Vendor Review: 58cycle

Selection:	+	+	+	-	-	(3 out of 5)
Expert Knowledge:	+	+	+	+	-	(4 out of 5)
Ease Of Use:	+	+	+	+	-	(4 out of 5)
Service:	+	+	+	-	-	(3 out of 5)
Pricing:	+	+	+	+	-	(4 out of 5)
Overall:	+	+	+	+	-	(4 out of 5)
Pros:	excellent prices knowledgeable staff free shipping wish list feature available with account
Cons:	some product listings lack pictures/information limited brand selection

Discovery

Finding 58cycle was a complete accident. I was looking for a rather exotic Termignoni exhaust for my 2005 YZF-R6 one day when I stumbled upon an Ebay listing. After getting over my initial sticker shock for the Termignoni, and my disappointment that I wouldn't be owning one anytime soon, I started digging around that seller's other listings and after a short while, came to learn of that seller's external website.

Those who know me know how much I love to profess my disdain for Ebay. My sense is that it is a community of frauds and liers and morons who spend countless hours and dollars making the shareholders of Ebay and UPS very rich. All of this is perpetuated by disproportionately positive water cooler anecdotes about great deals to be found without any mention of the work required to find them or the vast number of feedback hostage situations quietly resolved with, "AAA++++ GREAT EBAYER!!!!". That being said, it is a great research tool for estimating the market value or availability of certain commodities (like bike parts). Oh yeah, and it's great for fencing stolen goods. But if a seller has an item for sale on Ebay and his own separate site, I will almost always prefer the latter.

The Termignoni might have been off the table, but I noticed that 58cycle was not only one of the few US-based Termignoni resellers to make that exhaust available, but it also had some pretty darn good prices on other, more accessible parts. So I bookmarked the site to perhaps return on a rainy day (or at least one on which I had more disposable income).

Well that day soon arrived and I had my first opportunity to make a purchase. However, if it weren't for 58cycle's Ebay listings, I probably never would have found them. They aren't among the usual suspects when doing a Froogle or Yahoo! Shopping search, and I don't believe I've ever seen them advertise anywhere.

Presentation

I initially researched two applications for our Gilles rearsets purchase: my 2005 YZF-R6 and bigpuss's 2001 CBR-600F4i. 58cycle did not offer the absolute lowest price we could find, but they were within a few dollars. They also offered free shipping on orders more than US$100.

We had never seen Gilles rearsets in person before making this purchase. 58cycle's product listing for the R6 had two small photos depicting only the left-side rearset in the Titanium and Black finishes respectively. The product listing for the F4i had one larger photo of the Titanium finish. While they looked tempting in these displays, we wanted something a bit more detailed before committing to such a large purchase. Thankfully, both Google and Yahoo! image searches provided plenty of sufficient visuals. However, it would have been nice to have access to such detail at the point of purchase.

There was some initial confusion resulting from 58cycle's product pages. First, finding the products took some time, as 58cycle's search feature, although more forgiving than most we've found (since it does substring matching by default), was a bit hit-or-miss. For example, a search on their site with the terms "yzf gilles" didn't turn up any results, but "r6 gilles" had about 14 hits, including other Gilles products and other bikes like the Suzuki GSX-R600. Trying to narrow the results using "r6 gilles rearsets" got nothing, but "r6 gilles rear set" yielded three results, one for each different R6 body type.

Second, we were able to find one listing appropriate to our R6 entitled "2003-2005 Yamaha R6 Fully Adjustable Gilles Racing Rear Sets", but when researching our F4i, we found two applicable listings: "2001-2002 Honda CBR 600 F4i Fully Adjustable Gilles Racing Rear Sets" and "2001-2005 Honda CBR 600 F4i Fully Adjustable Gilles Racing Rear Sets - Not Reverse Shift". The only differences between the two F4i product pages (including the photos and the price) were the titles and a note on the latter indicating, "These Gilles Rear Sets are not Reverse Shift Capable." Was the first capable of both? Was there something different about it that it could only be installed on a 2001-2002? We weren't sure.

Additional research into other sources enlightened us that the R6 rearsets were capable of both regular and GP shift patterns depending on their installation, but the F4i rearsets were fixed (i.e., one had to commit to a single shift pattern at the time of purchase). Also, either of the F4i rearsets would fit all years and one was not limited to 2001-2002 for the GP shift pattern.

One feature of 58cycle's website that sets it apart from most others is its wish list. Its use requires that you either have or create an account, but it was extremely convenient both in our research of rearsets as well as the ability to conveniently save other goodies we might have happened across.

Service

In the process of researching rearsets, I figured I'd e-mail 58cycle's customer service <info@58cycle.com> to ask for clarification on the features and years for the two Honda listings. For fun, I also threw in a question to see if Termignoni made a slip-on version of their Bel Grada full system. Days passed and I received no reply. I resent the e-mail and again suffered no response. I kept a watchful eye on my spam folder in case responses were sent, but sucked into the abyss before I had a chance to read them. Still nothing.

Eventually I called them up (their phone number is listed on their site). I spoke with a woman who's name I can no longer recall. I asked about the Termignoni, the rearsets and some other gadgets I had been eyeing. I quickly felt like I might have caught her just after she spilled coffee on her keyboard or something since her patience for my seemingly endless barrage of questions was appearing to wear thin. Although she wasn't the friendliest person on the planet, she was extremely knowledgeable about the products 58cycle carried. She (not-so-carefully) explained that she was not aware that Termignoni made a slip-on version of the Bel Grada system, but even if they did, it was not likely to be imported into the United States. She quickly verified our independent research regarding the Honda rearsets and picked off my other challenges like Ken Jennings. She never once tried to end the call early or encourage me to find answers elsewhere.

Acquisition

Checking out was easy. What was really nice was the ability to get a shipping cost estimate without having to provide a credit card number. For some reason, it always makes me uneasy when sites ask for my payment information before they tell me what the total will be, so it was nice to see 58cycle does The Right Thing™. Another courtesy 58cycle provides is the ability to check out without having to create a customer account. We decided to create one anyway, since it was necessary to use the wish list feature.

Our total cost for the transaction was US$448.95. After the order was placed, the rearsets arrived in about a week and in perfect condition.

Conclusion

I don't know much about the people behind 58cycle. My impression is that it is a small mom-and-pop shop that is technologically advanced for its size and is run by dedicated, hard-working folks. Their prices can be beat, but not by much, and the free shipping for orders of a certain size can really seal the deal for bargain hunters. Overall, I would say my experience was pleasant, the overall value was excellent, and I intend to return (if only to get a few more things in my wish list).