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Stuff we noticed on the web: the Rapha inner tube

It’s an inner tube and it says ‘Rapha’ on it

Welcome to a new weekly series that we’re calling ‘stuff we noticed on the web’ – so named because it features stuff that we noticed on the web. In this first and almost certainly final instalment, the stuff in question is the Rapha inner tube.

The Rapha inner tube’s been in the Repair Essentials Case since at least last Christmas. We’re not sure how long it's been a standalone item.

What’s so special about it? Well, firstly it says ‘Rapha’ on it – although weirdly it’s not absolutely eye-wateringly expensive despite that fact.

Secondly, and more importantly, it’s imprinted with the words “Patience, s'il vous plait.”

The main benefit of this is that you get to feel all Gallic and cosmopolitan as you thumb your tyre for thorns with a crestfallen look on your face while your smug mate looks on making unwelcome observations about your methodology.

We’re wondering whether you can send it back punctured and get a free repair like you do with their clothing.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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26 comments

Avatar
The _Kaner | 6 years ago
1 like

Do you have to buy the Rapha Talc for installing these tubes?

Hope it smells like their chamois cream, one wouldn't want a mish mash of smells coming from one's ensemble...

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petertoth replied to The _Kaner | 6 years ago
2 likes

The _Kaner wrote:

Do you have to buy the Rapha Talc for installing these tubes?

Hope it smells like their chamois cream, one wouldn't want a mish mash of smells coming from one's ensemble...

i am hearing the air from the new rapha pump will smell like mount ventoux

Avatar
bobinski replied to petertoth | 6 years ago
0 likes

petertoth wrote:

The _Kaner wrote:

Do you have to buy the Rapha Talc for installing these tubes?

Hope it smells like their chamois cream, one wouldn't want a mish mash of smells coming from one's ensemble...

i am hearing the air from the new rapha pump will smell like mount ventoux

 

Excellent, hope it comes out in time for my trip to Ventoux in july so I can get my tyres aclimatised to ventoux's magical air ...

Avatar
Nfoxton | 6 years ago
0 likes

Really !  Seen it all now. 

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Nfoxton | 6 years ago
0 likes

Really !  Seen it all now. 

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antigee | 6 years ago
2 likes

typical rapha product - black!  how can you expect to be seen?

time rapha riders realised style isn't everything, I'd encourage everyone to use hi-viz inner tubes, cyclists will get more respect from drivers that way

Avatar
EddyBerckx replied to antigee | 6 years ago
0 likes

antigee wrote:

typical rapha product - black!  how can you expect to be seen?

time rapha riders realised style isn't everything, I'd encourage everyone to use hi-viz inner tubes, cyclists will get more respect from drivers that way

 

wining post

Avatar
Yorky-M | 6 years ago
1 like

Celebrating the tubes of yesterday that overcame times when we had no tubes on our wooden rims - but now we can have a coffee and sit in our £200 shorts that cost $20 in China to create and thank those tubes for making it possible for our Italian bikes to be also made in China but by legends who road in time when we had no tubes and ..........

Avatar
Must be Mad | 6 years ago
8 likes

These are just the common-or-garden rapha inner tubes. I'm running the Rapha 1964 Giro d'Italia stage 14 intermediate sprint commemoration inner tubes. 

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handlebarcam | 6 years ago
13 likes

Here we go, reverse snobs hating on Rapha, again. What they don't know is that Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years, while over the same period the no-named cheapo ones on my commuting bike have had several punctures. Sure, they're probably made in the same factory in the Far East, but they're designed by teams people with beards in a converted ex-industrial warehouse loft space in London, and tested on rides so epic they have to be filmed in black and white. So they must be better, stands to reason. You don't come up with genius ideas like printing a French slogan on something while working in a business park on the outskirts of Kettering.

