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review
Rapha Silk ScarfRapha Silk scarf

Rapha Silk Scarf

3
by Mat Brett
UPDATED Thu, Oct 15, 2015 04:24

First Published Dec 4, 2009

12
£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

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,

Silk scarf
Rapha Silk Scarf
Rapha
Mat Brett

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. 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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12 comments

Avatar
dirt_corporation | 11 years ago
0 likes

1 I wanted this from the moment I saw it on their website. I bought the basic black option because I was afraid sweating in white silk would just be horrible. It was one of the best purchases I made. Maybe the requirements you have need to include "style" and "weight vs warmth". It is not a cheap product, but with almost all of Rapha's clothing and goodies, you have customer support and can return items if they are defective. The premium price does come with some benefits. I was so enamored by the uber-lightweight fabric, cool print, and extreme warmth I bought the white version, too. As wives are concerned, I would have loved it if my husband bought this for me as a gift, so those who are more pragmatic can maybe understand that some gals do appreciate a little style here and there. I've ridden with this scarf for over a hundred rides, washed by hand and it is pretty indestructible. Even the white version isn't stained or yellowed by sweat and wear, and I wear that on sunny days. My biggest concern while riding is my neck losing heat (in cold / windy weather) but I don't want to feel like a wooly turtle with a merino wool scarf. 1

Avatar
Fringe | 15 years ago
0 likes

i think its the fact that its a silk scarf for £50 which is aimed at cyclists, who in my view probably don't need a silk scarf..i don't mind paying Rapha prices (when i can) for well made jerseys/bibshorts et al..

Avatar
Simon_MacMichael replied to Fringe | 15 years ago
0 likes
Fringe wrote:

i think its the fact that its a silk scarf for £50 which is aimed at cyclists, who in my view probably don't need a silk scarf...

I could argue that my wife doesn't need silk scarves either... I just wish the ones she likes "only" cost fifty quid 3

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 15 years ago
0 likes

Got any pics of the SJP workshop silk scarves Fringe? They sound interesting

Avatar
DaSy | 15 years ago
0 likes

I agree with Rogers suggestion that these pieces, such as the ride journal, shaving kit and silk scarf, are just a way of making a statement and getting some good internet forum activity.

I have their winter collar, which is a really great product, and is pure merino at a resonable £25, and does all that this does.

They like to have this Saville Row, daper gentleman around town image that they run parallel to their normal biking line. It obviously hasn't done them any harm, they seem to be making it pretty big in the States nowadays...

To be fair, this is about the only thing of theirs I don't own!

Avatar
Tony Farrelly | 15 years ago
0 likes

That's the point a silk scarf from Hermes is a rip-off too, as is the Burberry Sports Snood at £195.

A Hermes scarf is all about the name not the scarf, maybe that's where Rapha are trying to get to too - we're judging it though as a scarf that you might notionally wear for cycling… judged under the same circumstances a Hermes scarf would probably get an even lower mark.

Avatar
leguape replied to Tony Farrelly | 15 years ago
0 likes

So the issue is the markup?

If so, can we expect every future review to note the 2.5K tags on Ti frames that come out of a Chinese factory at an actual cost of about 500 quid?

Or will we be reviewing groupsets on the ludicrous cost per gram premium for top-of-the-ranges labels like Red, Super Record and Dura Ace?

Will you now be noting price differences on rebadged items that use parts made under licence?

Rapha is the only label I've ever seen this "price" issue repeatedly made about yet their are plenty of other labels flogging kit at equally high premiums - Assos and Castelli certainly do.

Will you be flagging ever example as rip-off when you think you're paying too much?

Avatar
dave atkinson | 15 years ago
0 likes
Fringe wrote:

I am a Textile Designer

as well as a postman? those aren't two occupations that you often see on the same CV 4

Avatar
Fringe replied to dave atkinson | 15 years ago
0 likes
dave_atkinson wrote:
Fringe wrote:

I am a Textile Designer

as well as a postman? those aren't two occupations that you often see on the same CV 4

it was the wife what wrote that,(give her a glass of wine and shes off.. :D)

and i'll see if she can do some scarves, with a pic of eddy merckx on maybe..!

Avatar
finbar | 15 years ago
0 likes

So how much is a comparable scarf from, say, Hermes then?

Avatar
Fringe | 15 years ago
0 likes

What a rip off. I am a Textile Designer, teaching Textiles to the yoot of today, and I can tell you that nearly every silk scarf is hand rolled at the edges. And that my story teller friend, who often works in Singapore and the like, swears by the comfort of a silk outfit, whilst performing.

I do like the contemporary twist on a classic paisley design, however. Might have to borrow that for a teaching resource...

But, a hand painted, limited edition, no perspiration treatment, silk scarf can be yours for £25! Designed and made by sjpworkshops [at] yahoo.co.uk and cycling husband.

And if you are lucky, personally signed by Isobel, age 3.

Avatar
grant | 15 years ago
0 likes

Good stuff. Can you review the purse....sorry, Essentials Case next please? 19

http://lyxus.net/dcgp

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