Originally Posted by
Banzai
When I was test riding, the Trek dealer lost a potential sale because he wouldn't let me take the bike out of the parking lot.
I told him a test ride didn't do me any good in his very smooth and rather small lot, and I didn't want to just spin tiny laps with cars coming in and out.
He didn't seem to understand my point. I did "test ride" the bike, but I couldn't really tell anything meaningful, and told him so. He didn't seem to care, either.
Maybe he's been successful selling hundreds of bikes to riders who only rode them around the parking lot, and you were the one in fifty that wanted to ride farther.
Or, he's lost bikes to "prospective buyers" who just rode them out of sight, never to be seen again.