Stopped by CG today to check out the Adventure (or Explorer, I cant remember) Helmet for $69. They tried to sell me on the the whole set for $399.99 as previously stated. I felt like I was at a car dealership. Probably would have picked up the helmet for $69, but was turned off by the hight pressure sales. The helmet was not the best quality and the fit was fine. It would probably be a fine helmet until you really needed it to do it's job. Just my $.02.
I was being sarcastic towards the poster above me saying Bilt was so great that Klim and BMW is a rip off. You can't compare the 2, they're totally different leagues and quality. The CG deal is a fantastic deal for those just getting into the sport. Personally, I would rather buy better quality gear used, than cheap gear new, but I still don't think you could buy a jacket, pants, helmet and gloves for that price used. I do find the promotional video amusing though. Like a guy who drops $25K on a GSA is gonna settle for a $400 complete Cycle Gear riding outfit.
Sarcasm? Oh now I see! I figured as much and I tend to agree with you. For the money, this may be a good set for the wife. The more time I spend researching this the more I'm leaning to the Badlands set.
So I went ahead and got the Air jacket and Explorer pants/helmet/gloves for the wife today. The Air jacket uses two zip in liners, one being quilted and the other, I'm assuming, is a waterproof liner. The construction looks to be okay but certainly not the same as Aerostich or Klim. She was able to fit into the off the rack stuff they had in stock which was a plus. For the amount of time she will spend on her bike I'm sure this gear will be fine. We have a trip planned later this month so we will see how it works out.
I just bought the air jacket, water pant, and helmet.. here is my thoughts after 2 1/2 hours in light rain, 40 +/- degrees, mixed pavement, gravel, and mud, followed the next day by two hours on a highway commute: Air jacket: I really like the jacket.. it fits well, seems pretty well built, and well designed. With the inner layers removed it feels very light and well ventilated, but plenty warm and dry with layers in. My biggest complaint here is that they should have put more velcro on the wrist and waist; I would like to be able to snug it up a bit more, but there isn't enough velcro. My other complaint is that shoulder and elbow armor seems a little wimpy, but then again, the borrowed Thor jacket I was wearing didn't have any... Pants: Before even riding in these, I had my reservations... the build quality did not seem too great.. many loose & sloppy seams, especially in the quilted liner. The seam on the rubber gripper on the waist belt is comming apart after just two rides.. I think I will be exchanging these soon; hopefully the next ones are better built, as I like the over-all fit and they did keep me mosltly dry and plenty warm (I had a small area just above my belt buckle that got wet after a few hours in light rain with a 50/50 mix of hiway speeds & slower gravel / dirt / mud road riding... the space between the coat and pant). Helmet: This is my first helmet of this type, so i don't have much to compare it too.. in general I'm pretty happy with it; it has a great field of vision, but is slightly more noisy compared to my previous street helmet; I assume that a helmet of this style will have more wind noise, so this fit with my expectations. The snap for the chin strap is made from soft plastic and I expect that the first time I try and snap it with a little mud in it it will probably ruin the snap.. I hope that it is covered by the warranty! The "missing" lip for opening and closing the wind screen is really a non-issue.. there is an edge that is easy to open it with, even with heavier winter gloves. I wear glasses, and I do find it a little difficult to slip my glasses over my ears.. i prefer having to deal with this over having a helmet that is loose fitting, but it might be nice if there was a little more room in the padding for this. Gloves.. I didn't need them, so my wife picked a pair that fit her... In full disclosure, I am pretty new to all of this... I cannot compare these to better gear that costs 2-3x the price and my opinion is pretty un-educated in this regard... :huh
I bought the gear around the beginning of December, and I've had no issues. I bought the air explorer tops and bottoms, no helmet. It's kept me warm up to 50 degrees and it's been completely water proof. I haven't had any issues with the zippers or anything, I do feel the velcro could be a little longer on the wrists and I wish the pads were better and I hate how the pants feel baggy on me. Really comfortable though, breathable, and a lot of pockets. I'm happy with it so far.
I bought the whole kit. Explorer Air jacket/pants. I had already purchased the tan gloves, so I got the black pair. I bought the Explorer helmet when it first came out. http://advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=830333 so, I got the Discover helmet and the deal was cheaper. I haven't had a chance to ride yet, but my initial impressions are that the jacket and pants both fit well. The only issue I can see right away is the velcro on the wrist and ankles. I may take them to the tailor shop on base and let the ladies replace the velcro with longer pieces. I was concerned about the zippers, but with the warranty CG has. I'll take the chance. I did notice the foam in the back. I wear a Hit Air vest on the street, so I'm ok with it. Just for grins though, I'm going to see if I can fit a hard backplate to it. It seems decent quality for the money. If I ruin them in a crash, and they protected me, they've done their job. I'll just get another set, and still be in for less money than the fancy name brands.
even tough I just bought there winter glove I understand your getting a cheapo product. 23 bucks with shipping. With So many sales of 2 year old top of line stuff being sold for around the same price why bother? Eg Iron pony got the Alpinestar boots for 100 bucks . I got my First gear TPG jacket for 200 and My mesh Tourmaster jacket for 50 bucks new. i ve not heard many reviews that say top product .Bilt . Rather allot of them saying ok , fair etc.
