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review

Rapha Silk Scarf

3
£50.00

VERDICT:

3
10
Simple silk scarf at a nuts price
Weight: 
0g
Contact: 
www.rapha.cc

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Sorry, but no. This is a square bit of silk. For 50 quid.

That’s all you need to know really, but if you want more details it’s got a paisley pattern made up of bikey motifs – chains, wheels, stuff like that – the edges are hand stitched, and it’s apparently been given a ‘perspiration solution’ to make it resistant to sweat and showers. Rapha reckon it’s 50cm x 50cm but ours measured 45cm tops.

You tie it around your neck and it stops draughts considerably less well than a £13 Buff. If it's luxury neck warmth that you need there's a new merino Wool Buff for £21 (review coming soon) that you might want to consider. If you still feel burdened by excess cash after that I'll be happy to take it off your hands. Just send any unwanted money in to road.cc towers marked for the attention of Roger Blessed - cash, cheques or postal orders are all accepted. Not only will you have a warm neck, you'll have a warm glow too from knowing that you've done your bit to keep me in flapjacks this winter.

On the other hand, If you really have to have silk, and you don't have to ask the price then this is for you.

Part of me does wonder whether Rapha bring out products like this, and their fabled training diary, simply to provoke reviews along these lines and further burnish their image as a maker of reassuringly expensive luxury cycling goods.

Verdict

Simple silk scarf at a nuts price

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Rapha Silk scarf

Size tested: n/a

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
4/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
6/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
5/10
Rate the product for value:
 
1/10

Did you enjoy using the product? Yeah, it does an okay job

Would you consider buying the product? No

Would you recommend the product to a friend? I don't have any friends with a silk fetish and lots of money, that I know of

Overall rating: 3/10

About the tester

Age: 36  Height: 184cm  Weight: 74kg

I usually ride: Specialized Tarmac Pro  My best bike is: Van Nicholas Aeolus

I've been riding for: Over 20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, sportives, general fitness riding, mtb,

Mat has been in cycling media since 1996, on titles including BikeRadar, Total Bike, Total Mountain Bike, What Mountain Bike and Mountain Biking UK, and he has been editor of 220 Triathlon and Cycling Plus. Mat has been road.cc technical editor for over a decade, testing bikes, fettling the latest kit, and trying out the most up-to-the-minute clothing. We send him off around the world to get all the news from launches and shows too. He has won his category in Ironman UK 70.3 and finished on the podium in both marathons he has run. Mat is a Cambridge graduate who did a post-grad in magazine journalism, and he is a winner of the Cycling Media Award for Specialist Online Writer. Now over 50, he's riding road and gravel bikes most days for fun and fitness rather than training for competitions.

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