You wouldn’t buy a car without taking it out for a test drive, but surprisingly this is exactly how many people buy bikes. This isn’t surprising for lower-end bikes, but then the numbers are well north of $1,000 this is just crazy. Why wouldn’t you test a bike first?
Some of the major bike retailers even maintain a small fleet of ‘Test Bikes’ for their customers to sign out for the day to ride on the local trails. There is usually a fee that you will have to pay to take the bike out, but most shops will allow you to apply that fee towards the purchase of a new bike. Just a few weeks ago, I was able to sign out two different full suspension Specialized 29ers from a local dealer, Tam Bikes in Mill Valley, California, to take up on some trails that I am very familiar with and have ridden often. After a few hours on each of the full suspension bikes, my mind was swayed by being able to ride a test bike on trails that I have ridden often instead of just around the parking lot.
I was convinced that I would never want to do a cross country race on a full suspension bike with more than a couple of inches of travel. I had some bad experiences when I raced for Pro-Flex in the 1990s and just preferred the simplicity of a rigid frame or a pivotless frame like the Moots YBB. After riding the Specialized Epic Comp 29er, I honestly am considering switching from my current bike to the Epic Expert Carbon 29er. This is a $5000 decision that I would have never even considered had Tam Bikes not had this ‘Test Bike’ program in place.
If you are soon to be in the market for a mountain bike, these programs are for you. You should arrive prepared with your helmet, bike clothes, ID, water bottles, trail tools, food, pedals and the correct size tubes if you are testing a bike wheel size that you normally do not ride. Usually they will have pedals, but it is better to have your own since you will be used them. Also if you currently own a bike, measure the distance from the center of your bottom bracket spindle to the top of your seat on your current bike. The bike mechanic onsite will probably ask you where you want the seat height and this measurment will help the set up process.
I have never heard of a fee being charged at a Demo Day, but you will probably need to pay a fee at most shops to take out a test bike for the day. The test bikes are usually property of the shop and the fee goes towards buying and maintaining the bikes for the current model year. If you do run into a fee, ask if that fee will be used towards the purchase of a new bike. These programs are in place to sell bikes so more than likely a shop will put that fee towards a new bike. If these programs interest you, either visit your local bike shop to see if they have a test fleet or if a demo day in scheduled in the near future.
Here are a few links to some of the manufacturers’ demo day schedules or shops that have a test fleets: