Endura and Rapha changes

[Webbo2]

Both companies went downhill when bought out.
Sympathies for the workers, none for the current owners.

Is this not the case with lots of companies. They are bought out then often the manufacturing is moved somewhere cheaper and suddenly they are losing money as folk don’t want to pay premium prices for crap.

 

[hobo]

Funny how British brands cant stay successful then you have brands like Castelli that have been around donkeys years.
Rapha should be the British Castelli
You should always engineer quality, quality will always sell.

 

[PaulSB]

Im surprised theyre closing the Manchester store, obviously Ive got no insight as to how the store was doing since I didnt even manage to find it last time I was in Manchester, found the Trek store though. But I thought Manchester, with it being the BC hub as well, had a good local cycling scene, ie lots of potential customers,so if you cant sell enough stuff to them, then there is something seriously wrong with the setup.

also what does it mean for Raphas Manchester to London ride, as I thought that store was a big part of that ?

the thing is I dont think theyll turn the business round because I dont think they understand the reasons why theyre failing currently,and ignoring specifically with Rapha Ive felt a downturn in kit quality in the last few years, the simple fact is they dont make anything that I want to buy anymore.

same with Le Col even with their firesale, its like not even really about the price at that point, its like none of their stuff interests me enough to part with any money.

whilst I can go on Ale, Gobik, Universal Colours and find loads of stuff I want. So its just until they work out who theyre trying to attract as a customer, theyll go on losing money.

I think you make some very good points which echo my own views.

I've never been a Rapha fan and why was confirmed on the one ocassion I had contact with the company. Let's keep one phrase in mind "The World's Finest Cycling Clothing and Accessories." A bold statement and one which a company should be able to substantiate.

My experience. One birthday my son gave me a Rapha jersey he purchased at the London store. I wanted to exchange it for a different product. I live near Manchester. I visited the store and asked for an exchange. The store flat out refused saying I could only return the jersey to the London store.

I contacted customer services who agreed if I mailed the jersey to head office, at my cost, I would be given a voucher. This took 7 - 10 days.

I returned to Manchester to find the store had virtually no stock, just a random selection of sale items. Nothing for me to browse. Think M&S with 80% empty shelves, that's how poorly stocked the store was.

Fortunately the rain jacket I wanted was available online. It's a decent jacket but far from the finest in the world. This isn't how one builds a business that can live up to its strap line.

Like yourself most cycle clothing companies have no chance of selling me product. I have everything I need and none, bar two, offer anything I would buy.

The exceptions for me are Lusso and Galibier who offer new and imaginative products that stimulate me to buy. Over the past 2-3 years I've bought six items from Lusso and four from Galibier. Each of these items has been innovative, persuading me to buy and making a significant contribution to my enjoyment of riding. I've spent the last week resisting the temptation to order a Galibier jacket that I don't need.......but really, really want to own.

Galibier send a free buff with every order, always makes me feel valued as a customer.

 

[Pblakeney]

Funny how British brands cant stay successful then you have brands like Castelli that have been around donkeys years.
Rapha should be the British Castelli
You should always engineer quality, quality will always sell.

Trouble is that they were selling so well that the company got sold.
Then...

 

[Happy_Days]

The exceptions for me are Lusso and Galibier who offer new and imaginative products that stimulate me to buy. Over the past 2-3 years I've bought six items from Lusso and four from Galibier. Each of these items has been innovative, persuading me to buy and making a significant contribution to my enjoyment of riding. I've spent the last week resisting the temptation to order a Galibier jacket that I don't need.......but really, really want to own.

I’ve only seen high praise for Lusso and Galibier gear, but I’ve no firsthand experience with them.

I’m curious—what was innovative about these particular products?

 

[fossyant]

Decathlon, Endura or Altura boy here. TBH, Rapha is some rich person's plaything - it's been bankrolled for far too long. You can't run a company with those constant losses.

TBH, I think the Manchester Club-house was in the wrong place - King street = high rents, and it's bang in the middle of Manchester, which isn't nice to ride into (I work just outside the centre). I wouldn't do a weekend ride from the city as I'm bang on the edge of the Peaks, and Cheshire, and can avoid small 'towns' on my rides - many riders are.

 

[fossyant]

I’ve only seen high praise for Lusso and Galibier gear, but I’ve no firsthand experience with them.