Avatar
beezus fufoon replied to handlebarcam | 6 years ago
6 likes

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

Avatar
OnTheRopes replied to beezus fufoon | 6 years ago
4 likes

beezus fufoon wrote:

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

I think he was being Tongue in cheek

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to beezus fufoon | 6 years ago
7 likes

beezus fufoon wrote:

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

i've had a condom in my wallet since I was 14, just in case... fairly sure there are no punctures in it. Fingers crossed.

Avatar
beezus fufoon replied to ConcordeCX | 6 years ago
7 likes

ConcordeCX wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

i've had a condom in my wallet since I was 14, just in case... fairly sure there are no punctures in it. Fingers crossed.

are they Rapha ones with "“Patience, s'il vous plait” inscribed on them?

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to beezus fufoon | 6 years ago
3 likes

beezus fufoon wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

i've had a condom in my wallet since I was 14, just in case... fairly sure there are no punctures in it. Fingers crossed.

are they Rapha ones with "“Patience, s'il vous plait” inscribed on them?

that was a rib-tickler! 

Avatar
beezus fufoon replied to ConcordeCX | 6 years ago
1 like

ConcordeCX wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

i've had a condom in my wallet since I was 14, just in case... fairly sure there are no punctures in it. Fingers crossed.

are they Rapha ones with "“Patience, s'il vous plait” inscribed on them?

that was a rib-tickler! 

wait... I had something for this...

something something french letters

Avatar
ConcordeCX replied to beezus fufoon | 6 years ago
1 like

beezus fufoon wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

ConcordeCX wrote:

beezus fufoon wrote:

handlebarcam wrote:

...Rapha inner tubes last ten times longer than ones from cheaper manufacturers. I've personally had one in the saddle bag of my summer racing bike for five years...

I have a continental race 28 tube that I've been carrying around for over 10 years though - they do tend to last longer if you don't actually use them

i've had a condom in my wallet since I was 14, just in case... fairly sure there are no punctures in it. Fingers crossed.

are they Rapha ones with "“Patience, s'il vous plait” inscribed on them?

that was a rib-tickler! 

wait... I had something for this...

something something french letters

perhaps it's time I got a new one, like this Durex Protector on Velobase. In, ahem, Small Parts & Accessories

http://velobase.com/ViewComponent.aspx?ID=084385df-0fb8-4238-b1d6-0ab233...

 

Avatar
Biscuitfrisky replied to handlebarcam | 6 years ago
1 like

handlebarcam wrote:

they're designed by teams people with beards in a converted ex-industrial warehouse loft space in London

 

Can confirm this is accurate

 

Souce: I have a beard and have walked down brick lane a few times...

Avatar
Man of Lard | 6 years ago
2 likes

So if I get a greyish paint marker and write "Rapha" on my Wiggle 10-for-£1 tubes they're suddenly worth $6 each?

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Carton replied to Man of Lard | 6 years ago
2 likes

Man of Lard wrote:

So if I get a greyish paint marker and write "Rapha" on my Wiggle 10-for-£1 tubes they're suddenly worth $6 each?

Word to the wise: if you're getting  an offer for 10 inner tubes for £1 at "Wiggle" it just might be a phishing scam.

Avatar
petertoth | 6 years ago
6 likes

what we need now is some rapha air from a rapha pump

Avatar
MNgraveur replied to petertoth | 6 years ago
1 like

petertoth wrote:

what we need now is some rapha air from a rapha pump

 

I'm running tubeless- Rapha air would be just the thing.

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Chris Hayes | 6 years ago
4 likes

Perhaps its available under the Cycle-to-Work scheme....

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Butty replied to Chris Hayes | 6 years ago
9 likes

Chris Hayes wrote:

Perhaps its available under the Cycle-to-Work scheme....

Not sure about that. Isn't the normal scheme limit £1,000?

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peted76 | 6 years ago
8 likes

Congratulations you've just won... Article of the week! 

Avatar
Grahamd replied to peted76 | 6 years ago
2 likes

peted76 wrote:

Congratulations you've just won... Article of the week! 

Winning prize, an inner tube.

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