no last year. He didn't even leave the parking area.

 

I am pretty sure that if you wreck the bike on a test ride, the paper work you signed says that you pay for it.

 

Harley Davidson (and seemingly Indian) are somewhat unique in allowing you to pretty much test ride any bike they have on hand.

You go to BMW and you get to test ride the demo bike. It might not be the exact model you're looking at, but close.

And you can forget about test riding sport bikes. I've never seen a dealer even entertain the thought.

I wanted to test ride a Gold Wing and the Honda dealer said "This isn't Harley Davidson" and told me their demo bike was at a different dealer that day.

Indian, at least in my experience, lets you test drive anything you want as well.

Seems people's experience between escorted and unescorted differ. All my HD test rides were escorted but all my Indian test rides were literally "Here, go have fun." I took one Indian out for 45 minutes and no one even cared when I pulled back in.

 

About a year and a half ago I went to a demo ride at a local dealership. They had a CVO Road Glide in the demo line up that a lady dropped while standing still before the ride even started. Luckily it wasn't really damaged since she more just slow motion fell over, so i still got my turn shortly after. She definitely left right after. They just picked the bike up, looked at it and kept going with the event. I was later chatting with one of the guys and he said it happens quite frequently. Not sure if it's good or bad that I got to ride that bike. It just solidified that I will be buying a Road Glide someday (in addition to the FXDLS).

 

Nope, I read the fine print over and over to be sure that wasn't the case lol. You just can't demo any more (at least that day). You don't pay for the bike and they don't pay for you. They have insurance for these kinds of things, kind of like a car dealer has insurance for test drives. That insures they are covered, they aren't going to ever see a penny from someone who wrecks a bike during a demo or crashes a test drive car when the only thing they have is a copy of your license, no insurance information etc.

 

...I have the most fun at an Indian Dealership 8mi from me. They'll have 16-18 bikes and it's usually a two day event on a Tues/Weds or Weds/Thurs 9am-5pm. I've been there either day and since it's a weekday, maybe 8-10 other riders show up. They are escorted & ride about 14 miles. They have so many bikes available, usually I ride on every ride til the last one. They even have a short lunch break & serve Quaker Steak & Lube wings & Buffalo wraps. It's f'kin great, Ride for free, get lunch for free, ride for free, get dinner for free, ride some more til the last ride for free. They go out 12-15mins after each ride returns. They ride safe, but they don't ride in parade speed either. They have several areas where the leader lets you see what those Indians can do. Did I say it's f'kin great? Best demo rides evar!!! Can't wait til June.

 

I would be curious to know what their exact cost is in their own motorcycle. I bet most of us would be shocked as to what that motorcycle really cost Harley-Davidson.

 

Good luck with getting that info. The people that sit on the board might know, or not. Be kinda fun to guess though.
My guess for HD's cost to build a 2016 FXDL is...$3600. That covers everything, including factory workers pensions and health care insurance. Anyway, that's my guess.

Full blown CVO bagger? $6100 give or take.

 

I rode a vrod at a demo day and they didn’t even copy my license. They just had me sign my name and we took off. It was escorted and someone laid down an electra glide in a turn. They were ok They were going like two miles an hour.

 

I just Road Captained the Demo Day Truck here in West Palm Beach for a weekend. We were told as Road Captains that if anybody drops a bike during the ride that we had to call the Dealership to bring a tow truck and that the rider was done. Didn't matter if the rider wasn't injured and the bike had no scratches they were not allowed to continue.

One guy dropped an Ultra in the parking lot at the Dealership when we got back in. His demo rides were over.

I've demoed bikes at Daytona, I was surprised the rides were not escorted you could really get them into corners and pick up some speed. I was there early one Friday morning and got to ride about 6 bikes without waiting.