I’m curious—what was innovative about these particular products?

Lusso have been around for donkey's years - it was the stuff to get after Assos as that was too expensive, and Lusso was local, some of my club mates knew the owner in their early days.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Decathlon, Endura or Altura boy here. TBH, Rapha is some rich person's plaything - it's been bankrolled for far too long. You can't run a company with those constant losses.

TBH, I think the Manchester Club-house was in the wrong place - King street = high rents, and it's bang in the middle of Manchester, which isn't nice to ride into (I work just outside the centre). I wouldn't do a weekend ride from the city as I'm bang on the edge of the Peaks, and Cheshire, and can avoid small 'towns' on my rides - many riders are.

Quite a lot of the Decathlon stuff is very good value for money. The endurance and rcr bibs, as an example, are about £45 and £90 respectively and are of the same quality of a lot of bibs in the £150+ category.

 

[fossyant]

Quite a lot of the Decathlon stuff is very good value for money. The endurance and rcr bibs, as an example, are about £45 and £90 respectively and are of the same quality of a lot of bibs in the £150+ category.

And you can try it on, and there is a guarantee. I had a zip fail on a winter jacket after a year, but within the guarantee - took to store, replaced no issues.

 

[T4tomo]

Currently, Le Col is offering over 50% off the price of many products. That’s a massive price reduction, even by Le Col’s standards—now might be a good time to buy:

https://lecol.cc/collections/mens-sale

Its not unusual, they do it most years with last season stock etc. brings it down to a vaguely acceptable price, if available in your size.

 

[Mr.B-Campag]

Only Decathlon and Galibier make any sense to me: I see no reason to pay more for products from other purveyors that are, at best, marginally better. Galibier's service is top notch too.

 

[katiewlx]

Is this not the case with lots of companies. They are bought out then often the manufacturing is moved somewhere cheaper and suddenly they are losing money as folk don’t want to pay premium prices for crap.

I got the feeling that was happening with Rapha before they sold out, one of the reasons why their quality issue became so subjective is because they seemed to be running with multiple manufacturing locations, so some of it was still quite good, but some of was not so good, and then post sale they seemed to move to the not so good setup more predominantly.

and you can normally always tell theyve shifted production somewhere else, even if the quality feels similar, Rapha did at least put it on the label where it was made, because the sizing suddenly goes out of whack, and you are sizing up or down for no apparent reason.

 

[PaulSB]

Lusso have been around for donkey's years - it was the stuff to get after Assos as that was too expensive, and Lusso was local, some of my club mates knew the owner in their early days

Yes, this is correct. I've briefly met John Harrison, the original owner, a couple of times on cafe stops.

The kit and service was always very good under John's ownership. On retirement he sold the business to a staff member, Jake Wright. I think this was in 2021. Since then, to my mind, Jake has taken the business to the next level. I genuinely believe Lusso offer the best kit available.

 

[slowmotion]

That’s a shame. Both are great brands and provide much of my cycling specific clothing. Unfortunately for them it lasts a long time and I only buy things when I need them.

I can't agree. The first pair of track mitts that I ever bought were made by Endura. The stitching started to self-destruct within three weeks of purchase and I never bought from them again.

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I got the feeling that was happening with Rapha before they sold out, one of the reasons why their quality issue became so subjective is because they seemed to be running with multiple manufacturing locations, so some of it was still quite good, but some of was not so good, and then post sale they seemed to move to the not so good setup more predominantly.

and you can normally always tell theyve shifted production somewhere else, even if the quality feels similar, Rapha did at least put it on the label where it was made, because the sizing suddenly goes out of whack, and you are sizing up or down for no apparent reason.

This is true, in the early days everything (from what I can remember) was manufactured in Italy. The quality was absolutely top notch, even the original merino socks has about three layers of ribbing on the inside cuff of the right sock so if you caught it on your chain ring you didn't tear through the whole sock. Once they had to scale up they obviously had to source suppliers that could handle much bigger output (like pretty much any brand). Personally I never felt that quality of the garments dropped, it was more the finer details (like the sock example) disappeared which was obviously a cost saving exercise. Completely agree on the sizing though, they have reduced the sizing of garments massively over the years, I am sure in a bid to reduce material usage and cut costs further.