No more demo rides? | GTAMotorcycle.com

No more demo rides?

bigpoppa

Well-known member
Spoke with the honda rep at the show, apparently they will be joining kawasaki in that they too will no longer be doing demo days...

Guy said something about not being able to get group insurance for everyone who shows up to do a demo ride.

Wondering if yamaha/suzuki will also follow suit?

This insurance **** is really getting out of hand, i know canadians are generally pacifists but goddamn they just taking advantage of it now


Spoke to the harley guy, apparently they still plan on doing their demo's, but at this point...who the hell knows?

So if you want to demo a bike, better find a sympathetic dealer who will let you take it out for a spin....
 
yep, i was asking him about demoing the new cb1000r possibly and thats when he told me
 
yep, i was asking him about demoing the new cb1000r possibly and thats when he told me

i went on a demo ride at Honda head office for school instructors last season (about 20 various bikes)...the only bikes there we could not ride were the 600 & 1000 sport bikes...all the rest were fair game...it may be just litigious squid control as suggested by in house legal wankers
 
It's been a long time since I went on a public demo ride.

Question - do you have to put down a deposit? Would you go if they were asking 1000/2000 damage deposit?

I can see insurance not liking theses, they are a nightmare to be running, horrifying to be part of that group and usually a menace to traffic. Everyone's a great rider eh? Kinda kidding, but if people had to pay for their mistakes I wonder if that would help
 
Does demo stand for demolish?
 
Demo days were the only way to test ride a bike as the dealers don't allow it.

This'll only put another nail in the coffin of the motorcycle industry as already started in that other thread - sad.
 
It's been a long time since I went on a public demo ride.

Question - do you have to put down a deposit? Would you go if they were asking 1000/2000 damage deposit?

I can see insurance not liking theses, they are a nightmare to be running, horrifying to be part of that group and usually a menace to traffic. Everyone's a great rider eh? Kinda kidding, but if people had to pay for their mistakes I wonder if that would help

No deposit. Only requirement is to show a valid M2/M license and sign a waiver. I don't recall seeing anything in writing but if you ask they say they will make you pay for the bike if you have an 'avoidable' accident.

Back in '15 someone high sided a CBR500R and apparently it wasn't the first time this individual had an accident. He was asked to never come back.
 
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i went on a demo ride at Honda head office for school instructors last season (about 20 various bikes)...the only bikes there we could not ride were the 600 & 1000 sport bikes...all the rest were fair game...it may be just litigious squid control as suggested by in house legal wankers

Yeah they will still have that one event per year as usual in that one location in Ontario, but as far as actual demo days....


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It makes a lot more sense to run SS demo days on a track. It's not like you can really tell much about it on the street anyway. Charge everyone $50 to cover the track rental and refund the money if they buy a bike.

Honestly the vast majority of people at demo days are just tire kickers crashing bikes anyway. I am surprised SS demo days have lasted this long. If everybody stops, they get back to a new equilibrium that saves all manufacturers money. Demo days are probably most helpful to move the other bikes in the line (eg CT700, the 500's etc) as people may have misconceptions about what they are.
 
It makes a lot more sense to run SS demo days on a track. It's not like you can really tell much about it on the street anyway. Charge everyone $50 to cover the track rental and refund the money if they buy a bike.

Honestly the vast majority of people at demo days are just tire kickers crashing bikes anyway. I am surprised SS demo days have lasted this long. If everybody stops, they get back to a new equilibrium that saves all manufacturers money. Demo days are probably most helpful to move the other bikes in the line (eg CT700, the 500's etc) as people may have misconceptions about what they are.

maybe im the exception to the rule, but I demo'd a bike several times, then I bought it

Also i've never seen anyone actually crash a bike on demo days(iv been to a few of them now)

Im sure theres statistical evidence linking demo days to purchases and coverting to sales, its why they like to do them

But the usual ontario insurance nanny mafia gets its beak into anything and well that pretty much signals the end. If anyone even bothered to read the thread, its why they are having trouble, not because of 'tire kickers' or squids or the pixie fairy
 
Also i've never seen anyone actually crash a bike on demo days(iv been to a few of them now)

I've seen probably a half dozen bikes dropped on the way back into the parking lot. I've never seen a "crash" but at almost every demo day I have attended, if you ask there will have been at least one bike in a ditch and/or significantly damaged and put back in the trailer until it can be repaired. I haven't heard of any ambulance trips but I am sure they occasionally happen.
 
It makes a lot more sense to run SS demo days on a track. It's not like you can really tell much about it on the street anyway. Charge everyone $50 to cover the track rental and refund the money if they buy a bike.

Honestly the vast majority of people at demo days are just tire kickers crashing bikes anyway. I am surprised SS demo days have lasted this long. If everybody stops, they get back to a new equilibrium that saves all manufacturers money. Demo days are probably most helpful to move the other bikes in the line (eg CT700, the 500's etc) as people may have misconceptions about what they are.

I dunno about this...

Demoed a GSXR750 on street...

Bought a GSXR750 a week later.

But if I were riding a SS now on a demo ride...I'd have the same opinion you have about them. So go figure
 
That's too bad if true, I bought my brand new suzuki because I rode it at a demo and was really impressed with it. Also considered the ninja 1000 but didn't buy it as I never had a chance to demo it.

I've been going to demo days since I started riding and never once saw someone crash or drop a bike. I don't doubt it happens but it's probably pretty rare and the sales they make from people who demo bikes then buy them far outweighs the cost of the occasional damaged bike.
 
I'm hoping, and even guessing a bit here, but maybe he meant they're pulling SS bikes from the demo line-up. That would make some sense. I know there are a couple hondas I wanted to try this year, CBR500ra and Fury being 2 of them.
 
Insuring a "group" could be rediculously expensive. For everybody that shows up thats a legitimate customer, there's got to be 2 dozen 'hey its demo day' guys that gave zero intention of buying a bike, just want a ride. One guy drops it in the lot and the fun is over.

To say nothing of the guys that show up with a suspended license, it happens, there is no way to police this.

I'm surprised they have lasted this long
 
Demo days were the only way to test ride a bike as the dealers don't allow it.

This'll only put another nail in the coffin of the motorcycle industry as already started in that other thread - sad.

Nope, dealers don't advertise it, but if you put down a hefty deposit they will. Last two times mine was $2000. Ducati and Harley Davidson
 
Nope, dealers don't advertise it, but if you put down a hefty deposit they will. Last two times mine was $2000. Ducati and Harley Davidson


you must have demo'd in 1903 then

Some require a credit card as collateral(GP bikes), but any time iv done test rides at a dealer, on a dealer bike, its been no hassle.

They either say yes, or no. I didn't have to put down a deposit. I was at a harley dealer + kawasaki dealer.
 

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