Cycle Gear Store Opinions Wanted

[spydeyblue]

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with the store chain Cycle Gear, and their house brands, i.e. Bilt? My hubby and I went to check out the local Cycle Gear store this weekend, and while some of their prices seemed like a good deal, I'm skeptical about the quality of their house brand apparel, overall.

Thanks,
Linda
(aka Bengaluvr, as in Bengal cats)

 

[coastrider]

I have two Bilt jackets and a pair of boots from Cycle Gear and found them all to be a very good value for the money.

 

[SpyRyd]

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with the store chain Cycle Gear, and their house brands, i.e. Bilt? My hubby and I went to check out the local Cycle Gear store this weekend, and while some of their prices seemed like a good deal, I'm skeptical about the quality of their house brand apparel, overall.

Thanks,
Linda
(aka Bengaluvr, as in Bengal cats)

Recommend checking out riding apparel from Baja Ron (site sponsor). He doesn't list apparel on his "site" but if you send him a PM (private message) he'll respond with info and prices. He handles proven name brand apparel at very good prices and ships really quickly. Understand Ron is out of town until around Nov 19th but he may be checking his messages...if not it will be worth it to wait to check with him before buying.

 

[Ga Blue Knight]

Cycle gear "Bilt" brand is a Genaric brand added to many Chinese made items that are in fact house brands for some recognizable mid range name brands. If you are not knowledgeable on what level of quality you are looking at I would be very careful buying anything that is of a safety nature, ie helmets boots and padded jackets. Their boots were reviewed a while back on Motorcycle Consumer News and were found to be serviceable waterproof and generally ok for use but they were not leather even though they looked like leather. They did not breathe well but that is also true for some leather boots. If price is of vital importance their products do function well but quality varies. You really do get what you pay for (except at Harley Davidson) in most cases. I usually go for named brands and just wait until I can afford them new or buy used here on the classified section.

 

[danlnc]

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with the store chain Cycle Gear, and their house brands, i.e. Bilt? My hubby and I went to check out the local Cycle Gear store this weekend, and while some of their prices seemed like a good deal, I'm skeptical about the quality of their house brand apparel, overall.

Thanks,
Linda
(aka Bengaluvr, as in Bengal cats)

Linda, I bought two sets of rain gear from Cycle Gear,Bilt brand. I have had them about a year and been in three rain storms with mine and have been please with the performance. no water intrusion.

 

[2 Cruysyn]

Hi folks,

Does anyone have any experience, good or bad, with the store chain Cycle Gear, and their house brands, i.e. Bilt? My hubby and I went to check out the local Cycle Gear store this weekend, and while some of their prices seemed like a good deal, I'm skeptical about the quality of their house brand apparel, overall.

Thanks,
Linda
(aka Bengaluvr, as in Bengal cats)

Wife and I have Bilt jackets (Tempest for her, Spirit for me) and insulated pants (Tempest for her, Storm for me) that work very well. Gets kinda cold here at times. Liners can come out of both when not needed. Woman's pants are a pain to get on and off (for her not me.) The Tempest legs don't zip all the up like the Storm. I have the Bilt Sport Mesh jacket for warmer days which functions well.

We prefer, however, our Tour Master Intake 3 jackets primarily for the color (hi-vis in our case). These are configurable for four different comfort levels depending on the need at the time. With our Bilt jackets the liner is either in our out. Compared side by side most any color is going to be more visible than black, which Bilt seems to be stuck on even with the bits of grey and white. I'd like to see Tour Master add the hi-vis color to their Venture Air pant.

I had a pair of Bilt Commando boots that had to be returned 'cause the heel of one of 'em was coming off. Subsequent tries of the same style didn't work. Whoever makes them changed the tongue which tended to "walk" around my ankle off to one side or the other. Didn't happen with the original pair. Otherwise for the price they were serviceable. Lots better boots out there, for more money of course.

 

[SPYD3R]

GREENVILLE, SC

I CAN'T TALK FOR THE OTHER LOCATIONS, BUT THE STORE HERE IN GREENVILLE, SC, IS FABULOUS... ALL THE SALES PEOPLE ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE AND CURTIOUS, AND THE STORE MANAGER 'CHANCE' IS A GREAT LADY....
DAN P

 

[Tl440]

I've been in several of their stores. Always find competent, helpful staff. I'm kinda leery of their house brand stuff, but if they are as careful with that as they are with their people it can't all be bad. When it comes to helmets, jackets and boots though, call me old fashioned.

