting to research is how much the Walton family has done for MTB in AR. Not gonna make this one as easy for you with a link and would exhort you to look it up yourself.
You can hate Walmart all you want for whatever you want, but this association is ignorant.
Interesting to get downvoted on a completely factual statement where I intentionally did not provide opinion. People don't like my opinion - I am completely OK with that. People don't like facts - troubling and all too real in the world today.
Seriously, look at a brand like Santa Cruz, people still think they're buying into a boutique bike brand when literally every other person and his uncle has one.
can't fix, but concede the point.
Here is some perspective from Bloomberg Aug 19:
The numbers are mind-boggling: $70,000 per minute, $4 million per hour, $100 million per day.
That’s how quickly the fortune of the Waltons, the clan behind Walmart Inc., has been growing since last year’s Bloomberg ranking of the world’s richest families.
At that rate, their wealth would’ve expanded about $23,000 since you began reading this. A new Walmart associate in the U.S. would’ve made about 6 cents in that time, on the way to an $11 hourly minimum.
of Democratic Citizenship
James H. Kuklinski, Paul J. Quirk, Jennifer Jerit,
David Schwieder, and Robert F. Rich
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Scholars have documented the deficiencies in political knowledge among American citizens. An-
other problem, misinformation, has received less attention. People are misinformed when they con-
fidently hold wrong beliefs. We present evidence of misinformation about welfare and show that
this misinformation acts as an obstacle to educating the public with correct facts. Moreover, wide-
spread misinformation can lead to collective preferences that are far different from those that would
exist if people were correctly informed. The misinformation phenomenon has implications for two
currently influential scholarly literatures: the study of political heuristics and the study of elite per-
suasion and issue framing.
How about YOU contribute to mountain biking as much as they do? You cant? Why not? They earned their money, you can do the same, why don't you. It is not a crime to be rich, people who complain are just jealous then like to wave a SJW attitude to hide their jealousy.
The art museum is pretty cool though.
But they didn’t do that. They reinvested in their community, and with the help of other local Fortune 500 companies, they redeveloped it as a destination-far from what it was just 20 years ago.
What’s unique about this? My city is home to four or five fortune 500 companies and they’d rather levy us for expansions than to reinvest. At least the Waltons did something to improve their fellow resident’s quality of life-and if history is to repeat itself, the better the Waltons do, the greater the return for NWA.
Bentonville is for people who like the idea of mountain biking and being part of a “community” of mountain bikers more that’s actually riding bikes.
Or maybe I’m just bitter because it was vastly overhyped.
I had fun. It just didn’t live up to the hype. I would totally go there if I was in Colorado and snowed in. But if I’m getting on a plane and I can go anywhere in the USA for a week it’s not in my top 10.
bc math
When Rapha came out, they changed the game. Their fit was amazing, the quality was excellent and the colors were subdued and classy in a crowded field of logos and bright colored stripes (looking at you Castelli)
Wearing Rapha meant you were a "cool" roadie. You were gonna ride 70 miles but not brag about it. You probably were wearing Ray Ban Aviators instead of a Robocop mirror shield. Maybe you even waived to people.
This was a simpler time before Instagram.
Rapha started putting on long, attitude-free road rides. They were hard but also anti "Euro Pro". You would see guys on steel bikes, Rapha shorts and t shirts doing a hard 100 miles.
The products were also great.
I still have a pair of their original bib shorts and they're some of the best I've ever owned. The original cyclocross-specific products were really innovative and unique in the market.
But then a bunch of other, "cool" brands popped up and did what Rapha was doing. TeamDream, FYXO, MAAP, etc. Rapha had gotten big and were sponsoring Team Sky and seemed to have a hard time keeping their market position.
Always expensive, Rapha seemingly decided they would cede the position of the cool brand and become the, "premium" brand.
The Rapha Cycling Club (RCC) was the most obnoxious marketing thing I've ever seen: You paid $500 but the benefits were not made clear to you until after you signed up. Seriously. Something about exclusive membership and invitations. To what was unclear.
You did get the opportunity to spend another $500 for a gray and pink lycra kit that was sold ONLY to other RCC members. There were shorts and jerseys and vests and socks. They looked cool and started showing up everywhere I ride in Los Angeles - identifying the people who paid $500 for the opportunity to buy a $500 kit.
There was soon a popup store in Venice Beach where they all hung out. Not sure if there was a ride involved anymore or not.
No longer were they the cool, don't-take-spandex-too seriously crowd. Rapha had turned into the, "S-Works-Tarmac-to-ride-15-miles-as-fast-as-I-can" set.
Then they made another odd decision:
Having alienated the hipsters and lost their position as the counter-culture cycling brand, they then also screwed over their rich clients when they started selling these exclusive kits to everyone. Seriously. Today, anyone can buy the product you told you customers was an exclusive benefit available only to those that spent a good deal of money to join your club.
Yesterday, I got an email that they're rebooting the RCC. There was not a lot of information about how. But I'm sure it will cost money.
I'm not sure what they're going to do in Mountain Biking. Their product range is currently all over the place and I'm not sure what the brand is. The products are... fine. There has been a dip in quality for sure. Besides, it is already a crowded market where Club Ride, Mons Royale, POC and others already occupy the obvious places for Rapha to go in the dirt world.
We'll see...
There are plenty of perfectly functional shorts and jerseys that don't cost much. You just have to buy clothing that fits and is made out of a suitable material.
Now there's this article about another company owned by the same folks who own the first, see, except they're selling snooty overpriced goods this time. Along comes some dude and he makes a joke about how he wishes they'd open up a club selling overpriced beer. Ah, nevermind. this is probably too complex. I'll leave you to your comics.
I think I also made the same joke when Lululemon announced they were getting into the game.
Rapha is probably also the same as Lulu with maximum sizes for acceptable physiques. "if you're a man with over 90cm chest, you shouldn't wear our colorful condom outerwear".
I'm a pretty slim and short guy. I ended up in Rapha Large or XL jackets which blew my mind because I'm a US Small size in everything else.. but I couldn't breath in the Rapha gear unless it was Large+...
You must be new 'round these parts.
To end my book, bikes are rad, everyone spinning pedals around and around are rad, the end.
If this is true for the MTB clothing line, it is worth looking into it...
Have to wonder how many of you guys have actually owned any of their stuff?
Their "classic" shorts are among the comfiest and most durable I have ever owned, the Classic jersey ain't bad either.
Add to that the repair policy and "Black Friday" type deals and the stuff is actually pretty good value.
I hope they carry the repair policy over to MTB but seriously doubt it.
I dont think this will go too far, as most MTB riders i know see rapha as a "wanker roadie" label (not just a roadie label, roadies are fine, wanker roadies are wankers.
Even the local pre-lunch S-Works 50+/former Cat 1 MAMIL group ride hates Rapha anybody.