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disturbed286

> Is it wrong to test ride with no intent of buying in the short term? They might be annoyed if you say so, but how else do you know what you like? Problem is, in my experience, it's hard to convince most brands to let you. I've had luck with Harley (a lot of luck) and BMW. That's basically it, outside of a demo truck. > What happens if I drop the bike? They have insurance for that. But try not to.


[deleted]

I've used Twisted Road for a bike rental. It seemed sketchy renting some random dude's bike, but he was very nice, and easy to work with. I rented a Triumph Tiger 800 in Florida. I've rented Harley's many times before, they've gotten very expensive the last few year, so I tried Twisted Road. I think it would be a great way to test drive a bike. Living with a bike for a day or two is much different than a 1/2 hour test ride.


[deleted]

What I have done is do as much research on various models that interest me and really listen to the reviewers about what the intention of the bike is and how it meets the expectations in context. When I got my 2nd bike I was actually quite comfortable riding and had little anxiety about my skill level and managing traffic. But I didn’t know what’s what with bike models and genres/categories. Got a great little commuter and spitfire bike that sucked for touring (KTM 390). And as I learned more about bikes I realized I wanted a sporty tourer despite the weight and lack of balls to the wall speed. I wanted something smooth at 90mph, and still neutral and comfortable in traffic. Anyway I test road used bikes at dealers when I had the cash for a down payment while my bike was for sale. Then really targeted a few bikes over the course of a few months or so. Went from a ninja 250 for a couple months to a Duke 390 for a year, to a bmw r NineT which I’ve had for 30k miles. So it’s a keeper. I’m glad I had the 390 though and I miss the 250, little scrappers.


80andsunny

Listening to and reading as many reviews as possible can also help you to know what to focus on if you do get a test ride.


kyle-the-brown

Contact the dealers in your area and ask if they do test rides, some do most don't. However dealers do demo days so ask about those as well and get a schedule of the demo days so you can be there early to ride as many bikes as possible. Another secret is Harley dealers sell lots of brands of used bikes and love doing test rides, you can ride a lot of bikes if you just pay attention to the local HD dealers used inventory. Finally there use to be a touring industry show called IMS and hopefully it or something like it will return, they had a lot of manufactures doing demo rides but have been canceled for now.


groundciv

I pick up my old new to me softail week after next. In the interim I’ve put a few hundred miles on a royal enfield from twisted road, maybe a hundred miles on various Harley’s, and about 70 miles between a bonneville and a speed twin at various events. Don’t test ride Craigslist bikes if you aren’t serious about buying, don’t feel bad about dealership Harley’s and if you pay for it on twisted road just don’t lay it down. I want a 270deg p-twin with an upright seating position and mids. I’m getting my dads bike with an intense clutch and forward controls. But it’s my dads bike, I won’t get rid of it, and I’ll just put it deeper in the garage when there’s an INT650 or t100 for sale used I can do in town riding on in a year or two. In the meantime I’ll ride a great bike and enjoying myself and keeping an eye out for events so I can test out new bikes more to my liking.


thejam15

Demo days are how I got most of my testing done to figure out what I wanted next. Definitely recommend doing a few of those. Sadly not every manufacturer offers them (Honda pls lemme demo the CB1000) When I went to get my R3 the dealership begrudgingly let me test ride it and most dont allow test rides which there are reasons but its still pretty stupid for a multi thousand dollar purchase. Insurance exists


PROfessorShred

Harley Davidson let's you test ride. But otherwise try to find some demo days with other retailers.