A colleague pointed me towards this story on the Guardian about a spoof Rapha website. I admit it made me smile.

The group behind the spoof style themselves as the Jens Voigt Army, intending to take inspiration from the down-to-earth attitude of the big man himself. As a fan of Big Jens I can see why you would want to tip such a nod. And yet one wonders, are there not better targets than Rapha?

Personally I like Rapha because they understand the relationship between form, function and image. They understand that each element of that relationship is as important as the others. And if Rapha attempts to (re)create a cycling mythology forged from romantic perceptions of ‘authenticity’, then we should understand that it is no more or less a mediated construct than any other claim to ‘authenticity’.

I have voiced my frustration about the infatuation with perceived authenticity before. ‘Authenticity’ in these times is as much a conscious, mediated stance as any other; as much a fashion statement as any other. Each of us makes a statement every time we make a purchase. We publish that statement every time we use that product; every time we walk down the street or ride out on the road. The choices we make and those we choose not to take. And whether you consciously believe that or not is frankly irrelevant. You cannot exist outside of your context after all. 

Choosing or not choosing Rapha makes you no more or less a cyclist. Choosing or not choosing a steel frame hand-built in a shed in Oregon makes you no more of less a cyclist. Riding or not riding your bike does that.

That said, would I spend £95 on a Rapha espresso tamper? No I wouldn’t. Not unless I a) – really cared about my espresso, b) – had enough money to not be bothered how much an espresso tamper might cost and c) – liked the idea of an espresso tamper that looked like a collection of bike parts. And even if I could answer in the affirmative to ‘a’ and ‘b’, in this instance ‘c’ would be the stumbling block. The tamper just looks ridiculous in my opinion. Like those dreadful sculpture monstrosities that were made out of SRAM components. So, you know, even Rapha can get their aesthetics wrong.

On a final note, it’s interesting, is it not, how people will bemoan what they see as a dumbing-down of culture yet when a cycling clothing company uses Shakespeare as a reference/inspiration for a marketing video they will sneer at it as being pretentious. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t…