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.