When i was looking for my bike, three different kawasaki dealerships told me i could test drive any cruiser they had, but that the liability on sport bikes was too much. guess it just depends on the dealership and what kind of bike youre looking for.

you can rent bikes, but from what i hear its pretty expensive once you get all of the required insurance, etc.

 

look for the demo days when they want you to ride there bikes. Last week i went to a Buell demo and the had every type of Buell to test. You would ride in a group with a lead bike who kinda makes the pace for the ride. You can ride all the bikes there that they have to offer.

~X~

 

What's the easiest way to get a dealership to give me the keys for a quick spin?

Buy the dealership.

 

Around here, there are very few dealers that will let you take a NEW bike for a test ride. It is possible to talk them into a test ride on a used bike... IMHO, not a bad idea anyways, because if I'm thinking of buying a new Wingnut-2000, spending some time on one that's a few years old can tell more about the bike than a month on a new one.

 

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"...It is possible to talk them into a test ride on a used bike...

Would I have to lie to them and tell them I'm very interested in the 600cc sportbike and back out of the deal because it isn't the "right color" after the test ride?

 

go to Bike Week in Daytona, it may take some doing but you could test ride just about everything on the market.

 

The only dealers around here that will permit test rides are the HDs. Every bike on their floor is ready for delivery right now. If you wanna ride it, all you gotta do is say so. None of the metric folks prep a bike for delivery before it's sold. They say it's b/c if they trade/sell/send it to another dealer they would have to deal with the hassles and cost of transporting hazardous/flammable materials. If you want to test any new metric bike here you are SOL.

 

Our local dealer lets you take a 5 mile spin whenever you like.

 

Our local dealer lets you take a 5 mile spin whenever you like.

Good thing, too, huh? If you hadn't ridden that V2K, you might not have fallen in love the way you did!

 

:biggrin: I stoped in at my Kaw dealer yesterday who now also is a Victory dealer!! As the owner and i were chewing the fat about bikes he said "why don't ya take the new Victory outside for a test ride". He only had to say that once and I grabed my helmet and was off..100c.i. and six speed tranny...what a blast...like rideing a meanie with a turbo. Wicked fast and seemed well balanced but when i left and got back on my 1600 classic it just like putin back on my favorite pair of old boots..........AHHHHHHH I think I'll keep her:mrgreen:

 

The only dealers around here that will permit test rides are the HDs. Every bike on their floor is ready for delivery right now. If you wanna ride it, all you gotta do is say so. None of the metric folks prep a bike for delivery before it's sold. They say it's b/c if they trade/sell/send it to another dealer they would have to deal with the hassles and cost of transporting hazardous/flammable materials. If you want to test any new metric bike here you are SOL.

We had open house last weekend. You could test ride two of the Yamaha cruisers. The open house lasted 3 days, with lots of promos, and only TWO people test rode the bikes. This could be why test rides are far few between.

 

Totally depends on your dealer(s). I have a few around here that have offered to let me ride various sport bikes, but others wouldn't accept that liability (can't blame them). From ppl I know who have test ridden them, most dealers seem to require you signing a waver form for obvious reasons.

It is tough when deciding which bike is right for you if you aren't able to test it out. It's impossible to discern the little idiosyncracies of a bike until you've started her up and rode around. At the very least, I would start up the engine if you can't test it out. And I do believe most dealers (perhaps by state law) have a refund policy within 3 days of purchase. So if you absolutely hated the bike after buying it, you have an out.

 

Good thing, too, huh? If you hadn't ridden that V2K, you might not have fallen in love the way you did!

Yep I would have gone by test rides in magazines and been unhappy.

 

. . . I do believe most dealers (perhaps by state law) have a refund policy within 3 days of purchase . . .

Now I just have to find a dealer willing to take back a Triumph Street Triple 675 every week.

 

Now I just have to find a dealer willing to take back a Triumph Street Triple 675 every week.

you and me both Drunken :wink: It's a fine looking ride!

 

It's all about the approach..

I used to have trouble getting test rides, butt.. One day, I casually mentioned that I had an official jukief avatar image to use as security, a pair of Svetlana's legs to use as leverage and if they didn't let me ride the bike, I'd NOT lt em kiss my Saki.Girl butt..

Ever since then, I've had no worries getting whatever I wanted..

Seriously though, out here in Australia, well, if almost ANY mid sized dealership had less than 5 or 10 test bikes ready to ride, they'd soon be out of business.

Of course, you either have to be known to them, be half serious and have a licence, but once those things are sorted, off you go for your ride.

Anyways, cheers alls, Tod, Australia.​

 

I think the problem is that, from the dealer's perspective, the reason for a test drive of a cage does not apply as readily to a bike.

As the customer, WE view the test drive as a way to gauge the comfort and handing of the vehicle. But honestly, we would need a weekend to really do that.
The dealers view the test drive as setting the hook. It is very rare that a test drive does not result in an immediate sale. The salesman is in the car, and the whole time is distracting the driver pointing out luxury items, and basically, cementing the sale.

Then it's back to the dealer for 2-3 hours of one-sided negotiation.


Bikes tend to sell themselves, and a test ride would make little difference in whether the purchase is made by the majority of customers.

 

A man convinced against...

To simplify things, I'll post replies within the quote. Hope this works okay.

