I vist cycleport in San Diego

[randy]

First I will comment, I own numerous cycleport gear, and have recommended this stuff as the(in my opinion) best quality and value gear on the market. So of course I had a preconcieved positive attitude. However I have no affiliation other than a satisfied customer.

 

My son (Ryan) arrived back from Iraq on Saturday Nov 17. I was flying out to San Diego to visit with him. Of course this offered an opportunity to go into cycleport and drop off my pants for repair and get fitted for a new waist length jacket.

 

I had called about two weeks ago, and set up a 10am appointment. I arrived at 9:45am and looked around the small display area for about 10 minutes. Cycleport occupies a small building in an industrial park. The building is divided, front 1/3 is two open area's, the back 2/3 all storage area.

The front 1/3 of the building is two rooms, the right room is a small display area, and the left side is the sewing area set up for 8 ladies. When I walked in one of the sewing ladies greated me and told be Wayne would be down in a few minutes. I tried on some of the display items (wrong thing to do) as I ended up buying more than I anticipated.

 

Wayne came in and greeted me. Wayne was very generous with his time and gave me a complete tour of the facility. I tried to break thread, tear sample pieces, viewed the many many examples of other manufacture's damaged garmets etc. Wayne's passion for safe, effective and long lasting garmets really showed itself. This man believes in his products and really spends the time to keep current. Wayne commented on the seminar he recently attended, which was organized by some Australian scientest doing work on motorcycle gear effectivness.

 

In addition Wayne is very involved with trying to update the law enforcement riding gear. Wayne really understands the need to "look" a certain way and yet provide some measure of safety. Wayne is producing some very cool riding gear specifically for the riding members of the law enforcement community. He is working to keep the "traditional" look, but provide a substantial increase in the safety of the gear, and with a savings to the officers. Basically the current cotton shirts used by a moto officer lasts about 4 months, and costs around 70.00. Wayne is building a similar look and style shirt with a 3 year wear guarantee at a similar price point to one year of shirt costs. In addition Wayne is creating riding pants that will have the same look, feel, and style as the current moto pants, but once again provide real protection and with a 5 year cost similar to the current 1 or 1.5 year cost. Quality, good protection, nice styling, at a value cost, sounds like a solution many law enforcement departments would like. I hope his products catch on.

 

After the full tour, and many reviews and viewings of cycleport gear, and competitior gear, we headed back to the showroom. I knew exactly what I wanted so it was just a matter of fitting me. We found a jacket in the showroom that was 90% correct. Wayne noted the measurment adjustments, and wrote up the order.

 

Wayne then looked at my pants, 6 years old, with 365 days of commuting use had really worn them out ( at least to me). Wayne looked at the garment, and took it back to one of the sewing ladies. 10 minutes later, he came back out with another order form, and said the ladies would do a full recondition of the pants. They noted the seams are 100% holding and basically other than the normal wear items (velcro and reflective material) the kevlar material was 100% as new. During the re-condition they are going to add 1.5 inches to my pant length.

 

I have always been impressed with cycleport's gear. I think cycleport gear offers the best combination of safety, value and temp range (really important in the south) of all the gear I have owned.

 

After visiting with Wayne for about 2 hours, I was very impressed with Wayne's passion for really good protective gear. As Wayne noted to me, he has no future plan to build a cheaper product, but his plans are to continue to build the best "value" product on the market. With the curreent combination of safety, longevity, price, and repair capability, I think cyclegear already has that title. Now Wayne will just have to keep working to stay on top of the field. And based upon all the stuff he showed me, I say he has the motivation to do so.

 

And one final note, the new cycleport warranty, is very simple

"if in the 5 years after you purchase a product you go down, and cycleport cannot repair the item, you get a free replacement."

 

My new jacket comes with this new warranty. Pretty cool.

 

If you are looking for the best value in motorcycle gear, I really recommend cycleport.

[SageRider]

Totally agree. Best protective, most versatile suits (I have 2) I have ever worn.

[pclarin]

I looked but couldn't a website for these folks. If you have one please pm me or post.

 

They sound like a great bunch.

[SageRider]

http://www.motoport.com/

[pclarin]

Sweeeeeeeeet! Thanks!

[GregB]

One of my two normal riding buddies went with me last year and we outfitted ourselves with the Kevlar Mesh Jacket and Pants. A few weeks ago he ended up collecting on the "insurance he took out" when we bought our gear.

 

A large 4-point buck jumped out in front of him and he was going 75mph on his new GS. He had time to touch the brakes but not to take any other action so he might have lost a few mph before he hit the deer solidly in the center. His GS is totalled along with his helmet. His Mesh Kevlar is damaged - one of the reflective strips will need to be repaired! Other than that it looks almost as-new. He broke nothing but a couple of ribs. He credits the Cycleport outfit with saving his butt.

[keithb]

Randy

I read your post this morning and wanted to comment. I agree with your assessment of the quality of Motoport gear. One of my best friends has been involved in 2 accidents in his GP-2 Kevlar gear and did not get a scratch on him. The first incident involved a dually which turned left in front of his at 45 mph. He flew over the hood and landed on the other side in the road. The second accident involved another motorcycle passing a truck. My friend ended up with his R100GS on top of him sliding down the road at 70 mph in the oncoming lane of traffic. ARGH. No road rash of any kind. Last year I bought the same GP-2 Kevlar jacket with both liners and use it with the pants I bought from them in 1998. It is a great product and so far I am very happy with it. It could easily be the last jacket I buy before I hang up my helmet and boots for good which would suit me just fine. If anyone in interested in their stuff I recommend you leave extra room in the chest for liners and cellphones/cameras in the pockets. Motoport likes to make close fitting jackets/suits for racers. For the normal people out there we don't need them so tight. One last thought, I sure hope I don't get to "test my gear" like my friend.

 

Have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving out there everyone!!

[Lawman]

Another happy customer here with the kevlar summer mesh waist length jacket and pants with liners..

[ckatopodis]

I've been very satisfied with the cordura jacket and pants I bought from Cycleport. They are the only company I found that will make custom sized gear for a guy my size. I'm currently having a Kevlar mesh jacket made for me (hoping it will be cooler in the summer). I've only dealt with Wayne over the phone and he has always been helpful.

[flyingreg]

I would like to add my comments here. I have been wearing the Cycleport Kevlar Mesh jacket and pants for about 18 months, wearing them year round. The two piece jacket liner really makes the jacket comfortable down to about 30 degrees on the RT. The liner for the pants is not insulated, which for me is good as the pants have enough room for layering.

 

Wayne and his staff really go out of their way to make sure you are a satisfied customer. I can't say enough about Cycleport.

 

A side note: When I purchased my gear the warranty was 7 years, the website has not changed and still states the warranty as 7 years. Has Cycelport changed the warranty on the kevlar gear to 5 years? Even at 5 years, no other manufacturer can touch it.