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.