Anything over 10 miles and I start to get suspicious.
Also my experience with Harley warranty work has been less than desired.

 

Mine had I believe just over 100. I don't care it's mine & I love it!!!

 

This is a double edged sword.
A lot of riders won't by a new bike unless they can take it for a "test ride".

This thread shows there are also a lot of riders that won't buy a bike with anything more than the dealer prep miles (less than 10).

A lot of dealers have "demo fleets" for just this purpose.
But some still want to test ride the actual bike they want to buy (understandable).
But if the prospective buyer decides to pass on that bike, the next buyer doesn't want it because it has miles on it.

The dealer is between a rock and a hard place trying to please both sides.

 

I don't remember how many miles was on mine but it wasn't a lot or I'd have notice it. But a bike has 99 or less, that's "new" to me. But under 50 is better.

 

After I test rode the new bike it had 13 miles on it.

 

This is exactly what I was thinking and it was the same story when I bought my car. The dealer said people don't want to test ride a dealers car anymore because it might be a LE model and they want to by a SE so they want to test drive an SE.
But with bikes all heritages ride the same so do all road kings. Plus I have not taken My bike over 3500 rpms.... I baby it.. I have seen people on test rides, some wind it out so bad it makes my skin crawl. Then when they sell that bike they are going to tell the guy keep it under 3000 rpms for the first 500 miles and kept changing gears???????
The HD should allow the dealers one model of each bike to test ride and at the end of the year sell it as a demo or let people test ride rentals.. If someone wants to test ride the bike they are about to buy then put the check on the table. Then the dealer Knows you are for real and not just thinking about it!!! At worst case you will have only a few bikes with 20 or 30 miles on them not 30 bikes in the show room with 40 miles on them!!!

 

Not much different than buying a "new" car. I've bought new cars with some miles on them, as I get it that someone probably test drove before I test drove it. And I'll put 15 miles on a test drive. So if a Harley dealer doesn't have a demo fleet, they may get one or two people that test ride a bike. If the miles are reasonable, I'd buy it, especially since the Harley warranty is time-based with unlimited mileage. "Reasonable" is subjective and arguable - to me, it's less than 100 miles. To some people, it's less than 10. It's all about what you are willing to spend YOUR money on. People can give opinions all day long, but only the person signing the purchase contract can decide in the end.

 

My 2013 Slim was a factory demo, never titled, had 26 miles on it when I got it in April 2014. I got it for $13,900 out the door. There was a 2014 sitting next to it with 7 miles that was 2K higher, plus ttl and prep. At 26 miles it was as good as new to me for that savings.

 

The 1995 Dresser I bought had 3 to 5 miles on it, the Slim had 5 miles on it, I really wouldn't want a new bike if it had over 10 miles on it, I would expect it to be sold as a demo bike then, but I'm also a picky ol Bastich.

 

I took the tour at the Kansas City plant and they showed us how the bikes are tested. Most go on a dyno and the tech "rides" it, tests the speedometer, etc. Those bikes leave with 3 or so miles on the odometer. They are never ridden outside of the factory before they go to the dealer.
Each day, there are 3 techs that pick random bikes off the line for inspection. They take those out and ride them. They also find every small issue with the bike and have it fixed, so those are the best bikes in theory. Those will have about 30 miles on them when they arrive at the dealer.
Some of the bikes that have problems are put in the lunch room so everyone knows who screwed up. Good way to encourage thoroughness.