I don’t think I’ve test ridden ANY of my bikes prior to purchase.

Oh wait, I did once ride a somewhat similar Ibis Ripley that the was the LBS owners personal steed (for maybe 5-6 months, then he sold it and got the next ‘latest & greatest’ thing, because he can), but that was the exception.

His had a totally different build - weight weenie xc vs. trail/all mountain - so even that wasn’t really apples to apples compared to what I ended up buying.
His rolled at like 22.5 lbs, mine is 27+
much bigger, knobbier tires, Pike 140 vs SID 120, dropper post, etc.


Bikes I own (or have owned) and not test ridden prior:
Pro-Flex 957 - Bro deal from a ski rep who also did bikes.
Klein Quantum Pro - Bro deal LBS
Felt B2 - phone order/closeout from Tom Demerly
Cervelo P4 - Bro deal LBS
Cervelo P5 (warranty replacement for above)
Ridley X-Trail gravel bike - online/closeout.
Framed Minnesota 3.0 XWT fat bike - online.
Specialized Venge Pro Disc - LBS “prior” year model closeout.

So, in my experience, it’s rather uncommon to test ride a bike prior to buying it.
YMMV.

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float , hammer , and jog

A test ride tells you nothing about the bike, unless the bike is specifically fitted to your coordinates, with your saddle. And even then, if you don't have something to A/B it against, your perceptions will be off. and then your perceptions will be off anyway, because it's a new bike.

I've never test ridden a road bike or TT bike (it's pretty hard to test ride a bare frame anyway). I test rode my first (and only) FS mountain bike because I wasn't sure what the suspension would feel like out of the saddle.

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Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly

 
you will not learn too much by a test ride on those bikes. make sure they both fit without having to do anything weird. then buy the SC.

All the time. Figure that my worst case is that I resell it if I don't like it. Plus you can get great deals on here/FB/ebay/etc. on gently used bikes.

Every time but one... my very first 10 speed bike. That was a Schwinn Le Tour that I test rode in the parking lot. After that, every bike I ever purchased was essentially sight unseen. (Well, I saw my IA16 before I bought it, but I did not ride it or any other TT bike in the shops.)

Local Tri store has a p3x sitting on the showroom floor. Take a trip to NC

Have you gotten a fit?

Never test ridden a TT bike. There is absolutely no point since it needs to be set up to my fit coordinates, which a shop isnt going to spend the time to do. What do you expect to glean from test riding it? The tires you put on and pressure you inflate to will make the biggest difference in how the bike feels on the road. The rest is basically all position, adjust-ability, and features.

Aluminum Road Bike - Walked into a shop and bought a bike because I wanted a bike at the time. No test ride and no fitting.
Tri bike - got fitted and ordered bike through LBS. Never test rode a tri bike before. Looked at a smaller one the LBS had in stock.
Carbon Road Bike - Demo'd a lower spec'ed version of the bike I ended up buying. Compared it to my AL road bike which was a size larger (which I ended up selling).
Mtn Bike - Demo'ed a variety of bikes to find the type of bike I wanted (demo'ed short/long travel, 27.5/29er, hardtail/FS). Ended up purchasing a bike online having never demo'ed it but I got it 65% off.
Gravel Bike - Killer deal online and compared geometry to my road bikes. Never demo'ed.


The only other bikes I've purchased have been used bikes which I'll demo mostly to make sure they are in proper working order.

For a tri/road bike - I have no problem ordering one without riding it assuming it'll fit my coordinates.
For a mountain/gravel bike - I may want to demo a similarly handling bike on terrain I plan to take it on. But if I see a great deal on a bike I should like (based on reviews/specs/geometry)... I'm not going to pass it up. (this is my same philosophy for skis/snowboards).

Fitting is scheduled for tomorrow.

"What do you expect to glean from test riding it? "
I'm not really looking for a test ride. I just want to get my hands on it and see what all the options really look like.

