Farby

I'm on ebay all the time looking for a deal, but I'm hesitant to buy something I can't see before hand.

I'm curious to see how many of you have purchased a bike without testing it out.
If you have, what bike did you get without test riding??

botto 

plenty (a pinarello, a canondale, a trek mountain bike, and a generic CF bike).

AEO

everything except my folder.

EventServices

Plenty. I can figure out how to ride pretty much anything.

chipcom 

Most of them

big john

Test ride? I always buy frames. Never bought a used bike, but I have found NOS frames in bike shops.
Bought a complete mtb unseen, friend found it in a warehouse.

Sirrobinofcoxly

More than half the bikes I have ever owned were purchased without a test ride.

Jynx

Yes.

penexpers

I have bought four without test rides (not all road bikes)

- Kona Dew Deluxe
- Dahon Speed D7
- Surly Crosscheck (frame only)
- Surly Big Dummy (frame only) (don't have this one yet)

I have bought two bikes after test rides
- Dahon Smooth Hound
- Specialized Sirrus


Best thing to do is to go to an LBS and find a bike that matches the geometry of the bike you're interested in and take that for a test ride. It might help too to have a good relationship with the LBS.

TCR

The main reason I'm not buying a new bike is because I can't easily test ride one. I'm not about to drop $5000+ on a bike if I can't ride it first to make sure it fits and feels better than my old one.

If I could find a shop that had one of these in a 61cm and would let me take it for an hour spin I'd certainly be more likely to buy.

Nachoman

Yup. For example, I bought my wife a bike from Colorado Cyclist.

55/Rad

Last official test ride I took - a bike at an LBS I was considering buying - was in 1989. It was also the last time I bought a brand new bike.

dstrong 

My last two purchases were eBay buys...one a complete, used MTB, the other the frame I built up and ride today. With all the different ways you can affect the fit (seat height, fore/aft position, stem height, stem length, crank length, cleat adjustment, etc.) that "close enough" will usually work out just fine for most riders.

bruin11

My Torelli, 2 Motobecanes, a Colorado Cyclist Douglas

carpediemracing 

Until I saw this poll, I never thought about it. I've never test ridden a bike before buying it, whether I got a frame or a bike. In fact, when I experimented with geometry changes (using a Compact frame), I used measurements off of Giant's website to decide which frame to purchase. I bought the first Cannondale without knowing anything about it, bought my first race bike without even knowing the name (Basso), and didn't hesitate in ordering the newest Cannondale framesets (until they started with CAAD designations) as soon as I was able. My mountain bikes were also pretty much sight unseen and for the first few bikes I had no idea how long top tubes were.

After a few years I'd guess at the efficiency of the frame based on the materials, any tube specs revealed in articles, and weight. Now that's a bit hard to do because no one boasts about their lay up processes, but for steel and aluminum my guesses were pretty good.

I bought a number of frames that I didn't like and either kept them as backups or sold them right away. They were all geometrically similar/identical to my primary bike but they were more flexible. Panasonic DX-5000, Specialized lugged carbon (Allez?), Cannondale 3.0 road frame, one or two others.

The only bike I bought based on prior experience is our Cannondale tandem. One of the guys at the shop had a tandem and we went on some rides. When my then-fiance and I were looking for a tandem, I decided to get a Cannondale because it was "stiff", and tandems make the stiffest frames feel noodly.

cdr

tenfour

Bought mine on craigslist and didn't ride it until I got it home. I wasn't sure of the size entirely either, it's a 56cm and I'm 6ft tall. It fits fine though and after spending a few days on setting it up...I love it. I'm not sure I'd ever buy a "new" bike...I have the same feelings on buying a "new" car...

MIN 

Never, for any cycling discipline.

BlastRadius

Once you know your fit, making a new frame match isn't too hard.
You just need accurate measurements for the new frame.

Tequila Joe

What? We're allowed to "test" them befoe we buy?

bigskyTi

I've not 'test ridden' a bike since I was a teen ager. I just make sure the bike will fit properly and dive in. My last no pre ride purchases include

Trek 2100 (LBS)
Litespeed Ghisallo (ebay)
Quintana Roo TiPhoon (ebay)
Litespeed Archon T1 (ebay)
Paketa Mg (frame and fork private listing)

I've been really lucky I guess in that I've had great experiences with all the bikes.

wannaride

The only bike I test rode was a Cervelo Carbon Soloist and I had to pay Competitive Cyclist $200 a week for the privilege (which they deduct from the purchase price if you buy it). You really need that much time to get a real understanding of the bike as a few loops around the parking lot is not going to tell you much. After that I decided to get a Pinarello instead as I wasn't all that impressed with the Cervelo over my existing bike. As it turns out that was (a) the only test ride I have ever had and (b) well worth it.

Tio

The greater majority of my bikes have been purchased without a test-ride. Also, I am of the school of thought that a test ride does little more than wet the buying appetite and doesn't really give a precise measure of the ride quality. I would say that most all new and comparably equipped bikes are going to ride similar for the first 5 to 10 miles on a test ride. There might be subtle nuances that one can extract from such a short ride, but I wouldn't trust this to be a perfect predictor of how the bike will feel or handle on the longer rides.

huytheskigod

Actually, I don't think I've test ridden any bike I've bought. Hmmm....Maybe I should change that.

Trsnrtr

Yep, change a stem, move the seat around, etc. Not that big a deal.

04jtb

Yes, the only problem I had (a while down the line) was I needed to replace and flip the stem, to make the reach less