Bike Testing

[anzo]

Coming from a motorcycle background I'm amazed about how close the dealers are to the people who keep them in business, such as tarty, select, cleanbikes ect with motorcycles its a bit of a rarity to find a dealership that really cares about its customers.

Anyway, I was just wondering why dealers/importers/manufactures don't host test days for their products. There is a motorcycle dealer that does test days for every make/model of bike that comes out every year, free of charge. You just have to bring some boots, gloves and a helmet and you can have a go on a bike for half an hour though a range of sections.

It seems like the easiest thing in the world do to, especially for bikes, just a day at Addingham or something, not only will it advertise you're shop and you can sell a few bits and bobs there, but you also let potential customers try out the bikes.

Although I don't know what happens to the bikes after they've been battered and bruised by test runs, whether they sell them on second hand or what?

Seems like a good idea to me, has it been done before?

[Davetrials]

Cos theyd get f**ked. lol

the bikes i mean

[Endohopper]

Another difficulty is the fact that while this would give the prospective customer an idea of the feel of the frame , upon purchase most people will then select their own componentry , whereas motorbikes remain factory builds .

The trials bike you try will have radically different ride qualities to the way it performs with your own preferred stem , handlebars , etc .

Edited March 22, 2006 by Endohopper

[Mooore!]

Last year we had a mountain bike funday held at a local plantation where all the near by bike shops had demo bikes and Giant brought a massive van over full of all their best competition bikes for people to try out. Our shop got a load of new business thanks to that. Really was a good idea.

Don't know why more companies don't do it though,

[Lee Cable]

IMO it sounds like a really good idea to me, i am also surprised that other bike shops havent thought of this. It would give riders a chace to test out the new bikes, and also to get a feel for different setups.

From Lee

[AdamR28]

Don't know why more companies don't do it though

The answer is simple - money!

Adam

[Mooore!]

if a company can afford to research & develop bikes, they can definately afford to have a number of demo bikes available at chosen events around the country during the summer months.

Speculate to accumulate & all that carp

[AdamR28]

I would say it's possible for some of the massive companies, but getting a couple of frames as prototypes doesn't cost nearly as much as having half a dozen bikes wrecked!

As someone else has already mentioned, the nature of our sport is such that no two bikes (generally) are the same, and just a small component tweak can sway a rider's decision as to whether they do or don't like a complete bike.