Cycle Gear BiLT jackets ???

[ua99003]

Anyone had any experience with the CycleGear BiLT line of gear ???
Been looking at there lower priced line on jackets and wondering if any good

[One Less Harley]

Their gloves are crap, I bought water proof ones and they did a wonderful job of keeping water in the gloves.

[p0diabl0]

A lot of the Bilt stuff is crap. I did buy their ADV type 3/4 jacket when it was on sale for $100. It's alright, nothing special, and I hope it holds up should i crash. Quite toasty with the liner.

Don't buy any of their leather jackets/pants. The leather is so thin I wouldn't trust it to hold up in a 20mph spill and I've heard bad bad things about the stitching.

I'd tell you go to to a Cycle Gear and compare it between a quality jacket in person but it seems like all they carry now is Bilt and Sedici

[Trophy Mike]

Originally Posted by One Less Harley

Their gloves are crap, I bought water proof ones and they did a wonderful job of keeping water in the gloves.

Trying to steal my act?

[Dukeryder]

Originally Posted by p0diabl0

...all they carry now is Bilt and Sedici

I thought I saw some Dainese stuff in there, the last time I was in there, and Alpinestars (boots at least)....it may just be old inventory though.

I had a pair of Frank Thomas GP gloves and they were absolute shit, so glad I returned them. They developed HOLES near the armor after 3 Rides! WTF? I got a pair of Dainese gloves and they held up on a pavement lowside! If I had those FT gloves I'd hate to think about what might have happened to my hands....

[roger123]

I've gotten some really good deals on Firstgear and Tourmaster stuff there, now it seems they only have the Bilt stuff and it really doesnt seem all that great.

[Stegerman]

Bilt is crap. So glad CG has a generous return policy.

Pass

[p0diabl0]

Originally Posted by Dukeryder

I thought I saw some Dainese stuff in there, the last time I was in there, and Alpinestars (boots at least)....it may just be old inventory though.

I had a pair of Frank Thomas GP gloves and they were absolute shit, so glad I returned them. They developed HOLES near the armor after 3 Rides! WTF? I got a pair of Dainese gloves and they held up on a pavement lowside! If I had those FT gloves I'd hate to think about what might have happened to my hands....

Yeah they still have Dainese, but that's well out of my price range.
I'm pretty happy with a Frank Thomas Leather Jacket I picked up on clearance years ago with some matchining-in-model-but-not-color pants that zip to it, taste the rainbow

[KHVol]

Cycle Gear is going the same way with the Bilt products as Montgomery Ward did with their products, de-specing the products , hoping the customers don't notice the difference, but they do, CG saves a penny up front but the customer never comes back...ya know what happened to Montgomery Ward

[speedracertdi]

When they first opened, they had great name brand products. Now they have Chinese shit under their own private labels like Bilt and Sedici. The staff are still great, helpful, and friendly. Marketing is A+. They had a good idea with their business model, too bad they found more profit in hocking crap. I hate to say it but I'll give them 12-18 months before they start downsizing and 24-30 months before they file bancruptcy. CG if you're lurking and see this thread, get rid of the high profit chinese shit, go back to your roots and stock the brand name stuff real motorcyclists want to invest their money in. You current profit margin is short lived and will begin to taper off quickly very soon.

[der_saeufer]

Originally Posted by speedracertdi

When they first opened, they had great name brand products. Now they have Chinese shit under their own private labels like Bilt and Sedici. The staff are still great, helpful, and friendly. Marketing is A+. They had a good idea with their business model, too bad they found more profit in hocking crap. I hate to say it but I'll give them 12-18 months before they start downsizing and 24-30 months before they file bancruptcy. CG if you're lurking and see this thread, get rid of the high profit chinese shit, go back to your roots and stock the brand name stuff real motorcyclists want to invest their money in. You current profit margin is short lived and will begin to taper off quickly very soon.

^^ this. Also bring back oil filters other than K&N. If I wanted to pay $15 for a spin-on oil filter, I know where the dealer is.

Great staff (mostly) on my end of the country as well, though it seems they like to hire a good mix of motorcyclists of all ages, races and genders to help customers plus a few stupid young, white tweeker girls to work the cash registers. It's OK people, I'll still shop in your store even if I have to buy wheel weights from a guy or a woman over 25.

When I moved here a couple years ago I was stoked to be able to buy gear in person again (after missing Denver's Performance Cycle), but now that CG is all their own brand crap I'm back to the usual online ordering. I did get some good stuff at the "motobash" event a couple weekends ago, though.

[Afry]

Cycle Gear = Harbor Freight

[watchmen]

Originally Posted by Dukeryder

I thought I saw some Dainese stuff in there, the last time I was in there, and Alpinestars (boots at least)....it may just be old inventory though.

I had a pair of Frank Thomas GP gloves and they were absolute shit, so glad I returned them. They developed HOLES near the armor after 3 Rides! WTF? I got a pair of Dainese gloves and they held up on a pavement lowside! If I had those FT gloves I'd hate to think about what might have happened to my hands....

They had Cortech jackets on closeout the last time I went. It was pretty depressing other than that. I remember going there a few years ago and they had a lot more brands.

[Ape76]

There are other threads regarding CG products with the same outcome mostly. Guess they make higher margins on their own brands but really have no idea how the quality is .

I may have given them a shot if I could actually see the product in person but can't locally...

[Stegerman]

Originally Posted by Ape76

There are other threads regarding CG products with the same outcome mostly. Guess they make higher margins on their own brands but really have no idea how the quality is .

I may have given them a shot if I could actually see the product in person but can't locally...

Well, now you don't have to. I have returned the 2 Bilt products I tried.

1) 2 pair summer riding gloves, one developed a whole after a week and the other the velcro gave it up after 2 weeks.
2) Bought a cover for my bike. It worked really well except it let water and dirt in.