Test-riding a shop's bikes: is intended immediate purchase morally necessary?

[p.dath]

I never take a bike/car for a ride unless I am actually looking to buy. I don't like wasting people's time (or having my time wasted ...), or the difficulty involved should an accident happen.

[Latte]

i don't think I'll ever test ride a bike from a shop... might end up doing something crazy and buying one....

[Old Steve]

I passed my 6F first thing this morning - stands and acknowledges applause.

At lunch time I went to tell Dave and Trish at Bay City Motorcycles here in Tauranga that I'd passed. I didn't buy my Hyosung GV250 from them, I bought it on TradeMe, but I got it delivered to their shop and had a full service done on it. Since then they've done the repairs (new sprockets and chain, fitted a ScottOiler and two new tires, I do my own oil and filter changes every 4000 km).

Anyway, Dave said the new Hyosung ST-7 is waiting for me to take it for a test ride, even though I've told him I can't afford a new bike. I reckon I'll take it for a test, maybe write a ride review. Look out for a post titled "Newbie tries 700 cc Hyosung cruiser".

So there's a dealer who doesn't mind building a relationship and letting you take a test ride, even though they know they're not going to sell a bike.

[p.dath]

Well done "Old Steve".

FYI, I personally lost a lot of confidence when I went from a 250 to 600. On paper the weight doesn't seem that much more, but boy could I notice it when I started riding a 600. Confidence came back after about a month or so.

It's funny, but although that was quite a while ago, I sometimes still yurn for the 250. They are just so "rideable".