| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
We have a new Cycle Gear showroom in easy walking distance of where I live. It actually opened the year we moved here (how CONVENIENT). Although they do carry plenty of name-brand merchandise they are HEAVY into BiLT and Sedici brand gear. I've never heard of either and honestly, if I'm buying a helmet, something my life literally may depend on, I want to make sure it is a good piece of equipment made by a company with a solid reputation. I have purchased some BiLT gear. I'm very happy with the Heat-Out wicking T-Shirts I've purchased, and the engineer boots I just bought are also acceptable. The Freeze-Out winter gear does keep me quite warm in the winter BUT for some idiotic reason these things do NOT come equipped with a fly! Yeah, that's right... if you have to take a leak, you're going to have to half-disrobe. It's little oversights like that that make me think twice about even considering their helmets. Does anyone here have any experience with these brands? | ||
| S2t_bama |
My brother bought a Bilt full-face helmet and absolutely hated it. Comfort was awful after 10 min, and very noisy. Thankfully he never crash tested it! | ||
| Froggy |
Personally I am not a fan of Bilt gear, I've picked up some winter gloves on sale, and they started falling apart pretty quickly. My girlfriend has a Bilt jacket and helmet, I've tried them, they are just ok, but you get what you pay for. She doesn't ride with me often so she has a hard time justifying me spending more on equipment for her. I wouldn't recommend their stuff for anyone that rides more than a few times a year. Even something only mildly more expensive like Scorpion and Joe Rocket will last longer, feel nicer, have more features, and deliver more bang for the buck. | ||
| Slowride |
I have only one experience with the Cyclegear Sedici brand. I purchased a pair of gantlet type leather gloves with some armor on them. They have held up well over the last 3 years and my only real complaint is the leather is starting to fade, but only on some of areas of the glove. Here is a picture...   | ||
| Skinstains |
They can't even spell the name right Bilt ? I definitely wouldn't trust them to Build my helmet...Just sayin'... | ||
| Pwnzor |
Bilt is Cycle Gear's cheap house brand. It's basic gear, will get you by. Sedici is another "Italian" brand you'll probably not find in too many other stores, and it's not too bad, depending what items you get. My wife's got a Sedici jacket and gloves, and they fit her well, keep her warm, and will likely do their job in a crash. I wouldn't buy Bilt anything, it all feels really cheap to me. | ||
| Etennuly |
I bought a package deal on Bilt gear a couple of years ago. A jacket, pants, and boots or gloves offer that seemed pretty fair. If I recall it was like $250 for the set and I had a coupon that got me a set of mesh pants included. My Buell riding gear was 70,000 great miles in. After a crash at Road America and six years of sweat, bugs, carwash cleanings and such it was time for new stuff. I would have bought Buell gear again if they were going to be around as it were. I test rode them in the store for an hour before purchasing. I got the Xplorer jacket, the matching pants were terrible fitting IMHO, so I got Bilt pants from a different set. The boots are the best part of the deal. They fit nice and they are comfortable on a long ride, but not water proof at all. The jacket and pants both have liners and will zip together at the back. They are the warmest liner gear I have ever seen. Riding at 40F is nearly too warm for the pants liners, it seems that they actually make your body produce heat, which I consider a good thing. Neither the jacket or pants fit nearly as good as the Buell jacket and pants that I had for years. They feel bulky and poor fitting, but to be fair I have gained quite a bit of weight to where few things actually fit well. Except for the slightly vented boots, the stuff is water proof though, where the Buell stuff was not. If I graded it on a ten scale based on price, fit, ergos, etc, I'd say 5 maybe 6. To do the purchase again.....I'd rather pay more to get more, but then because of my situation I knew I'd be riding a lot less, so the best line I could draw would have been curved. Like it was said above, if you are going to put some serious miles on, spend a bit more and put some serious gear on. Bilt is not that. | ||
| Jaimec |
Thanks for the feedback. As I stated originally, the "Heat Out" clothing is top notch so if you like riding in the summer I do recommend it; it makes a difference. For cold weather riding, the "Freeze Out" clothing does keep you VERY warm and even has built-in wind-blocker panels in strategic areas. However, the fact that you need to partially disrobe to take a leak means if it's REALLY cold you better hope there's a gas station with heated, indoor facilities nearby because you will not want to drop your pants just to take a leak. DUMBEST clothing design I've ever seen. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Sedici is Italian for Sixteen. Just saying is all. | ||
| Buellish |
I'm with Jaimec,the Freeze Out long johns are the warmest for riding I've ever had,but no fly is a royal pain in the ass.I don't think I would buy any Bilt gear though. | ||
| Lemonchili_x1 |
I bought some Bilt gear on my last trip two years ago, two jackets ($300 for both) and a flip-up helmet. I have a perforated leather jacket which I love and wear often, and it's lasting very well although it is fading from the sun and could use some leather conditioner, but I think any lower priced leather jacket would require that by now. The other jacket is a textile one with a hoodie that fits inside it as the liner. More than warm enough for winters here, without the hoodie it's my spring/autumn jacket. The helmet was really comfortable in the shop but after six months the lining was nowhere near as soft as new, not comfortable for long trips. The flip mechanism got pretty creaky/noisy too, but all works ok. It's pretty noisy too. For the money it's been ok as my short trip helmet, and I trust it, I got what I paid for. I've gone back to using my old Shoei because it's way more comfortable even though it's older. The Shoei is waaaaaay overdue for a replacement, shopping for something at the moment. | ||
| 2008xb12scg |
Cycle gear has a great return policy andthey sell other brands but mostly oin since they started selling their own brands. I have a pair of their riding jeans and they came apart near my ankle. Seemed odd but it makes me not want to trust them with my skin. Personally I would say if you can afford better then get better. |
