Gotta love Cycle gear ngc

[Chuck in Indiana]

I mentioned a year and a half or so how much I liked my cheap Cycle gear helmet. I'd had an expensive helmet picked out, but thought I'd see what the low priced spread was like. To make a long story short, it just fit and Iiked it better than the high buck Shoei GTair I have at home.
Until yesterday.
I was coming back from Malibu on the PCH, and had the sun shade down as I came to the tunnel. Reached up to lift the sun shade, and the lever wasn't there. Yikes!! Old eyes don't see well in a tunnel with a pretty dark sun shade. There is a curve all the way through it, too. (!!) Fortunately, I lived through that experience. 
Stopped in Cycle Gear this morning on the way to MG Classics, expecting the counter guy to say, "Sorry. Do you want to buy another?" Instead, he said, "Do you want another or your money back?" (!)
I have a big head, and the only XXL they had was black. I much prefer a white or high viz helmet. He said how about an upgrade? It won't cost much.
OK, what do you have?
He had a white Sedici in XL, nope too tight.. so he changed out the pads to XXL pads. 
$200 helmet and I was trading in a helmet I'd paid $109 for on sale. He wrote it up a big discount on the Sedici and gave me $129 for my old one. Total cost to me? 30 bux..
It's hard for me to shop elsewhere.

[LowRyter]

With all the talk about saving ($) money, I am not sure why you labeled the thread NGC?





 

[Gliderjohn]

From Lowryter:

With all the talk about saving ($) money, I am not sure why you labeled the thread NGC?

:1:
Classic Guzzi owner content anyway.
GliderJohn

[Sheepdog]

I use their float chargers on my farm/landscape equipment. Just having a place that stocks gear I use is a nice thing. I just wish my nearest Cycle Gear was closer than 70 miles away...

[John Ulrich]

Stopped in Cycle Gear this morning on the way to MG Classics,

Since you brought it up....... How's Mark doing?

[Chuck in Indiana]

Since you brought it up....... How's Mark doing?

I think I've mentioned before that if he had a duck it wouldn't float. He had been off crutches for a couple of weeks, and twisted his good knee a few days ago. Back on crutches and a brace.
He's in good spirits, though.. you can't keep him down.
I helped Josh put a slash 5 ? I think.. (all them airheads look alike to me) engine in a freshy powder coated frame today. Mark did help steady the frame. Looks nice. Didn't scratch it..

[Arizona Wayne]

I bought a Bilt Apollo modular helmet a few years ago for $100(gc).  It's a bit  heavier than I'd like but after finding out in rain there was no seal between the lense top and helmet when closed  I got some foam insulation @ my local Walmart to remedy ($3) that.  Then in a Motel 6 in Reno I managed to drop it and break 1 of the side covers that attach the lense.  The drop down tinted lense still worked great.  I could still use it to ride but it wasn't easy.  Went to the local Cycle Gear store and got 2 replacements for $10 in stock.    Now I have a backup but haven't needed it yet.  Other than it's weight I'm happy with it.  Ain't gonna pay $400 more for a lighter helmet. 

[bpreynolds]

Sorry about the helmet, but hey I�ve had to replace at least several parts on my super expensive Arais over the years so I dunno if I�d take that one part as indicative per se, though I did the same thing with Bilt in the past.  Probably about 5 years ago I purchased a pair of ankle high Bilt brand riding boots.  I knew they were cheapies and I wasn�t expecting much; yet, they still managed to disappoint.  The supposedly wp boots failed in the first rain and once water was inside, the crappy glue even came unbound from the interior soles.  The shoes basically fell apart after that first wet ride.  I never purchased another Bilt brand product until 3 months ago when I was at the store getting new tires installed on my removed rims - hard to beat their local cheap charge to mount if you buy the tires there.  I was needing a new Winter riding jacket and wound up buying one of theirs as it looked pretty well made and had a bunch of features much more expensive jackets tend to have.  So far so good and it�s done well over 1 Winter tour already.  We�ll see. 

[davedel44]

I mentioned a year and a half or so how much I liked my cheap Cycle gear helmet. I'd had an expensive helmet picked out, but thought I'd see what the low priced spread was like. To make a long story short, it just fit and Iiked it better than the high buck Shoei GTair I have at home.
Until yesterday.
I was coming back from Malibu on the PCH, and had the sun shade down as I came to the tunnel. Reached up to lift the sun shade, and the lever wasn't there. Yikes!! Old eyes don't see well in a tunnel with a pretty dark sun shade. There is a curve all the way through it, too. (!!) Fortunately, I lived through that experience. 
Stopped in Cycle Gear this morning on the way to MG Classics, expecting the counter guy to say, "Sorry. Do you want to buy another?" Instead, he said, "Do you want another or your money back?" (!)
I have a big head, and the only XXL they had was black. I much prefer a white or high viz helmet. He said how about an upgrade? It won't cost much.
OK, what do you have?
He had a white Sedici in XL, nope too tight.. so he changed out the pads to XXL pads. 
$200 helmet and I was trading in a helmet I'd paid $109 for on sale. He wrote it up a big discount on the Sedici and gave me $129 for my old one. Total cost to me? 30 bux..
It's hard for me to shop elsewhere.

