When I relocated to SoHo NYC from Paris a number of years ago, one of the first things I did was to pop down to my local Vespa store (Crosby street at the time) to pick up a new Vespa, unfortunately I had to leave my old toys, Vespa, BMW GS, Yamaha, some 911's etc, back in France... I did not consider the "we don't let you test ride" an issue as I already had owned a few Vespas, so I ran my credit card and drove away. A year or two later, I saw a Royal Enfield in their retail window and thought that would be a great complement to the Vespa, alternatively, it would look great in my apartment down the block... "Sir, we appreciate your business but test rides are illegal in New York..." What...? Since when...? I won't buy the bike unless I can try it and for the record, I have had a license for a few decades, ridden a few hundred thousand miles, on all continents & all terrains, irrelevant in this case but I also land big planes and believe I can take a bike around the block without destroying it... :))) So, I ended up buying a Harley Davidson that day, after a, perfectly legal test ride, in NYC...
Anyhow, along the years I have popped in a number of time with the intention to buy something to 'fill the holes' in my current rides & locations (need rides in the country house also...), a Aprilia for fun on the track, a new Vespa, Moto Guzzi, etc... every single time I walk through the door I'm greeted with the most incompetent sales people, I seem to know more about their products than their sales people do. To cut to the chase, no serious rider would ever buy an (unfamiliar) bike unless he or she do a test ride. I popped in to pick up a Guzzi Bobber this spring for my summer house and was greeted with the same BS as usual (no test ride, insinuating that it is illegal in New York & no clue about the product) and ended up test riding a competitor's bike in the city and rode it out to the Hamptons that same afternoon. Finally and permanently done with these people... That being said, the service/repair people at their BK location are really nice. read more