BillyD

Dammit, I was going to start doing some fly fishing soon, too.

john m flores 

The correlation between price and quality is non-linear and at some price point you start to see diminishing returns.

I seek value - good style and quality at a good price.

prj71

That's just it. As I mentioned before fly fishing is my other hobby (I guided for 10 years) and once you get past the $500 price point for a fly rod it's nothing but diminishing returns. It's more of status thing or following the popular crowd on the brand name fly rods. So many folks think the $1000 fly rod is better than the $300-$500 rod.

Eric F 

During my non-cycling years, my main hobby was music (guitar, bass, and recording). Music folks spend a whole lot of money on diminishing returns.

Koyote

The term from economics is diminishing marginal utility. (Utility = satisfaction, essentially.) Less and less additional utility for each additional dollar (or hundred dollars, or thousand dollars) spent.

Of course, utility is subjective and determined by a range of factors including budget constraint. If my longest rides are toodling around the 'hood and I'm eating ramen noodles 3x per week, I'm probably not going to buy cf-rimmed wheels. But if I'm relatively affluent and racing all summer long, I'm more likely to buy them.

When someone judges another's spending and describes it as irrational, they are passing judgment on something that they inherently cannot know.

tomato coupe

By the definition of diminishing returns, the $1000 rod is, in fact, better than the $300 rod.

Sy Reene

Primal doesn't have anything tie-dyed any longer. They do have something called "Lava Lamp"

Troul 

they should've called it "Slick Snot Rocket" print.

elcruxio

A comparison:

In dress shirts $150-200 isn't unusual and in fact that's only a bit above the price range where shirts begin to last and be worth wearing in more formal occasions. In natural fabrics the price is more in the fabric but quality of construction brings up the price as well (eg. yoke construction).

In higher quality jerseys you get better patterning and construction, but if you're not looking out for those you might not notice.

It's sorta like ironing. If you have a "no ironing needed" -shirt and just wear it out of the machine you might not notice how much better an ironed shirt feels and how huge the contrast in looks is vs someone who took the time to iron said shirt. You may need to be looking for the differences but when you do, you should notice. Goes in all clothing really.

Eric F 

You didn't look far enough (I apologize in advance)

TMonk

tie dye, woah man. Keep the 41 weird amirite???

Eric F 

No. I am not advocating for those jerseys. For anyone. Ever.

That said, if those are your thing, let your freak flag fly, man.

prj71

Yup. I get that. I play guitar as well.

prj71

I did another Gravel race this past weekend. By Golly I saw some Rapha an Le Col gear!!

seypat

Were the Rapha riders band-iting the race?

razorjack

someone else noticed that too

tomato coupe

Can you save us some time and point to the part of the video where they complain about tasteless fonts?

slow rollin

heh

rsbob 

Looks like something you’d see on the original Top Gear.

choddo

I see the word every time I see one of those jerseys.

And 10 pages in, no one seems to have made the observation that “pas normal” was what, in “Racing through the Dark”, David Millar said the european pros used to say about performances they suspected were chemically enhanced. I suspect that’s how the Danes came up with the name.

also Rapha gear has never been marketed in the UK. Its popularity is down to word of mouth. And it is great value for money when on sale.

50PlusCycling

90’s were more flashy, and roadie outfits haven’t gone up in price as much as fast food.

PeteHski

Indeed. The reverse snobs still often mock Rapha but that’s how it goes for most nice things. I buy it because I like the style and fit. Sales pricing makes it reasonable value too.

I had never heard of PNS until this thread. So their marketing in the UK must be minimal. Le Col is far more prominent over here and also great value on perpetual sale.

Koyote

I, too, have purchased most of my Rapha gear from the sale section of their site… But some pieces are so good that I’d still be happy if I had paid full price. The haters are probably people who have never actually tried the brand.

PeteHski

I agree and often the sales items do require some compromise on colour choices. Like I bought their cargo bibs in brown because they were a lot cheaper than the black ones. They look okay, but don’t mix and match with jerseys as well as black would. If I buy another pair of these bibs I may well pay full price to get them in black.

seypat

https://www.oscycling.com/products/c...d48747c6d56d2c