CycleGear San Antonio Question

Has there been a change at CycleGear? I went in this weekend and it seems that their inventory is primarily Bilt or Street & Steel. Their selection seems to have diminished quite a bit. Perhaps it's just taken me a while to notice. But I did notice that their mailings I get primarily advertise Bilt and Street & Steel stuff. I did like CycleGear, but it doesn't look like their offering much in store anymore.

I know that those are their new house brands and they've been pushing them pretty hard lately. I haven't actually been in a Cycle Gear in at least a couple of years now; I just order all my stuff online, usually from Motorcyclegear.com (used to be Newenough) or Motorcycle Superstore. I also pretty much only buy stuff on closeout because I'm cheap.

kanotuna said:

Has there been a change at CycleGear? I went in this weekend and it seems that their inventory is primarily Bilt or Street & Steel. Their selection seems to have diminished quite a bit. Perhaps it's just taken me a while to notice. But I did notice that their mailings I get primarily advertise Bilt and Street & Steel stuff. I did like CycleGear, but it doesn't look like their offering much in store anymore.

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Check out MotoLiberty, 14329 San Pedro Ave.

You just might like the selection and they're great supporters of the CMRA

I actually like Cycle Gear because its one of the few places you can go here to get decent gear for a good price. I'm like Pedro, I am cheap and knowing that if I am buying Bilt, or S&S or anything else like that, I am not buying top of the line gear. All my Bilt gear has been just fine, anything I have had a problem with they exchanged with no hassle. Also remember, even for San Antonio they don't keep a lot gear and stuff through the "winter", they will be getting new and more things now that spring is here.

Now if you want top dollar gear, then head to Moto Liberty like Centex said. Took me all of about five minutes to realize this isn't for me. EVERYTHING was EXPENSIVE!

But also like Pedro, I have about three or four online stores that I frequent their closeout section, I've got some great deals that way.

You get what you pay for, as for gear holding up it is easy for it to hold
up under everyday wear, I purchase gear to allow me to survive a crash

I have seen some of the more economy brands come apart under impact, I also dont see any AMA or MotoGP riders using ICON or BILT.

While you say you are not traveling at their speeds they also dont have to deal with cell phone using F250s on the track.

If you look MotoLiberty usually has a closeout rack, and if you ask can often
order closeouts or last years items left over at reduced cost.

I have always felt they were more than fair price wise

Thanks for all your replies. I understand what all of you uare saying. Don't get me wrong, I always liked CycleGear. Their staff is always friendly and provide good service. My biggest issue is that sometimes I like to be able to look at an item before I decide to buy. I don't expect them to carry every brand of every type of item. But I'd also hate to order something to the store just so that I can look at it. Suppose I just wish they had a little more variety. It's supposed to be the spice of life, right?

I'll still go there when I need maintenance supplies, but I'll probably be shopping at MotoLiberty or online when I am in the market for gear (unless I decide to buy Bilt).

i stopt into CycleGear in west Ft Worth last week, looking for winter pants

their in house BiLT brand pants were on sale for 50% off

they had a pair in "my size" & they fit!!!