 

[bullant12]

We have bought several things from them and worth the price, not high quality but worth the price. They give discounts to military and law enforcement official. Good stuff for last minute detail but I would shop online for higher quality and better values.

 

[SpyderAnn01]

I am a huge fan of their Heat Out gear from Bilt but I recently bought a jacket from them and while I liked the fit very much I wound up returning it because it didn't have a breathable lining. I guess you just have to remember that you get what you pay for and sine a lot of their stuff is very inexpensive it is likely not to be of very high quality.

 

[ARtraveler]

I am not familiar with that chain. But, the advantage is you can see in person what you are buying and can make a good decision based on that.

Generally, you get what you pay for.

 

[Ivorspyder]

I have bought some riding gear from them in the past.Had no problems with their merchandise.

Ivor:spyder:

 

[spydeyblue]

I am not familiar with that chain. But, the advantage is you can see in person what you are buying and can make a good decision based on that.

Generally, you get what you pay for.

:agree:

Not only that, but you don't get what you don't pay for, and sometimes, you don't even get what you do pay for, unfortunately.nojoke

 

[spydeyblue]

Tourmaster Jackets

Wife and I have Bilt jackets (Tempest for her, Spirit for me) and insulated pants (Tempest for her, Storm for me) that work very well. Gets kinda cold here at times. Liners can come out of both when not needed. Woman's pants are a pain to get on and off (for her not me.) The Tempest legs don't zip all the up like the Storm. I have the Bilt Sport Mesh jacket for warmer days which functions well.

We prefer, however, our Tour Master Intake 3 jackets primarily for the color (hi-vis in our case). These are configurable for four different comfort levels depending on the need at the time. With our Bilt jackets the liner is either in our out. Compared side by side most any color is going to be more visible than black, which Bilt seems to be stuck on even with the bits of grey and white. I'd like to see Tour Master add the hi-vis color to their Venture Air pant.

I had a pair of Bilt Commando boots that had to be returned 'cause the heel of one of 'em was coming off. Subsequent tries of the same style didn't work. Whoever makes them changed the tongue which tended to "walk" around my ankle off to one side or the other. Didn't happen with the original pair. Otherwise for the price they were serviceable. Lots better boots out there, for more money of course.

We have a pair of the Tourmaster Intake Air 3 jackets as well. They are probably about as cool as an armor jacket is going to get. Unfortunately, our weather is often hot enough to make wearing any jacket unbearable. I may have to look into a cooling vest or something similar.

 

[motoford]

I like Cycle Gear and have bought quite a few things there and also online at cyclegear.com, but I am leery of the house branded safety gear, as it has a rather bad rep at the track where crashes are frequent. Seems that the leathers tend to come apart at the seams sliding on pavement.

I have a different set of criteria depending on what or how I'm riding. I wouldn't wear Bilt gear for most rides on my sportbike, but I would feel ok with it on the Spyder or if I were taking it easy on the SB. Except the helmets, I wouldn't risk that, but I also won't wear only DOT or ECE. It must be Snell and I retire any helmet I crash in or even if I drop it hard. Good helmets are too cheap and head injuries are too easy to risk it.

I agree with whoever said you don't always get what you pay for, just because it's a better brand and more money doesn't guarantee it's better than the house brand (Bilt).

 

[lookerjdc]

Ive purchased a number of items from Cycle Gear, like boots, gloves, rain gear, etc.

I've even purchased stuff from them online and needed to return an item and simply took it to the store near me in Melbourne, FL and they gave me a refund, no hassles

they seem to be knowledgable and will to help... I do think they clearly cater more to dirt bike/crotch rocket crowds than cruisers/touring folk. My brother and I went to one of their friday night events and it was mainly filled with very young, crotch rocket folks... my brother and I didnt stick around too long.... lol

 

[motoford]

I think each store might tailor their split of inventory to their area. The closest store to me used to be 60% sport / 40% dirt, now I'd guess its closer to 33% sport&touring, 33% dirt, and 34% cruiser (leather vest type stuff) . YMMV