For example, the SC is roughly $1,600 less than the Cervelo's. Surely there is some reason that Cervelo is charging more, and I doubt it is all in their brand name. It seems like the reasons would become more obvious if I had my hands on the bike.

It would be nice to examine the bikes to see how much wrenching I would be able to do myself. I bought LOML an SC and I changed the stem last weekend ... I'm probably never going to do that again. I'll take it to the LBS instead. BTW, she is ecstatic with her SC.

All you have to know is which components are on a bike and you can determine if the price difference is worth it.

Add me to the list of people that have never test rode a bike. Hell, my last six brand new bikes weren’t even bought from a bike shop. Two Dimonds, a TriRig Omni, a Canyon, and two Trek Speed Concepts. They were all mailed to me. Never an issue.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

I think I'm starting to see a pattern here :)

That I spend too much money on bikes??? 🤪

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Over here... there is an inverse relationship between the price of the bike and you ability to test the bike before buying it.

Easy to test a generic bike... impossible if you want something special.

Shop let me demo a mountain bike to race Iceman one year. I really liked the bike so I ended up buying it. I think that's the only bike I've test ridden.

All Cervelo TT bikes are premium priced over their similarly equipped competing products. And, the P5 is especially premium because it has the reputation for being the fastest or second fastest bike on the planet. It is pretty much the brand name (and product). The Speed Concept is also very fast, but not P5 fast.

There is one important handling characteristic to consider, but you probably wouldn't sense much in a test ride. It is the bike's agility. Some bikes have a steeper head angle and a reputation as being more agile, while others have a shallower head angle and are more resistant to directional changes. Both can be preferable do different types of riders and conditions. The Cervelos are more in the agile class of bikes. I do not know what the Speed Concept's handling reputation is.

Since I know my fit coordinates for Road, Tri and MTB I normally don't have a problem buying a bike without riding it.

I do however look at things such as rake/trail, front/center before purchasing to get an idea of how the bike will ride.

For example: I have a Cervelo P2 with 59mm of trail and a Felt DA with 65mm of trail and is 1.2 cm longer. Both bikes fit me but have completely different personalities.

I've purchased bikes both with and without test rides. The last bike I purchased (Cervelo C5) I test rode mainly to see if I liked Di2, as I'd never ridden a bike with electronic shifting, or whether I'd just go with mechanical shifting. other than specific things like that, I can't say that the test rides have been terribly informative in my purchases.

1st point - dont bet on it. They will charge whatever they can get for it. Brand name has a LOT to do with it. Some designs just cost more to engineer and manufacture so they build that into the price. Whether those specific pieces actually make any difference is a different conversation. The spec level of the components is the other major factor in overall pricing. Easier comparison is to just look at the prices of the framesets if you arent up to speed on the different component pricing.

2nd point - doubtful you will be able to tell from just looking at it. Read reviews and search the internet. There is plenty of info out there on all these bikes like their assembly guides. Integrated front ends will be much more difficult to wrench, ie SC, Px, Plasma, etc...

For my most recent ride I bought a PR6 frameset directly from QR, sight unseen never having touched one.

I’m a shade over 6’3”. Most shops don’t keep the larger sizes in heavy stock. Especially for the higher end stuff. No test rides for me either.

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Human Person

Same here (basically.) Test rode my first Trek 1.5 (I think) but never again after that. I'm currently up to 12 bikes of various types. The ones I didn't test drive most recently were:

Canyon Ultimate
Felt IA 10
Giant Propel Advanced
Cannondale Scapel Si

I take in 3-5 options to my bike fitter in Houston (Brian at Bicycle Speed Shop), we do a retul fit with the move bike, he then tells me which bike(s) fit best and I make my decision from there. I don't think it's unreasonable for bike shops not to carry a bunch of stock, because once they take ownership of the bike they own it, its not like they can send the 10k bike back to Cervelo, so they are on the hook if you don't want it.

I was hoping someone would say exactly that, so I could just quote it. Thanks.

I test rode zero of the 6 tri bikes I've owned.