TO DO ANYTHING WELL IS A STRUGGLE

©Rapha

"To do anything well is a struggle. You need to give it everything," says Rapha’s founder, Simon Mottram in an interview with London-based Courier magazine at the beginning of the year. Prior to the announcement of the acquisition, he shared a few insights of his company. Mottram has certainly thrown it all into creating an one-of-a-kind company that has made him cycle around the the world and gotten to know and work with the likes of Dave Brailsford, Paul Smith, Bradley Wiggins and Norman Foster. He says that the key to Rapha's success was shaped by a three core principles namely: commerce, content and community. Rapha is a cult and has certainly played a major role in the revival of the bicycle. 

This cult had turned Rapha into an acquisition target and opened people's eyes, one of those belonged to the luxury behemoth LVMH. After months of negotiation, in the end RZC Investments had won the race. On Monday, August 7th Rapha announced that it had been sold to RZC, a private equity firm run by Steuart and Tom Walton. They are grandchildren of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart, and plan to bring "best sport in the world to more people in more ways and places.”