No,test rides for this old biker boy. I have never test ridden any new bike.

Good for you Mike - if that works for you, stick with it.

Sadly I have found with experience that just sitting on a bike in a dealers or at a show isn't a good enough way for me to check suitability. Indeed the bikes that I have not kept very long have with hindsight tended to be the ones that I felt I didn't need (or couldn't get) a test ride on, yet they felt fine in the showroom - I would not have bought them if that had not been the case. Even some that I did do a short test ride on were, on subsequent longer outings, found to be wanting. This tends to get expensive ! A decent test ride ahead of reaching for the checkbook has proven to be more cost effective for me than just taking a punt & hoping for the best.

I have sat on a Triumph 400 in the local dealers. It did not feel to bad from an ergonomics POV at a stand still, in "nornal" clothing. Unfortunately that gave me no clue as to how it rode and there were aspects of it (in particular the inability to fit a centre stand) that reduced my interest to the point that I have yet to get back to the dealer to take them up on their offered test ride. Takes all sorts, I suppose.

Taking the piss out of a manufacture's name you are unfamilair with isn't really big or clever, is it ?

Nigel B.