Test Rides

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supernova12034

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Iv got the insurance quotes, gear and MSF course lined up now i just have to narrow down the list of bikes.

How does test riding a bike work? Can you just walk in and test ride them? Do you call ahead and book the bikes like an appointment? Iv heard some dealers have 'ride days' where they have all their bikes out and they go on like riding tours and test ride the bikes.

Any good dealers out there in the GTA that let you test ride? (After i get the M2 that is)
 
You should call ahead for sure always at least IMO. Booking a private test ride is great because you don't have to worry about riding with a group of people you've never ridden with and you can do your own thing. I've done a few, they basically give you a bike, sign a form or two, and tell you not to destroy it or run it out of gas, and if you do. Call them.
A private test ride is also great once you've narrowed down what you want to get to a few options since like i said before you can do your own thing, feel out the bike and ride at your own pace. If your not sure what you want or have a lot of options in mind and are comfortable riding with strangers i'd just go for the demo rides. They can be a good time, they feed you lunch normally and you can talk to other people who've just ridden the bikes and are also considering them/comparing them. You can also talk to manufacturing reps oppose to only talking to sales people.
Just my 2 cents.

Any idea what your looking at? Or what type of bikes, any specifics would help us narrow down where you may be able to get some good private rides.
 
eoszlak said:
You should call ahead for sure always at least IMO. Booking a private test ride is great because you don't have to worry about riding with a group of people you've never ridden with and you can do your own thing. I've done a few, they basically give you a bike, sign a form or two, and tell you not to destroy it or run it out of gas, and if you do. Call them.
A private test ride is also great once you've narrowed down what you want to get to a few options since like i said before you can do your own thing, feel out the bike and ride at your own pace. If your not sure what you want or have a lot of options in mind and are comfortable riding with strangers i'd just go for the demo rides. They can be a good time, they feed you lunch normally and you can talk to other people who've just ridden the bikes and are also considering them/comparing them. You can also talk to manufacturing reps oppose to only talking to sales people.
Just my 2 cents.

Any idea what your looking at? Or what type of bikes, any specifics would help us narrow down where you may be able to get some good private rides.
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Im looking at narrowing down between the R3/Ninja 300 and the Er-6n(Wanted teh ninja 600 but my insurance guy said the company rates them as SS )

not sure if the 300s would be ok considering my size 6'2 250
 
Some dealers won't even look at you re test rides if you don't have a full-M license. A KW Honda in Waterloo was pretty cool and let me take a few bikes out with my M2. But the local Yamaha shop said even "Demo Day" rides are only open to full-M guys.
 
not sure how well the 300's will handle your weight but i do have a buddy who was riding a ninja 250 who is over 6 foot tall. poor bike. lol id call some stealerships like i said and see who has a/some bikes for you to try out, find out about licensing requirements and tell em your looking at those bikes specifically. i know for the yammy demo day @ vos you can ride r3 with your m2, i dont know about the other stealerships though. id presume itd be the same, but im not sure. it could also vary for a private demo as well since those bikes generally belong to the dealer not the manufacturer. i'd try to privately ride all three bikes if i were you at one place and if you can, get as far from toronto as possible to do it, less distractions, obstacles and risks. i did a private ride at longley harley davidson in peterborough before i bought my vrod and it was what really sold me. the bs that goes on with other drivers on some of these demo rides is wild. nvm other riders.
 
I have a friend who is 6'2" 240 and he loved his Ninja 250. It served as transportation and as a stepping stone to the next bike in his first year of riding. Not many keep their first bike for too long.
 
mudmojo said:
I have a friend who is 6'2" 240 and he loved his Ninja 250. It served as transportation and as a stepping stone to the next bike in his first year of riding. Not many keep their first bike for too long.
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there yah go op. well said mudmojo, good point. on the other hand if you want to keep your bike for longer and you can afford the er6n insurance then it can validate that for you as well. but let us digress, any one know where our fellow rider may be able to get some decent private rides on one, two or all three of these bikes? in or out of the gta...
 
Blackfin said:
Some dealers won't even look at you re test rides if you don't have a full-M license. A KW Honda in Waterloo was pretty cool and let me take a few bikes out with my M2. But the local Yamaha shop said even "Demo Day" rides are only open to full-M guys.
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The restriction will apply to the supersports and the 1000 cc sport bikes. Not the smaller ones. Generally you must have at least an M2.
 
LPakkala said:
The restriction will apply to the supersports and the 1000 cc sport bikes. Not the smaller ones. Generally you must have at least an M2.
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Yes, and there is no reason for that. All they wanted is to restrict joy rider by limiting amount of people eligible. Crazy. And don't tell me insurance coverage, if one demo can accommodate M2 on SS, others can as well.

PS: I got full M 4 years ago.
 
