thirdin77

So I went to a LBS because they have a bike, last year's model, actually, that I wanted to test ride. I walk in, with my pedals, and I say "yeah, I'd like to test that one. Can you put my pedals on the bike?" He says, "sorry, can't let you take it out of the parking lot. It's a liability issue. We had a guy on a test ride get hit by a car". I forgot to ask if there was a lawsuit, but since I was perplexed and somewhat indignant, I asked "so how do people decide if they want to buy a $2k bike if they can test ride it only in the parking lot?" and he answered "well, people at that price point usually are pretty sure of what they're looking for".

All the above seems good and well if one has never visited another bike shop in his life but I've visited many and I've never heard of such a policy before. It seems to me that if you sell road bikes, people are going to want to test ride them on the road, regardless of how sure they are of what they're looking for. Also, I'm thinking that, instead of forbidding all future road test rides, it would be easy enough to just have someone fill out a waiver and leave a credit card and ID and if they go and get hit and if the bike is damaged, any injury of the rider is not the LBS's fault so it's not their problem and if the bike gets damaged, the customer has therefore "bought" it. The waiver might upset some people but at least they would still be able to road test the bikes.

To conclude, I did test ride the bike in the parking lot, with the shop manager standing out there watching me. As if that wasn't awkward enough, I was riding not only in my running shoes- remember, he didn't install my road pedals- but the bike comes with Crank Brothers Candies pedals so I didn't even have a flat platform pedal to mash down on.

And, no, I didn't buy it.

pchopper

Just curious, what store was it (I'm in Milpitas)?

NathanC

Not your LBS anymore...

MONGO!

Find a new LBS

Val23708

oh damn. my LBS will let you take a 20+ mile spin

enjoi07

i have heard the same...but i dont go to those shops anymore...the one im at now, give em a copy of your credit and id and you have a colnago for a week.

fauxto nick

Damn that's ridiculous, when I test rode the bike I bought I test rode two others for comparison and Cervelo was there doing E-Rides. Someone got hit by a car on an E-Ride and they didn't even flinch they just made sure the guy was all right and not critically injured and went on with it.

On top of that when I got back from my half hour test ride on the C-Dale I ended up buying the salesman said "Oh dude you're back already?!".

Avoid that shop for bike purchases.

NorthWestDork

A shop like that is no LBS to me. Take your money elsewhere because obviously they dont want yours.

Breadpudding

+1 / +1

That's how both the LBS near me are.

I say f that LBS, specially if the manager felt the need to sit out and watch you ride to make sure nothing happened and/or you didn't steal it (seems like).

max power

i have a couple of questions

1) for test riding bikes, don't you have to know all of your measurements before genuinely test riding it? do they let you adjust seat/bars etc before you take it out?

2) if you owned a shop and a guy test riding your bike got hit, wouldn't you be weary of letting other folks out on bikes? although i guess that does sound like just a good excuse to not let people test ride bikes

roadwarrior

That's pretty cool.

I'd like to buy a new expensive bike that's got 10 weeks of riding on it. One where the tires are squared off from a thousand miles of riding.

I bought a new car. They told me to go ahead and put a couple thousand miles on it before I decide to buy it. Problem was, the car had over nine thousand miles on it.

roadwarrior

Company sponsored rides are totally different. They bring a fleet of bikes in that are all for the specific reason of giving test rides. They are not the shop's new bike stock. Would you guys buy a new bike that had a thousand "test ride" miles on it?

No.

This thread is hilarious.

Some shops will keep a couple of bikes available for test rides. They may or may not be your size.

Pugsly

Wouldn't this be the equivalent of testing a new car and the dealer not letting you take it out of the parking lot? Makes no sense to me.

VA_Esquire

My LBS does test rides in two parts. First they keep you in the store and put you on a trainer so you get a feel of the bike and the do a VERY quick fit to get the bike in a generalized area of where it needs to be on you. Then if you are serious about purchasing the bike, they usually have an employee that will go out for a 10 mile ride with you. Though if the store owner knows you, he allows you to go on a group ride with the bike (he let me do this Friday on a LOOK 566 Origin )

gabdy

The first few shops I wnet to said I could ride it in the shop but not outside, I don't really blame them it was a pretty dodgy area, Liverpool for you New South Welshman

gsr2nv

it's called a demo, but thanks for trying.

rollin

RW - the liability issue, any truth in that?

dguest

When I was in the market for a road bike, I went to the shop that I bought my trail bike from and they let me test ride 2 different bikes around the parking lot. I then went to another shop and he told me to test ride a Cannondale 6- 13. Well I expected this to be around the parking lot also. My wife was with me so he measured did a preliminary fit on both of us and when we were taking the bikes outside for the test ride he and another LBS employee loaded them in the bak of my truck and told us we had 2 weeks to ride the bikes and decide if we liked them. Needless to say where we bought our bikes. Have not been back to the other shop since.

kbtommy

I probably test rode a half dozen bikes at my new LBS. Left them my ID and credit card, and when I asked "when should I bring it back?" their response was "when you're done." They did quick fittings on each bike, were incredibly patient with my questions, and asked detailed questions of their own when I returned each time. My favorite part was when I took my final ride, on a howlingly windy December day, I came back into the shop and the employee looked at my face, smiled and said, "that's the bike, isn't it. I know that look." He was right. That was the bike.

Which I why I will go back there every single time, even thought they're 25 miles from my house.

BillyD

He was making a bunch of excuses.

After the ride I would have hollered to him "no . . . thanks anyway", leaned it up against something in the lot and left. Let him come get it himself . . . he's standing there watching anyway. Why give somebody like that your hard earned money?

homebody146

my experience was the same as kbtommy......they did a general fit to the bikes i wanted to try then let me ride where I wanted.....when I got to the two that were close, I continued to test with those before I bought the one I liked....they even gave me a helmet to use on the test rides......

ImRael

Total BS.

ImRael

Depends on the bike and what kind of deal I can get.

DScott

While I may want to test ride a new bike, I sure as shootin' wouldn't want to buy the bike other people have been test riding. But then again, I wouldn't test ride a a bike unless I was ready to buy. Tire kickers suck.

Scorer75

The shop in my neighborhood is the same, no test rides. Hell, I took them a wheel with a broken spoke and the "head" mechanic told me I needed a new wheel, seriously.

They are a terrible shop and have basically become a place to pick up a hybrid or kid's bike. Sucks that the only decent shop is a 30+ minute drive.

On the bright side, I have learned to maintain my own bike and can now tear my bike down completely and put it back together. The only thing I haven't yet learned to do is rebuild/true wheels.