i bought them & got to ride in them to PIE, last weekend

they were warm enough, cut the wind & reasonably comfortable

no complaints here on the BiLT brand

& the staff was real nice

sw

Most people on here know me, so I openly admit I have a dog in this hunt (I started and owned Moto Liberty San Antonio until last summer and currently still work for Moto Liberty as Director of Sales and Operations for RS Taichi distribution in the U.S.). So I'll say this from my perspective about Bilt and Cycle Gear. Cycle Gear has made a conscious decision to develop and push their own in-house budget brands (Bilt, Sedici, and Street & Steel) over the past couple of years. That's cool. Budget gear has its place. And house/generic brands have their uses. Sometimes casually involved motorcycle owners don't need as high a quality items. Maybe you only take a passenger very occassionally and just need a backup jacket for when you do. Or maybe you are just starting out and can't/aren't willing to pay for the better brand. I mean, we ALL started someplace. When I bought my first bike in college (many eons ago ), I scraped together money and there wasn't exactly any budget left over for gear. I wore a fashion brand (not a moto-specific technical brand) jacket for about the first year. In hindsight, I would have probably been better off getting an inexpensive generic brand, but armored and riding-specific-fit jacket. For those kinds of needs and budgets, having an inexpensive line that does at least most of the job acceptably well is great. I would much rather some kid just starting out with his first bike get a cheap jacket, gloves and helmet, and at least be wearing something when he's out there making his rookie mistakes. He'll be FAR better off wearing cheap than not wearing.

That said, it is up to us as consumers to know what we are getting for our money, too. When I tour motorcycle gear buyer's expos, I see everything from Pakistani made CHEAP rip-offs constructed of fashion fabrics that would start falling apart on their their first ride over 40mph or a light drizzle, to highly engineered protective pieces with research and testing results on every component and the price tags to match. And fit and comfort spans a range perhaps even more than build quality. There is no shortage of cheap manufacturers willing to churn out crap with whatever logo you want on it. I get emails in broken English from them literally every day offering to make private label technical apparel. So when I find a budget piece of equipment, I have to ask is it inexpensive or is it just cheap? Is that "$150 jacket" that's ALWAYS on sale for 50% off really a $150 type of jacket? Or was it really a $75 type of jacket all along? And does a $75 type of jacket do enough of what I need it to do to make it worthwhile, or am I just spending $75 for junk? The answers vary by item, that item's intended use, and the buyer. Sometimes the Harbor Freight knock-off is good enough for the task at hand. Sometimes the Kobalt/Craftsman/Husky is a much better buy even at twice the price. And sometimes the Snap-On/MAC/Matco is worth the investment because I'm going to really rely on it to work right every time, all the time.

What I'm not fond of is Cycle Gear's internal demands that stores stock and sell certain percentages of their own lines regardless of local market demand or staff concerns. But that is a corporate decision. They obviously make more profit off their own lines, so I don't have an issue with encouraging/incentivizing them from the top down. But, I know they've lost quite a few management level employees who refused to push those lines as hard as corporate wants them too. In my analogy above, it would be like a customer coming in looking for the Craftsman, but the saleman being forced to recommend the Harbor Freight even when the customer has a legitimate want/need for better.

All in all, their brands have some offerings that fit certain customer needs. If that's you, have at it. Just go in with your eyes open to the real value vs perceived value, and compare to other brands before making your decision. There are plenty of good bang for the buck options out there, wherever you choose to do your moto-shopping. When you find something that fits your own technical feature and fitment needs, your styling wants, its within your budget, and of the quality level you want, go for it. Sometimes that will be the budget line, sometimes not. If you are on two wheels and wearing gear, you're doin' alright.

The Austin store is small too and mainly filled with their house brand. I have picked up Alpinestars gear there that were in stock but mostly I order something then pick it up. They do offer a 10% discount to military/police/fire and that usually means their matched price for anything and the 10% are less than anywhere else. They are friendly, no doubt. I'll be going to San Diego, CA, in a few weeks so will bring Melody along and we can peruse their superstore, trying on different things and making notes. I'm tall and slender so XL jackets normally are huge in the body just so I can get the sleeve length. It's a pain not knowing if something will fit until after your internet purchase and you try it on for the first time.

Overall I don't care for the clothing/helmets they have in stock in their tiny stores. But I do like their friendliness, eager to help and pricing.

In Austin we have the rip-off king of Woods Fun Center and not-so-distant Central Texas Powersports if we want to try stuff but they are dealerships, not accessories oriented. They mainly sell overpriced bikes and the needed accessories to get you started.

I have no quarrel with Bilt gear. I've used a couple of pieces (gloves, etc). But definitely, if you don't want Bilt, don't go to Cycle Gear.