Should you test ride a bike before you buy it?

You should definitely test ride a bike before you buy it and here are a few reasons for this.

If you haven’t ridden such a bike before, you might not know if the riding position suits you. Although superbikes, for instance, might all look very similar, there actually are big differences in seating position. The seating position on your Suzuki might be comfortable for you, but the Yamaha’s might differ so much that you don’t like it. And finding that out after the purchase will not make you happy.

Until you have ridden a specific bike, you might not know how the engine works at low speeds while commuting to work. Maybe the engine power is too low at the engine speeds you are used to commuting at and you don’t want to rev the bike higher than that. Again, it would be better to find that out before you sign on the dotted line.

There are a number of factors that might irritate you enough to not want to buy the bike after all. Let’s face it, there aren’t any bad bikes on the market, but that doesn’t mean every bike would meet your personal preferences.

Our advice is that you test ride the bike before you buy it. Generally, motorcycle dealers know that test rides are needed to sell a bike. They are also insured against any mishaps during a test ride.

Private sellers might not be too keen on this, though. They are afraid people just want to take the bike for a joy ride and aren’t really interested in buying. And, of course, there is a risk that a bike could be damaged during a test ride. So keep that in mind when you’re looking at a bike being sold privately.