Is bilt motorcycle gear Good Quality???

[venmichaels]

Went to my local cycle gear the other day.

Their store brand 'bilt' has some pretty awesome deals on leathers, gloves, suits, boots, helmets, etc..

Anyone have any experience with their leathers?? will it hold up in a crash??

[Trailerboy531]

My friend crashed in a Bilt helmet, hit the ground probably doing about 30. Helmet was scraped to hell on one side but he was fine.

[Alex]

/moved to gear area

[gfloyd2002]

Short answer is that it is decent quality comparable with entry-level gear, at an even lower price with a very good warranty, but don't expect it to be more than it is - BiLT stuff won't compete with Dianese, REV'IT, Spidi, or the higher end stuff from other brands. But it will compete with entry level Speed and Strength, Shift, Tourmaster, etc. Here is a quote from another thread that might be useful:

I've done some research and I've found out that 7 factories in Pakistan make about 80% of the motorcycle gear (boots, jackets, gloves) for the majority of companies out there (Alpinestar, Dynastar, Firstgear, SIDI, Teknic, Fieldsheer, etc). There also some factories in India and China but the majority is from Pakistan.

Why did I start researching this? Because I was on Cycle Gear's website and saw a pair of boots (BiLT brand) that looked exactly like a pair that is offered by SHIFT but at over half the price. I had never heard of BiLT so I called the Cycle Gear store in Louisville, KY and talked to them about it. They told me that it was a new "House" brand for them but couldn't tell me anything more about it, so that is when I decided to do some research. (I'm an Intelligence Analyst for the government so I'm pretty good at doing reseach, it also helps to have contacts working over in THAT country that gathers economic intelligence)

Here's what I found out. The boot by BiLT is made in the very same factory as the SHIFT boot, on the same line. SHIFT boot $100, BiLT boot $49.99. Alpinestar made in the same place and similar design $170........ Difference in the Alpinestar and other two is one higher grade of leather is used. Is that really worth $120 more?

I didn't end up buying that boot but I did buy another one from BiLT. Cost, $70 same boot different brand, $260. Oh yeah, they are made in the same factory..........

BiLT also has a weather proof boot that looks identical to my Alpinestars. Cycle Gear price $60. I paid $180 last year on Closeout for them.

This ties into my recent frustration over gear that is identical, branded by different companies. And generally to the large companies (A*, Joe Rocket, Shift, ICON, Technic, Speed and Strength, Scorpion, Cortech, etc.) simply putting their name on stuff that comes out of foreign factories without much differentiation, design, etc. It shows that motorcycle gear is all about marketing, and guess who the chumps are? Us, for paying for the A* or Icon or Joe Rocket labels. In that kind of market, the recent emergence of BiLT and Sedici as the Cyclegear house brands makes a ton of sense. Cyclegear buys the same stuff directly from the same Pakistani factories and rebrands it without going through the middleman, allowing Cyclegear to offer essentially the same products at significant discounts.

From the research I've done on this since I got the last CycleGear flyer, the quality of the BiLT stuff (5 year warranty) is about what you'd expect from the lower end of the A*, Joe Rocket, Shift, Scorpion, Speed and Strength, Vega, etc. lines at about 1/2 the prices. Entry level gear with some features, reasonably well made, but not going to hold up to comparison with the really high quality stuff. Sedici (lifetime warranty) is meant to offer quality to compete with the top of the line from these manufacturers. My take is that this is genius by CycleGear. And, honestly, consumers who continue to buy the big brands are being taken for a ride and giving away their money to pay for nothing more than marketing and branding.

The rational consumer response to the same factories making most of everything, and to the big companies irresponsibly slapping their labels often on the same products (or with styling varations to differentiate their brand) is one of three things:
1) Start buying from responsible, smaller companies that design their own stuff for purpose, run their own factories, and really care about quality. Aerostich, Vanson, Teiz, etc. Check out this thread: Best Small Companies for Gear;
2) Pay the money to get the uber high quality products that have complete product control and aren't likely to have fungible products. Dianese, RevIt, Sidi, Motoport, Aerostich, etc.;
3) Recognize that much of the gear out there is interchangeable and comes out of the same factories and go with the CycleGear brands to save money and cut out the middleman so you don't have to pay their margins and fund the cost of their branding and marketing efforts. Buy BiLT for the inexepensive stuff and Sedici for the quality.