Would you buy a bike without riding it?

[Nubes]

Yuuup

[xcaptainxbloodx]

having ridden plenty of bikes that felt "fine" only to discover catastrophic problems later on, a sound mechanical evaluation and complete service history is far more important then actual saddle time.

provided of course that your attempting to ascertain condition of the bike and not whether or not its the "right" bike for you.

[ChrisH]

I bought my 696 without test riding. The dealer offered, but I had been awake for 30 hours at that point & wasn't about to hop on a bike. I just said "I want the 696 with a black frame and the dark color panels, call me when you get it"5 weeks later I had my new bike.

[polivo]

pretty rare that you will find a private seller willing to give a test ride with NO STRINGS attached? what if you drop it?  What if you just ride it away? lol.  If you find someone willing to let you ride it.. without dropping the full amount in cash first, go right ahead. Otherwise , I know this is not very comfortable for anyone, but Ive asked the owner to take me for a ride, click through the gears.. stop start, etc. You should be able to pickup if there are major things wronmg with the engine or clutch.

[xcaptainxbloodx]

... Ive asked the owner to take me for a ride, click through the gears.. stop start, etc. You should be able to pickup if there are major things wronmg with the engine or clutch.

Disagree.

[polivo]

IN case I wasnt clear..
"If you find someone willing to let you ride it.. without dropping the full amount in cash first, go right ahead. OTHERWISE"..

Meaning riding it , would be most preferable. However, if you cant .. ATLEAST ask him to take you out for a spin. You may be able to pickup something odd in the way it accelerates.. or hesitates?  clutch slips? Somthing is better than nothing.

[Travman]

I wouldn't buy it without riding it. I've test ridden bikes that I just knew were going to be perfect for me and then realized they either weren't all they were cracked up to be or just weren't what I expected.  This especially applies with older bikes. Sometimes you get on one and it feels loose or sloppy or just runs like shit. Then the next one feels tighter, the controls have less slop and it just feels right.  I have no problem bringing some money as collateral or as a deposit. I've even put an uninsured bike on my insurance for the day to be able to ride one. Definitely agree that the previous owner is important. I like to buy from long term owners.

[xcaptainxbloodx]

IN case I wasnt clear..
"If you find someone willing to let you ride it.. without dropping the full amount in cash first, go right ahead. OTHERWISE"..

Meaning riding it , would be most preferable. However, if you cant .. ATLEAST ask him to take you out for a spin. You may be able to pickup something odd in the way it accelerates.. or hesitates?  clutch slips? Somthing is better than nothing.

I guess what I was trying to say was that a test ride is far less useful than paying for a pre-purchase inspection at your choice of shop.  something you feel may be normal may be a terrible problem (and vice versa). a test ride wont tell you that the bike hasn't been serviced in 7 years and the excitement of riding what you obviously hope to be your new bike may overshadow something that an objective person wont.  

test rides are useful, just not in determining a baseline for mechanical condition.

my recommendation would be to visually inspect it in person and ask the owner to start it up. if it looks good after that then pay for a pre purchase inspection. the only reason you would need to test ride it is to decide if you like that make/model.

  I would never buy a bike without a pre purchase inspection, I have bought a bike a state over by talking to a shop I knew of and arranging to pay for them to pick up, inspect and  deliver the bike back to the owner (and by doing so, I asked that the owner give me first right of refusal while it was being inspected). it cost about 100$ but I got an expert 3rd party opinion which gave me no hesitation in buying a one way train ticket to pick up the bike.

FWIW I make my living test riding bikes for a service dept. I have ridden literally hundreds of bikes over all major brands and It wasn't until I had ridden a heavy amount of the same make/model that I was able to be effective at diagnosing oddities.

[Monsterlover]

Bikes I've owned in my riding carear:

01 Ninja 250
00 M900ie
06 Triumph 675
07 KTM 950 SMR
99 750/900ss hybrid track bike
10 KTM 450exc

Bikes i've test ridden before purchase:

0

Debil's in the details.  My opinion of the seller, condition of the bike and how the situation feels in general.

Hasn't let me down yet.

[K3V1N]

Thanks for all the feedback, you all really helped with things to look for and just over all views on the buying process.

I'm happy to say I'm now the owner of a 07 Black S2R 1000 with 7k on it. I'm going to get it through DMV this week then it is into my basement for 6k belts and valve adjustment and for me to detail ever tiny little part making the service take weeks

But by the time the snow melts it will look new and be ready for tons of miles.

I have a list of parts I need to track down: Rear pegs, a left side front peg (has a little scratch), mint stock clutch cover (there is a open cover on it and I have the stock cover but it has been kicked around a bit), rear rotor (it is a little rough like the pad backing got to it), OH and a black/white seat cover but I like the bike with out it.

Thanks again!!

[SDRider]

I sold my last bike with no trouble without anyone test riding it.  I started it up cold, let it idle, revved it a bit, gave them the copies of the service history.  You could see that it didn't leak anything, had never been down, etc.  I had no trouble selling it for my asking price.  Funny thing, when I bought it new I didn't test ride it.  Didn't test ride my Monster either.  I had ridden similar models to both bikes at various points prior though.

[Desmo Demon]

Here's our current inventory and whether they were ridden or not...

2002 748 (new) - Not ridden
2001 M900ie (used) - Not ridden
2000 YZFR1 (used) - Not ridden
1998 ST2 #1 (new) - Not ridden
1998 ST2 #2 (used) - Ridden
1996 GSXR1100 (used) - Not ridden
1994 GSXR750 (used) - Ridden
1994 Bimota DB2 (used) - Not ridden
1987 Paso 750 (used) - Not ridden
1985 Harley (used) - Ridden

Looks like I tend to buy bikes without riding them, whether then are new or used.

[ccm900]

i bought my monster and it ididnt even run when i went to look at it. He was waiting on a part from Italy. No regrets...although thinking back to it that could have been pretty bad lol

[Ohmic]

All my bikes were purchased used and never test rode. All transactions done thru internet/pictures.

[Squidly]

I did.