I think the problem is that, from the dealer's perspective, the reason for a test drive of a cage does not apply as readily to a bike.
Yes and No. Take to long to explain my thoughts

As the customer, WE view the test drive as a way to gauge the comfort and handing of the vehicle. But honestly, we would need a weekend to really do that.
Comfort and handling - to what extent I ask? Once I hop on a bike, I want to test a number of areas, especially if it is 2nd hand. Things which are either bad about it(as in faults easily discernable), or if I am simple simply not comfortable "with" the bike / car. Comfortable as in not being in a cramped riding style etc. These types of things can be picked up quite quickly and ARE important.

To feel comfortable as in 'now I know my rump doesn't get sore after X hours', well, you won't find out about in a 30 min test ride / drive. But for problem solving or ensuring a comfortable riding / driving position, yep, a brief spin will let you work that out.

The dealers view the test drive as setting the hook. It is very rare that a test drive does not result in an immediate sale. The salesman is in the car, and the whole time is distracting the driver pointing out luxury items, and basically, cementing the sale.

Then it's back to the dealer for 2-3 hours of one-sided negotiation.
Don't you just love the old - "I'll just have to see if I can get that for you, let me go and talk with the finance manager" and stuff. I prefer cash. Bought two vehicles, the ZX12R and a little BWM car in the past 10 weeks, with cash.


Bikes tend to sell themselves, and a test ride would make little difference in whether the purchase is made by the majority of customers.
Where I come from, well, the test ride is very important and if you know EXACTLY what you want, then the test ride may not be so important. Outside of that, I'd have to say that out here in Aussieland, without the test ride, a decent one at that, there's no way the dealer will keep the customer from going down the road to someone else. Mind you, they do their best to ensure you aren't a tyre kicker looking for a blast on a bike for free, before you get out on the bike, but still..

Anyways, could just be the vast differences in the market, the checks before things and also, cultural, which make test rides and drives (some for the whole weekend too), such a different thing between USA and Aussie.

Anyways, cheers for now and I'm glad to have been test riding whatever I thought I may buy, instead of hitting the difficulties that I've read about, which are common over there.

 

Dealerships around here usually don't allow test rides due to insurance and all that.

 

I know of a couple of dealerships locally that allow limited (10 minutes around the block) test rides, but most do not. Has to do with the entire spectrum of reasons already listed.

My HD friend (the one that let me ride his V-Rod), however, met the exception to the rule. The HD near my place allowed him to try out one of the V-Rods they had already prepped for such purposes (he indicated that several models in their lineup were also available). Signed an agreement ('you-break-it, you-repair-it'), was given the keys, then told, "Take your time. 5 minutes ain't going to sell you on it. Just try to be back before close."

Now that's a test ride!!!

 

Ride it for free if possible, but if not an option try to rent the bike for at least 24 hours so you can ride in as many different conditions as possible including riding at night, rain, heavy traffic, interstates, highways, backroads, etc. Also a bike that feels great on a winter day can burn you up in slow moving summer traffic. Try the rental approach on cars and trucks if possible if you want to really find out what the car is like without the sales person tagging along.

 

I believe you have to demo ride a bike before buying to really know if it is right or not. Fortunately our dealers here are pretty good about demo rides, and all of the manufacturers have demo days so you can ride pretty much anything you want. Harley and Victory are by far the easiest, they will let you hop on just about any bike, any time. I agree about renting as being a good way to test a bike for a weekend but realistically unless you're looking for a harley you're probably not gonna find a rental of the bike you're looking for.

Now looking at it another way, Jodie demo'd the BMW RT and loved it on the demo ride. We bought one, she rode it 9 hours the first day and absolutely loved it. But then she dropped it once, then twice, and it killed her confidence and she really didn't want to ride it anymore. She did some research and liked the Ninja 650R so I asked her if she wanted me to setup a demo ride. She said "Why bother, I demo'd the RT and loved it but it turned out to not be the bike for me." She bought the Ninja 650R without even sitting on it and she absolutely loves it (still after 9,000kms ). She did her homework about the seat height, ergos etc so it wasn't like she just bought the Ninja blindly.

So for me, it's important to actually ride a bike before buying, but for Jodie she couldn't care less if she demo rides a bike and she actually gets stressed before riding a demo bike. Me, I love hopping on demo's and seeing what they're like.

Highlights of demo riding: when my local BMW/Ducati salesman threw me the keys to a Ducati Multistrada and said: "Here, take it out and let me know what you think."

Low point of demo riding: same dealer, went to Yamaha demo days and rode the MT-01. Horrible bike. :-(

 

Funny thing about demo rides, if I had ridden my 900 before buying it, I wouldn't have bought it in the first place. Mainly because of the seat and the vibes at 75 mph.... The seat I can fix. The vibes are there for good.

I went to bikefest here in AZ in March and rode at least 5 Harleys, 2 Victory's, and a lone Yamaha. All in the span of about 4 hours. IMO that's the best way to compare models side to side.

A couple local Harley dealers will demo bikes quite readily.

In comparison to a car, there are far less things on a car to worry about that require a lengthy test drive. You can sit in a car and adjust things to your liking - not so with a bike except for mirrors. Highway vibrations just don't exist in cars/trucks to the extent they do on a bike, so you don't have to worry about numbing hands or feet. There are just way too many differences that I think the bottom line is that we put up with things on bikes that we wouldn't in a cage. It's such a different animal...

 

I test rode several bikes both Honda, and Kawasaki at different dealerships before I decided on the 900. All I needed was a motorcycle endorsement on my license and proof of insurance. Sign the papers stating that I will be responsible for any damaged I cause to the bike, and I get the test ride.

Unfortunately, it is always a short 15 min type of ride just around the block, but at least its a test ride.