..without a test ride. Has anyone done this? Is it madness to? I don't have the time, but need a new bike - an S1000r. I've never really ridden an il4 either, does that make it double crazy?
Yep. Loads of times. Gizer 750, Gixer 1000, 848, Monster, CRF230, and more. Never ride any of them til I bought one.
I purchased my first ducati 848 evo earlier this year completely blind, never having rode one or infact a v-twin before. Went up on the train and rode it home
Agreed, I've hardly ridden any bikes I've bought before purchase, just check the thing over and make sure it's OK and that's that. Takes time to learn a new bike anyway, much more than a 10min test ride in traffic anyway!
To be fair @cookster, I ordered it before I even saw one, cause I thought, as the salesman said, its gonna be a ZZR14 with boxes......Fucking Liar !!!
I agree if he's ridden an or any other S1000R, but if he's never ridden one, then surely an hour of your time to just gauge an opinion is worth it eh ??
I'm glad the majority of answers is do it without riding it first, puts my mind at ease a little. The thing is it is being bought as a commuter and an alternative to Uber/British Rail/Starbucks so it can't be worse that those can it, even if i don't love it. I did ride a ZX10 once for 15 minutes at the IOM and thought it ok.
Yep, didn’t even sit on it until I rode it home from showroom ! Never looked back - I bloody love it still 3 years on
I've always ridden the bike first but if I go for the V4, it may well be the first Ducati I have purchased where I haven't due to time constraints surrounding me getting the best trade in for my 1299, which will mean me chopping it in before the demo bike arrives at the dealer mid Jan.
yep done it twice without regret. I would say test ride the beemer because a friend sold his due to the vibes on the handle-bars, they just destroyed his ability to do any sort of decent mileage.
@cookster No, like that bike too much to get rid but want something more sensible for commuting, hopefully with the fabled German reliability.
The bmw I tried I had to take back after an hour due to handle bar and foot peg vibration was terrible.