Yanny said:
Yes, and there is no reason for that. All they wanted is to restrict joy rider by limiting amount of people eligible. Crazy. And don't tell me insurance coverage, if one demo can accommodate M2 on SS, others can as well.

PS: I got full M 4 years ago.
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?? I don't blame them. If you want to ride a 100+ hp bike, buy your own, they will sell one to anybody. They are probably sick of pulling them out of ditches.
 
I used to work at a Honda dealer we had two bad crashes on demo day two years in a row needless to say we never had another demo day again
 
Vos motors in Vaughan is having Suzuki demo day on May 7 and Yamaha on May 14. They list bike that they accept m2 to try on the website but suggest to book time with them ahead so they have the bike you want available. I just know cause I work right in front and they do that every year. Good luck


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motoman said:
I used to work at a Honda dealer we had two bad crashes on demo day two years in a row needless to say we never had another demo day again
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demo days can be messy for sure. always seems to be rider error though with an unfamiliar bike. i witnessed one crash at davies a few years back, and last season had a guy dump a bike on a suzuki demo, which i didn't see him go down, i was the second or third bike in the group on that ride. Saw both bikes and riders after and both were very minor all around.

to the OP, if you have to stay in the gta for whatever reason, try Snowcity Cycle Marine and Ready Powersports, They're both licensed Kawi/Yammy Dealers and are as close to the GTA as I think you'll get if you can't drive 1-3 hours to get to a dealer with some decent open roads.
Let us know what you find out in terms of private demos from these dealers if you decide to go that route.
 
ScooterBoy said:
Vos motors in Vaughan is having Suzuki demo day on May 7 and Yamaha on May 14. They list bike that they accept m2 to try on the website but suggest to book time with them ahead so they have the bike you want available. I just know cause I work right in front and they do that every year. Good luck


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he wants to ride the kawi ninja 300 or er6n, the suzuki demo day wont have that, but they do have some other good options he may want to try... they'll let him ride the r3 tho with his m2 on demo day.
 
ScooterBoy said:
Vos motors in Vaughan is having Suzuki demo day on May 7 and Yamaha on May 14. They list bike that they accept m2 to try on the website but suggest to book time with them ahead so they have the bike you want available. I just know cause I work right in front and they do that every year. Good luck


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This year Suzuki and Yamaha are both on the 14th of May. In fact, Ducati @ GP, Honda @ Clarington are also happening on same day.
 
eoszlak said:
demo days can be messy for sure. always seems to be rider error though with an unfamiliar bike. i witnessed one crash at davies a few years back, and last season had a guy dump a bike on a suzuki demo, which i didn't see him go down, i was the second or third bike in the group on that ride. Saw both bikes and riders after and both were very minor all around.

to the OP, if you have to stay in the gta for whatever reason, try Snowcity Cycle Marine and Ready Powersports, They're both licensed Kawi/Yammy Dealers and are as close to the GTA as I think you'll get if you can't drive 1-3 hours to get to a dealer with some decent open roads.
Let us know what you find out in terms of private demos from these dealers if you decide to go that route.
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I suppose that makes sense, ill try to find a dealer outside of the GTA so i can get some nice clear open roads
 
supernova12034 said:
I suppose that makes sense, ill try to find a dealer outside of the GTA so i can get some nice clear open roads
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burlington cycle is a bit further and carry both yammy and kawi as well. at the end of the day the idea as well is to ride the bikes you want, privately ideally at one dealership in one day. ive been looking for you through kawi's website since they have less gta dealers, but they do seem to be well placed throughout ontario. from that i just crossed over to see which ones also carry yammy... good luck. like i said let us know what you find.
 
What I did was "request a test ride" from the manufacturers website and the salesman from the closest dealer (sturgess) contacted me less than a day later to set something up.
 
sesamestreet said:
What I did was "request a test ride" from the manufacturers website and the salesman from the closest dealer (sturgess) contacted me less than a day later to set something up.
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I've done that too for Ducati from Ride, I called the sales manager there and he set me up a 848 evo test drive. Got like an hour to test on your own. The plate was a blue one.
 
eoszlak said:
demo days can be messy for sure. always seems to be rider error though with an unfamiliar bike. i witnessed one crash at davies a few years back, and last season had a guy dump a bike on a suzuki demo, which i didn't see him go down, i was the second or third bike in the group on that ride. Saw both bikes and riders after and both were very minor all around.

to the OP, if you have to stay in the gta for whatever reason, try Snowcity Cycle Marine and Ready Powersports, They're both licensed Kawi/Yammy Dealers and are as close to the GTA as I think you'll get if you can't drive 1-3 hours to get to a dealer with some decent open roads.
Let us know what you find out in terms of private demos from these dealers if you decide to go that route.
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As far as I know, Snow City doesn't do private test rides. Factory demo days only. That's why I test rode and bought my Kawi from Kahuna (remember them) even though I live closer to Snow City. Still like Snow City for other stuff.
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