Test Rides when Selling a Bike??

[GSXR7ED]

In the mid eighties, I was looking to sell my GS1100E. I posted an ad in the local paper and a guy called about it. I asked if he had cash and he said yes so, he came by. When he arrived, he was driving a truck and had a buddy with him. The very first comment out of his mouth when he arrived was can I test ride it? I didn't get a good feeling from him to begin with anyway so I said sure as long as you have cash and leave it with me until you return and if there are any damages to the bike then I'll deduct from the money I'm holding. He told me that he wouldn't do that so then I told him that he could hand me the keys to his truck and sign a piece of paper that says that it is collateral for the motorcycle, he wasn't willing to do that either instead, he handed his keys to his buddy and kept insisting that I let him take it for a test ride. In the end, I insisted no test ride without his cash in my hand and he insisted that he would not hand me his cash until after a test ride. The whole time, he never sat on the bike and never even asked to start it, I even offered to put him on the back and take him for a ride but he didn't want that either. Needless to say, I didn't sell the bike to him. There is no doubt in my mind that had I of let him test ride that bike, I would have never seen it again.

As for me, thinking about it, I don't recall ever test riding any of my bikes before buying them. My current daily rider GS1100EZ, my wife bought it for me as a birthday present from a guy in Oregon and had it shipped to our house in Texas so, that one is kinda obvious.

What a douchebag! All kinds of red lights were going on in your mind. At least he made it easy for you to decline the sale.

When I bought my gixxer, the guy evaluated me and expressed he had no problems selling the bike to me because I was older than most of the people interested. I also didn't project craziness in our conversation. I had $3K (100 bills) in a sealed envelope and he didn't even count the money because of how prepared I was to take possession.

It's sad that I did not screen the guy that I sold the bike to in the same manner. He died racing away from Law Enforcement within 2 weeks of buying the bike from me.


Ed

[mhobryan]

I concur with the general consensus, that it depends on the person who shows up.

I've let people take unsupervised rides w/o cash in hand, I've ridden bikes home for folks that did not have an endorsement, and I've done something in between where we took the bike to an empty lot so they could do figure eights etc. (guy hadn't ridden in years, and didn't want to buy unless he was comfortable....of course that came with caveat you drop it you bought it. He did not drop it, and he did buy it, we drove it home for him).

[jibledso]

Interesting story, that guy sounded super sketchy.

I've never had any bad experiences with people wanting to ride, or test riding, sometimes without money in the hand, maybe I have a trusting face? 😉

I do have a friend who got screwed over on a newer WR450. Mathias went to the "bad" side of town to meet a guy about seeing the WR Mathias was selling. The guy showed up by himself on foot, wanted to test ride it. Mathias asked for the money first, so he handed over a bundle of $100 dollar bills with a rubber band holding them together. Mathias stood there for awhile and began to wonder what happened to the guy. He started thumbing through the money and realized the top few bills were $100s and the rest were $1s. I think it was a total of $300, well well below the thousands it was worth.

[bwringer]

My policy is they stand and watch as I run it up and down my street for them to see its solid.

Yep, one way around the dilemma is to demonstrate the bike you're selling. The buyer can drive or ride alongside.

Usually once I get to talk to the buyer, or it's someone I know, I'll let them take it for a ride. I had two VX800s, and they're such easy, friendly bikes to ride I didn't worry too much about letting the buyers take them for a spin. On something like a V-Strom or GS850, they're big and top-heavy, so someone would have to show up on a full-size bike for me to be comfortable with them.

I've been offered test rides many times without asking. Show up at a dealer or seller's place on a full size bike with a reasonable amount of bug guts on your jacket, and the "no test rides" rules become rather flexible.

When I bought my current KLR650, I was still hobbling around with a walker following the accident that finished off my first KLR650. I asked the seller to start it up cold, then run it up and down the block a few times for me. I saw and heard what I needed.

[dorkburger]

I've test ridden one bike, my former 1150e which I bought from an independent shop where it was on consignment. It was nice to have a ride, and oull over in a parking lot alone to really scrutinize it.
It was sold to my brother so a test ride there was unnecessary. The other three went to family as well.
My next of kin will likely have to deal with selling of my ES......

[Gorminrider]

The buyer can drive or ride alongside

I dunno! If I don't trust them to ride the bike, I don't think I want them alongside me riding. Kind of distracting for both of us....maybe you mean fourlane roads...or I'm not comprehending.. I can only see this working at pretty slow speeds and they still won't know if I'm stifling the bad alignment, balance or what-all from the accident my bike was in...

[jimfj]

I'm enjoying this!

My personal experience is most of the bikes I've purchased were non runners and everything I've sold has been running. I could care less about a test ride. Start it and let it warm up rev it and I can tell you what it needs for the most part. I always carry an electrical meter and see if the battery is charging or overcharging. I always try and see if the head bearings are shot. I have taken a couple test rides my self but usually around or up and down the block. I've never been burned. I think the key is letting it run or watching it start for the first time. I always appreciate cold starts as well. Love the "it takes awhile to warm up" comment as well as "it will idle better when its warmer outside"

When selling, its always about the person who is standing in front of me. I have been offered wives, trucks and trailers, kids, cash and even a dog when someone is asking for a test ride. I guess I am a profiler when it comes to that and I have only had one person tell me they needed to take a bike on the highway for a test drive. They handed me cash which I counted in front of them and I made it clear that it was mine if the bike came back in any different condition than it left. I also have ridden the bike for them any didn't hold back. Its not fair to judge a book by its cover and I certainly try not to.

All in all, good experiences....