I checked out some of their stuff last weekend... I was looking at a new helmet so tried on the Bilt and compared it to the Shoei, Icon, and my Arai... It's cheap and looks decent, but the low quality fit and finish is apparent. There was an ovious difference between the Shoei and the Bilt. Maybe not a big deal to some, but I would pay more for something better
I was going to pull the trigger on their $400 package. When I tried the pants on they were dragging on the floor. When I asked the salesperson about pants with a shorter inseam he said what you see is what we got. This gear wasn't exactly what I was looking for and was aware it is sub quality compared to other major brands, but I mostly commute to work and get a weekend ride in sometimes. I'm not a world traveler so this gear would give me a couple of years of service. After that I would want something else anyway. I ended up ordering Firstgear Kathmandu jacket and pants. More $ but I think it's been well spent. I still plan to purchase the Cycle Gear Explorer helmet for off pavement fun. Not bad for $200.
It seems if you're under 6' tall, it's hard to find pants that aren't long. At least that's been my experience. :huh
I have the Bilt Explorer boots and the Hurricane gloves. The boots kept my feet dry while walking through an ankle deep creek. Pretty happy with those, never tried them in the rain though. Turns out they made decent hiking boots too. One of the gloves came apart the first day. Looked like a badly stitched seam. I took them to my local Cycle Gear (Baton Rouge, La), said "My glove fell apart". The guy behind the counter said "that sucks, let me get you another pair". He went to the back and brought out another pair for me. These have been great. I think their bad reputation is mostly due to lousy QC. Fortunately, they make up for it in customer service, at least at the store near me.
anyone know how much the pants were before the $400 package deal? i heard they jacked the prices up to "MSRP" when this deal hit. i definitely don't need the helmet or gloves, the jacket is a maybe, but really really need of some winter pants! i was going poorman style with snowboard pants over summer gear, but the sumo exhaust decided to melt those. On another note, i checked out the jacket at a local store. seems like decent enough stuff. the features and build quality definitely far exceeds the price point. with the warranty, customer service, and return policy at CG (especially with a local store), it's pretty hard to not give these a shot. any recommendations on the "air" version vs the waterproof versions? it seems like the air with the removable waterproof liner gives more flexibility than the ones with waterproof liner built in (both come with the winter liner).
The boots are on sale for $49.99 right now. http://www.cyclegear.com/eng/product/bilt_explorer_waterproof_adventure_boots/web1011510
I picked up the jacket and the pants late November. In Nor Calif we have been having a cold spell for almost a week. The day after I bought the jacket and pants [explorer I beleive] I had a PGR ride in which I had to leave at 5:30 am. Thermometer on the bike said it was 34 F out. since it was my first ride with the gear I was paying attention to my comfort level. Under my jacket I had a long sleeve t-shirt, and a Carhartt thermal shirt. Under the CG pants I had on slider's. I was nicely surprised how comfortable I was. The only cold I noticed was my finger tips so I gripped the heated hand grips tighter As other posters have mentioned more velcro on the wrist and waist area would be helpful, so I added some. for the $ I am happy with the CG goods.
I ended up picking up the "air" version of the pants today. with the WP liner in they seemed pretty comparable to the WP version, and with the "air" I have the flexibility to remove the WP liner in the heat. nice high back, good length and overall fit (on and off the bikes, supermoto & sportbike), not too bulky with work pants underneath for winter, not too baggy without pants or liners for the summer, stretch panels have good movement... considering that I needed winter pants, @ $150 - 20$ coupon, it was a no brainer. klim/revit/etc need not worry though. the quality isn't all there. the zippers catch a lot, the zipper for the WP liner is slightly longer on the shell than on the liner, and the waterproof liner had a completely a loose seam along the cuff. nothing that was a huge deal though. they only had one pair my size so i just bought it and just sewed up the cuff. the initial quality seems pretty on par with my teknic freeway jacket, which i just might replace with the bilt explorer (non-air) once it returns to a reasonable price. they had the air version of the jacket there, but the WP liner had a separate zip which i felt might be annoying. the air is a bit bulkier as well (probably due to the dual liners), so the sizing between that and the WP was a bit different. anyhow my 2c. maybe it helps somebody.
and in the store as i was there earlier. if these were $49 i woulda grabbed a pair, or two for my wife and i, perfect for a nite out.
lol, same exact thinking, i tried on the explorer boots in the store, i liked them, for $49 bucks, id drive over there right now.
