Rapha drops price of RCC membership

Rapha has announced it is cutting the price of its cycling club membership by almost half, though it has scrapped its free coffee offer at its clubhouses.

The popular global cycling RCC offers its members access to a selection of products, offers and trips, with the aim of bringing riders from around the world together.

With 15,000 riders currently involved in the Rapha Cycling Club, the British apparel brand is hoping to grow the club even further by dropping the price down to £70 from £135.

Rapha offers RCC members early noticed of new products, access to an exclusive range of Rapha clothing and priority access to the sales, along with the opportunity to ride on some exclusive trips around the world.

RCC members also have access to an exclusive app to plan rides and share their locations, while group rides are held around the world each week.

Rapha also has 23 clubhouses around the world, including two in London and one in Manchester, with RCC members now being given half-priced coffee in each of the locations and in a number of partner cafes, rather than the free coffee that was previously included.

The company, which was bought by the heirs to the Walmart supermarket chain in 2017, has been through a number of changes in recent months, following reports that it had posted pre-tax loss of more than £50million.

>>> How to cycle in a group: Essential guide to group cycling 

In October 2019, CEO Simon Mottram said Rapha had "dropped the ball" after the takeover by Steuart and Tom Walton and that the brand would cut down on the rate it was discounting products as it tried to stem the losses. 

Following the takeover, Rapha made a number of redundancies to staff, cut down overseas operations and closing its luxury holiday business.

Rapha also play a key part in the 'Alternative Calendar', which sees WorldTour pros from EF Pro Cycling racing unique and off-piste events around the world. 

Earlier this month, EF announced the first events they would be racing as part of this season's alternative calendar.