same thing happened to me at Mancuso HD in Houston. of course, I bought from them.

 

My local dealer let me take their first new Iron 883 for a test ride with 1 mile on the odo. I wasn't even seriously thinking of buying, just curious after seeing it on the HD web site. Conversation went something like this: Him - That's the new 883 Iron Harley just came out with. Pretty nice huh? Me- Yeah, It's pretty sweet. Love the whole blacked out look. Him - What's it like outside? Me - Pretty nice. Him - (walks over, grabs a helmet off of his desk, throws it to me) Take it for a ride. You might as well be the first one to ride it.
I haven't bought one yet but hoping this summer after we have my son's college scholarships squared away I'll have a two bike stable.

 

i took a 2009 electra glide classic home it had 634 miles on it. had to bring it back in 24 hours because my 08 s.g was in for a 20k service.

 

My dealer has let me pretty much take any bike I wanted to try out thought out the 25+ years I been dealing with them but not one with zero miles . I wouldn't want to by a brand new scooter that they let someone just take for a test ride. . I just bought a 09 street glide that still sitting at dealer for the last 2 month because there hasn't been any good weather to ride. I put put the only 6.1 miles on it.

 

+1 We went across town, instead of 4 miles away, for better CS. The impression we got from the closer dealer was that unless you had Hunnerds hanging from your pockets, they won't talk to you.
Two years ago, I went to a Demo Day, across town. I must confess, at that time, I was just kicking tires, but the salesman was very informative. For the next few weeks, would occasionally call to see if I'd like to buy a bike, but I declined. Fast forward to this past September, when the 105th was going on here in Milwaukee. I finally convinced my wife to at least try sitting on a Harley at one of the four local dealers. (Until that moment, she was opposed to motorcycles, because she didn't want to shift and they were much heavier than her Vespa blah blah blah excuse after excuse) We eventually got to the "across town" dealer, where the salesman that I talked to two years ago still worked. She expressed her concern about shifting and the weight. He eased her mind and said she could try riding the bike - a Sportster 120 Low - around the parking lot, to see if she was comfortable on it. Unfortunately, because they were in the midst of the 105th party, she couldn't do it that afternoon - tents filled the parking lot and alchohol was being served... insurance said "no test rides". We had to come back tomorrow. She rode it, she loved it, she picked it up two days later.

I got mine two months later. (How do you convince your wife to let you get a new bike? Simple, get her one first.)

 

Sounds like the nay sayers are the ones that buy everything on line and have no loyalty to any one, You do not have to buy everything or get all your service done there but treat you dealer with respect and and you will probably be treated the same back. Ours her in Vancouver is a pretty good place to hang out. Good luck and good riding.

 

There is a dealer where I live, and they have little "tent" cards on all the showroom bikes that states "Do Not Sit On Bike" Bike is Armed". There seems to be a lot of differences in customer service from dealer to dealer...

 

Well, at least they removed those cards from the bikes here in Las Vegas just recently, but they still ask 3k over sticker on most bikes.

When you see they are still trying to pedal their rentals for msrp with 18k on them, you kinda wonder are the drugs really that good?

 

I also have yet to see a dealer around here let you test ride anything.

 

I think that's called a "puppy dog" in dealer terms. Car dealers often do this. They know that if you take it home for a night, show your wife, the kids, sit on it, look at it, ride it and park it in your garage, there's a much better chance you'll buy it.