Always excellent customer service at my local Cyclegear.  Stop by anytime I get in the neighborhood.  No Hassel exchanges always.

Dave
Galveston
.

[Green1000S]

Same here, was in Georgia when my UClear 200 communications system quit working.
Went to Cyclegear and they simply gave me a new one, back on road with music!
Never had a problem with them on exchanges or broken stuff.
Nice!

[JACoH]

They do have good people at most of their stores willing to help. The Bilt and Sedici brands they offer are their own. They have other manufacturers make them with their brands affixed, so not all are top quality products.

[zebraranger]

They do have good people at most of their stores willing to help. The Bilt and Sedici brands they offer are their own. They have other manufacturers make them with their brands affixed, so not all are top quality products.

I agree with the other post that they do a great job with customer service, and they usually back their products, but not always. We've had a Cycle Gear here in town for several years and I've shopped them a lot over those years. I've found that most of their name brand products are cheaply made and doesn't last. Their Battery tenders, I've had two quit working in less than 3 months, I now use Schumacher tenders. Sedici boots fall apart in a few weeks, I purchased a Bilt helmet once just as a extra backup helmet for passenger's, it was very noisy and leaky, breath too hard on the shield and it will practically scratch...Even thou their inexpensive brand isn't quality, sometimes it hard to resist because of its cheap price, I just try to resist the temptation on those brands now because they just don't last. I still use Cycle Gear for regular brand purchases as they do run some good sales on name brand motor oils, tires and other products. They also stay open later than any other facility and they do offer good customer service.

[rodekyll]

I have not been impressed with CG quality.  I tried doing business with them but finally concluded that their products aren't suitable for any purpose.  I think I have a doo rag from them that still works.

[ITSec]

My experience with them has been generally good, though I do tend to stick to name brands rather than house brand for most purchases. My local CG manager likes me a lot, since I buy 3 or 4 sets of tires a year from him, and give him a lot of product feedback on what I buy - good, bad and 'it would be better if...'.

The Bilt brand is awfully cheap, and that often shows in its quality. Sedici is a step up - the clothes have better seams and stitching, helmets are a bit lighter and better material, etc. I'd really like it if they could split the difference between the Sedici stuff and name brand products with a third product line.

[rodekyll]

Things like name brand tires or spark plugs are ok from them when I'm on a trip looking for a tire or spark plug.  It is the price-point driven "accessory" products -- the Bilt line in particular -- that soured me. 

I deleted the rest of the rant.  The conclusion though was that after the failures, time, added expense and hassle, I would have been better off buying the good stuff to begin with.

[Park Ridge Phil]

 Have never shopped at CG. So it sounds like it's the harbor freight for motorcycles.

[Lannis]

Always excellent customer service at my local Cyclegear.  Stop by anytime I get in the neighborhood.  No Hassel exchanges always.

Dave
Galveston
.

That's an excellent thing, but our nearest Cycle Gear is 100 miles away, and two years ago they moved into a store that was 1/3 the size of the one they had been in, dropping the selection down to almost nothing, and mostly the cheaper "Bilt" things.

Fay bought a "Bilt" mesh jacket which has worked OK because she doesn't use mesh much; it's not very high quality.   I have a pair of "Sedici" summer gloves which have worn very well.

If they still had a big store with a good selection, I'd travel there.

Lannis

[rdbandkab]

Good experiences here also.  (Allison Park, PA store location)

I tend to put a 2 inch tear in the palm of my clutch side glove every season or so.  I bought a set of Sedici gloves a few years ago and after the tear appeared, took them in to our nearest Cycle Gear store.   They replaced them with no hassle and gave me the options of money back, same model glove,  or upgrade for low cost.
They said they will replace these gloves any time there's an issue.  They have a lifetime warranty...

*I have since started using leather conditioner on the palms of the gloves.  If not, that left hand glove will start tearing across the palm in one riding season.

[steven c]

 Yea if Cycle Gear stuff falls apart they will give you a new one, but that doesn't give me much faith on how it would hold up sliding down the road.

[canuck750]

I bought a couple of their modular blue tooth helmets about 5 years ago. The flip button on my helmet broke this fall, I took the helmet into Phoenix Cycle Gear to get a new one matched to my wife's. The guy at the counter asked when I bought it, couldn't recall for sure, he looks up my name in the system, says its just over 5 years old and just off being covered by warranty, "go pick out a new one" he says "and we will work something out". At the till he says I can get the new one for $100! a saving of over $200. Trouble is the new Bluetooth will not pair to my wife's helmet, no problem he says, bring me your wife's helmet and for another $100 she can have a new one as well.

Talk about amazing service, I still can't believe they did this for me, great guys!