American online motorcycle gear retailer
Cycle Gear is a motorcycle accessories retailer featuring 165 stores in 39 states and an e-commerce website. The company is headquartered in Benicia, California. The business was founded in 1974 by Dave Bertram. The company founded the "BILT" and "Sedici" helmet brands in 2011. The company also founded "Street and Steel" and "Hot-wired" brands. In 2016, the company merged with RevZilla under the conglomerate Comoto Holdings Inc.. Four years later the group acquired two more companies J&amp;P Cycles and Rever. Each company functions independently as a sister company.
History.
The company founded its first store in 1974 in Benicia, California in the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area by Donald Martin and Dave Bertram. The company featured a catalog from the 1970s and by 1992 there were six stores in the California Area. In 1999, the company continued growing to about ten locations and featured the Frank Thomas Collection one of the best-known British motorcycling clothing brands, four years later in 2001 the company grew to eighteen stores. The company established the ecommerce website cyclegear.com by 2003 and in 2008, Cycle Gear grew to 100 stores across the United States. By 2011, Cycle Gear introduced two helmet brands "BILT" and "Sedici". The company also introduced "Street and Steel" and "Hot-wired" brands. In 2016, before RevZilla and Cycle Gear were merged by Comoto Holdings Inc. the company grew to 112 stores in 34 states, had a significant and growing online business, and distributed over 13 million catalogs annually. After the merger Bertram retired as CEO. As of March 2024, the company has grown to 165 stores in 39 states and employs 3000 people.
Helmets.
Cycle Gear founded two motorcycle helmet brands: "BILT" and "Sedici" in 2011. Cycle Gear created designs and worked directly with manufacturers in countries like China and Pakistan to remove the middleman. Originally, the brand offered a five-year warranty on "BILT" brands and a lifetime warranty on "Sedici" helmets. Sedici means 16 in Italian; "Sedici" was considered a higher-end, European-inspired line guaranteed for life. One year after the merger of Cycle Gear and RevZilla around May 2017, Comoto Holdings changed the "BILT" brand's warranty from five years to one year, and the "Sedici" lifetime warranty was changed to two years.
Several recalls have been issued for Bilt helmets including certain "BILT Amped" and "Grommet" helmets. On January 13, 2023, Comoto Holdings, Inc. issued a safety recall on specific models of the "BILT" helmets specifically for the "BILT Vertex" helmets produced after September 1, 2021, and "BILT Route" helmets produced after March 1, 2020. A Safety Recall Report was issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration for roughly 18,980 helmets. The helmets did not provide impact protection in the event of a crash, which increased the rider's risk of head injury. The helmets suffered penetration test failures during independent testing, which did not comply with U.S. Department of Transportation standards.
References.
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