This is the new winter bike, procured for dealing with the foul-quagmire-in-winter lanes that exist in my area. Actually, I think of it more as a wet-weather bike for use all year round, as the lanes are dire whatever the time of year if it's wet.
Fed up with needing new rims every second ride with rim brakes (there are many steep, mud-covered gravelly descents in the Cotswolds), not to mention impaired wet-weather braking capability, I decided that now's the time to invest in a disc-braked road bike for wet and muddy weekend lane exploration and club rides. Since I have a thorough dislike of the concept and practicalities of press-fit bottom brackets, and threaded-bb carbon-fibre disc-braked road bikes are like hens' teeth, the Rapide RC3 seemed a perfect choice, especially as it does have a threaded bb AND was £800 off the RRP. Normally I prefer to build my bikes up from scratch myself, but the Ultegra-based specification of the RC3 was mostly acceptable. The wheels (Fulcrum Racing 5) are somewhat depleted in the spoke count (21 front and rear), and radially spoked on one side, so it remains to be seen how well they cope with hard riding on the mud/debris-covered steep pothole-infested Cotswoldian lane ascents and descents.
So today I've spent some time bedding in the Shimano BR-RS685/805 hydraulic brakes, on its first test flight. Very impressed so far. Brakes are superb, as expected. Very happy with how it rides and handles. 9.7kg with SKS Longboard mudguards, computer, bottle cages, PDW Fenderbot mudguard light etc all fitted - not especially light, but an acceptable weight for a winter road bike with discs that doesn't cost the earth.
One thing I don't like is the front mudguard eyes being on the inside of the fork legs. This reduces the bracing angle of the stays sufficiently to allow the lower section of the mudguard to wobble rather a lot over rough ground. It also makes fitting and removal much slower, due to the awkward access for tools. I've adjusted the stays so that the mudguard never actually contacts the tyre during such wobbling, but it is somewhat annoying to see it happening and to know it happens. The rear mudguard has the eyes on the outside of the seatstays, and with the better bracing angle it consequently wobbles a lot less than the front.
The front mudguard also needed some major filing off the top of the fork crown bracket, as well as the bottom of the bracket's slot, to be able to get it high enough for some tyre clearance for the mudguard. Clearance front and rear is not enormous - 28mm tyres are fine with mudguards, but nothing bigger will fit. The RC3 is not an 'adventure' bike suitable for off-roading.
I ditched the cheap and nasty 25mm Continental Ultra Sport tyres that came with it and put some '28mm' Michelin Power All Season tyres on instead. These initially actually measure 26.3mm wide on the 23mm external width Fulcrum rims (they will get a bit wider in use), but are more comfortable than, for example, Gatorskins - they also feel more sure-footed than Gatorskins, which would have had the rear starting to slide on some of the cornering I was doing with plenty of confidence on the Michelins today.
I also switched the fitted long Ultegra rear derailleur for a short one of the same that I already had. The chain that was fitted is too short for it, but just right for the shorter derailleur, and the longer one will be of more use to me in another build that is in the pipeline.
In other respects, much of the frame and build seems good quality and quite well thought out, so overall my initial contentment is good.
In summary, a good choice I reckon (subject to further testing and use), especially if like me you have resolved to get as far through your cycling life without press-fit bottom brackets as possible (and so far I've avoided them completely in my fleet).