Dumbest Product of the Week- Velo Couture Strikes Back, Rapha Three Piece Cycling Suit by Timothy Everest

Feb 27th, 2009

The fashion industry has inspired us to pen more than one Dumbest Product of the Week. When fashion and cycling converge as they often do with clothing maker Rapha, we have pay dirt.

$3500 for a cycling suit? Image courtesy of Rapha.

Image courtesy of Rapha

Some of you may recall Rapha’s $750 Tweed Softshell as our 16th edition Dumbest Product winner. This softshell may be OK for slumming it with your friends on Saturdays, but Rapha doesn’t want you to resort to wearing this during the business week. Instead, they have come up with a $3500 cycling suit for the cyclists who wants to go straight from pedaling a bike to peddling toxic assets on Wall Street. First reported on BikePortand, this suit is a collaboration with fashionable British taylor Timothy Everest and is being offered through Signature Cycles of New York as an exclusive invitation (or as exclusive as anyone with money and access to the Internet can get.)

I’m trying to figure out from the pictures what exactly makes this a cycling suit. Other than the back pockets on the jacket, the ability to roll up your sleeves seems to be the only other distinguishing feature. Nothing destroys the illusion that you have fashion sense faster than rolled up sleeves with brightly colored under stitching as the Cordorounds showed us.

Of course if you have a bike that is actually built to be ridden in street cloths, then you can just wear a regular suit. Instead, we all have to buy into the idea of speciality clothing just to throw our leg over a bike and go somewhere. If we are going to go that far, why not just get this jersey from another fine British clothing purveyor:

It’s no Timothy Everest, but at 50 bucks, it just might pass.

Enjoy your weekend, and get out and ride your bike.

Read the previous week’s Dumbest Product of the Week.

#1 Robert Anderson
on Feb 27th, 2009 at 5:08 pm

What is it about cycling clothing that inspires such taking of sides? I sometimes see bloggers saying things like, “I’m no Spandex freak,” defending their street-clothes and upright bull-horn handlebars. Me, as a regular commuter on a year-round basis, I find that specialized cycling clothes are definitely the way to go. John Forrester talked about the provenance of cycling clothes years ago in Effective cycling — why chamois, why black, why wool, etc. etc.

At just the right time of year (early-mid spring or late-mid fall,) street clothes can be made to work on a bike. At least in a temperate climate. Austin is another story. Street clothes are probably winter wear there.

All that said, three and a half large is a fair price to pay for a custom suit. But I would guess that at least two of those large is for the words “Savile Row”. Honestly, though, I don’t think there’s a tailor alive who can craft a suit that gives the freedom of movement I want on my bike and would look acceptable in a boardroom.

If it were me, I’d be getting a custom suit made of non-wrinkling microfiber and just roll it up and stuff it in the pannier. Shower and change at work. Infinitely more practical solution. (And “practical” is my, uh, middle name!
#2 elliott
on Feb 27th, 2009 at 5:20 pm

Robert,
I actually don’t have a problem with specialized clothing in general. On a 50 mile ride, you’d have to pry the chamois out of my cold dead hands!

I just think for urban, transportation uses, all the speciality cycling clothing (most of which is UGLY) serves as a barrier for people who aren’t cycling enthusiasts. The marketers of such products and the enthusiasts make it appear that you need this stuff before you can ride. A good transportation bike allows you to hop on it street cloths and go. I shouldn’t need special cloths to go to the grocery store.

I agree, for a custom suit from an established taylor, the price is not outrageous. But really, for that price I want a REAL suit that I can wear everywhere, not a compromise with ugly flares to meet the needs of performance cycling.
#3 Rod
on Mar 4th, 2009 at 10:49 am

While transportation rides of up to 2 or 3 miles don’t require specialty clothing, I do daily transportation rides of 20 miles (10 miles each way to work and back). I would find that extremely uncomfortable in street clothes, and would have to change anyway at my destination due to the normal Austin heat. So I wouldn’t say specialty clothing isn’t for transportation cycling, it depends on how far the transporting is.

I agree about the suit though. Stupid idea, but sometimes entrepreneurs have to try several stupid ideas before they find one that works. Sometimes gimmicky products catch on and make lots of money. Remember pet rocks?
#4 patrick
on Apr 13th, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Why not just have a custom suit made, and ride your bicycle while wearing it?
#5 Dave Wyman
on Jun 24th, 2009 at 1:53 am

I’m a bit late to this post. Oh, well.

I don’t think Rapha intends to sell so much as one of these suits. I think putative existence for such an item is simply a way to draw people to Rapha’s other products, like their jerseys and jackets. For Rapha, it’s about creating a buzz.