So, you are a young rider or a new rider and you are looking to buy a new bike. Maybe you have an older bike that you want to trade in and with the sheer volume of bikes out there, you are trying to figure out what to get. You’ve looked around to try to find a friend that has one or somewhere that you could rent that bike and there isn’t one available.
Then you try to test drive a new one and the “stealership” says no. How the Hell are you supposed to learn what you like and don’t like about a bike if you can’t take it for a test drive? You can’t.
Simply put, to many bikes have been laid down on test drives and most dealerships won’t do test drives. Call it liability issues, call it profit issues, call it whatever you want, you aren’t going to spend the day tooling around on four or five different bikes just to see how they feel.
So if you don’t want to take a $15,000 gamble on how a new bike feels, what do you do? For starters, you need to be “googling” like crazy. Bear in mind that some reviews are going to be shills for the dealer or model, but if somebody is really reaming out the bike on the internet, then they are obviously not happy. Some manufacturers you just know are going to have their issues – BMW is widely acknowledged as having numerous minor issues and service problems (and Harley recently has had its minor annoyances) and that can tell you loads about the quality of the manufacturer.
But what about how the bike actually feels when you’re riding it?
Yeah, you and I both know that until you can feel how the suspension rebounds, how it corners, how it accelerates and stops; you can never get the feel of a bike sitting on it in the showroom.Here’s the deal – getting around the “no test drive” nonsense at a lot of dealerships is as simple as this: it takes some time. You need to go there this weekend, sit on a bunch and figure out which ones have the options you want – fit, feel, seat, bags, etc. Sit on a bunch and take notes. Do this at any dealer that you’d like – Harley, Victory, Indian, Kawasaki, wherever.
Here’s the deal – getting around the “no test drive” nonsense at a lot of dealerships is as simple as this: it takes some time. You need to go there this weekend, sit on a bunch and figure out which ones have the options you want – fit, feel, seat, bags, etc. Sit on a bunch and take notes. Do this at any dealer that you’d like – Harley, Victory, Indian, Kawasaki, wherever.Take those notes next week and get on the computer and learn everything you can about those bikes – maintenance, issues, service life, etc…
Take those notes next week and get on the computer and learn everything you can about those bikes – maintenance, issues, service life, etc…
When you do that, you’ll cross a bunch off the list. Maybe most of them. Next weekend, take your top three and go back to the dealership and start haggling. If you can ride your own bike up there, do so … it will lend some credence to the fact that you actually can ride. If you are really serious, the dealership in most cases will be able to arrange a test ride based on your willingness to buy (read that as you have filled out the paperwork to buy the bike “subject-to” the test ride).
Simply put, they want to know that you are really intent about buying and not just window-shopping. These days, to buy new, you have to pay to win. Good luck!