Selling my Spyder - should I let them ride, or pillion?

[Headwrench]

The decision has been made to sell my Spyder RTS..... My question is the buyer test ride - my plan is to have them ride passenger....... But what is the protocol on test rides? I am leaning pretty heavy on the buyer riding in the passenger seat. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[canamjhb]

Passenger seat rides, unless you know the buyer, they are licensed, insured, and experienced riding Spyders. Nothing good can come from letting an inexperienced, uninsured rider taking your bike for a spin unless you have the money in hand. Spyders are unique in handling. Most first time riders, especially long time 2 wheelers, are not comfortable with their first Spyder experience.

I know others will say they would never buy any vehicle without a test drive. But, trusting someone unknown with a machine they are not familiar with is a recipe for disaster. Test drives happen ONLY after it is agreed that your Spyder handles and rides correctly and you have your money in hand. Good luck with your sale..... Jim

[rjinaz86323]

It is your decision, but I rode 2 wheels since the '60 until I bought a HD trike in 2016. In 2020 I bought my Spyder, but not sure if I would have done it without being able to test ride it (private sale on a 2 year old F3L)

[Mikey]

Myself, I thought it was a slap in the face to not be able to take the bike out on the open road for a drive around the block. I was pended into the parking lot that was full of crap and couldn't get it out of second gear. A ride on the back would be better than nothing, if the person has time on a three wheeler, then maybe I'd ride bitch with him to make sure he checks out ok, then if he wants to give his wife or husband and ride I would let them. In any case, it would be known, break it, I take your car!!!

[al0vely]

The decision has been made to sell my Spyder RTS..... My question is the buyer test ride - my plan is to have them ride passenger....... But what is the protocol on test rides? I am leaning pretty heavy on the buyer riding in the passenger seat. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I think older Spyders are selling slow … you might want to relax a little and be flexible.

Advertise and price it nicely and maybe someone will come to buy it with no test drive.

[Peter Aawen]

The decision has been made to sell my Spyder RTS..... My question is the buyer test ride - my plan is to have them ride passenger....... But what is the protocol on test rides? I am leaning pretty heavy on the buyer riding in the passenger seat. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Just to put a little perspective on this, one of the 2nd hand Motorcycle Dealers here in Oz (albeit not a large franchise or a big chain dealer) went bust not too long after they'd let a prospective buyer who was an experienced & licensed 2-wheel rider take a Spyder out on an un-accompanied test ride, only for the Spyder to run off the road on what was pretty much the first real corner, despite the speed limit being our 'suburban street limit' of the time, and the rider did not survive the ensuing accident.

I really don't know if there's any truth to this, but the word around the traps is that the settlement from that accident was what pushed the dealer over the edge... But certainly ever since then, dealers in that same State/Territory have been very wary of letting anyone but those widely known amongst the Spyder community as being licensed and competent Spyder riders to take the pilot's seat on any test rides.

So while that occurred here in Oz & I'm not positive that there's any real link, the timing makes it quite possible; and since there's a LOT of similarities between our Laws & Court systems around this sorta stuff, I'd guess that you really hafta ask yourself "What you are prepared to risk??"

[K80Shooter]

While this was not a Spyder here is my buddies experience with letting someone take a test ride.

He had his Honda parked in his front yard with a For Sale sign on it.
One sunny Saturday morning he had someone stop by wanting to look at his Honda.
Since the prospective buyer was driving a fairly nice car and was willing to leave the keys with him, he said ok to a test drive.

Well the person never returned and the car that he left was stolen a couple of hours earlier.
He did get his bike back after the person did the same with someone else. Not sure if the person was ever captured or not.

[Pooch]

When I put my Gold Wing trike up for sale I decided to put it on consignment at a local dealer.
I did not want to have to contend with the exact same situations that has been discussed here already.
Nor did I want to hassle with low-ball offers and potential weirdos showing up at my home.
The dealer put it on his insurance and told me if ANYTHING negative happened to it, it would be his problem, not mine.
We agreed on acceptable price and his cut - price was excellent and his cut much more reasonable than I expected.
He put it on CycleTrader and it sold inside of 2 weeks at the listed price.
This was definitely a no-hassle, no-problems deal and will sell the Spyder the same way when the time comes.

I was a happy camper...except that I really hated to let it go...
In fact, I was so sad about selling it I went over to pick it up and bring it home - although the Spyder already resided in its place in the garage... only to be informed that - "Hey!.. we just sold the trike!! - they are coming from South Dakota to pick it up instead of shipping it from Texas to them"...

[SLICE]

The test ride is the ride home. PERIOD.

[BLUEKNIGHT911]

Passenger seat rides, unless you know the buyer, they are licensed, insured, and experienced riding Spyders. Nothing good can come from letting an inexperienced, uninsured rider taking your bike for a spin unless you have the money in hand. Spyders are unique in handling. Most first time riders, especially long time 2 wheelers, are not comfortable with their first Spyder experience.

I know others will say they would never buy any vehicle without a test drive. But, trusting someone unknown with a machine they are not familiar with is a recipe for disaster. Test drives happen ONLY after it is agreed that your Spyder handles and rides correctly and you have your money in hand. Good luck with your sale..... Jim

..... AND make sure ( beforehand ) someone's INSURANCE will cover all damages if it gets wrecked. .... Don't assume your insurance will cover it ...... JMHO .... good luck .... Mike I should have read all the other posts ....FIRST ...

[vito1943]

One way to do it is to tell the buyer that the process will be as follows: payment will be made in full, in cash, to the seller, who as part of the bill of sale offers a 30 minute money back guarantee. The buyer hands over the money, gets the keys and UNSIGNED title transfer, and the time is noted. The buyer then gets to take it out for a ride, and if he decides to keep it, just returns to get the now signed title transfer. If he decides to not keep it, he returns within the 30 minute time frame and gets his money back when he dismounts the bike and returns the keys.

[Gwolf]

I have bought used bikes without riding them. The owner rides his bike he is trying to sell. I ride my bike or trike about 6 or 7 feet off to the side and slightly behind, at different speeds, and observing the acceleration and braking of the bike for sale. It is always done on rural roads with very little traffic. I don't have to ride on it, and can actually see and hear things that might not be obvious if I was riding it. Smoke from the pipes on acceleration, poor braking, excessive bounce on uneven road surfaces. You don't need to be sitting on the bike to judge the condition. Being 6 or 8 feet away gives you a different perspective, just as valuable. Wouldn't do it in city traffic, but have plenty of two lane paved roads with miles and miles of almost no traffic around my area.

[BajaRon]

A difficult question, to be sure. I've never purchased a used vehicle without test driving it myself. There is much you simply cannot determine about the vehicle any other way. But I certainly understand the quandary.

I've always approached it on a case by case basis. Not scientific, to be sure. Nor is it without risk. Fortunately, I've always had an open area in which to test the tester. Still no guarantee. But at least a step of evaluation before turning them lose on my ride.

In the end, it can be a hard call. Hope it works out well for you.

[chipveres]

+1 for show them the cycle from the pillion seat. Just for reference, my wife and I recently took the basic rider course and got our endorsements. Even so, the test ride was confined to the parking lot of the dealership. She could not even take it around the block the dealership is on. And that's on a nearly-new RTL. So great caution is the watchword.

[ARtraveler]

From the "good old days." Back to 2008 when Spiders were new to the public. A dealer had a get together to sell the new Spyders. They were offering test rides. One of the media people boarded a Spyder for a test ride. He promptly crashed it and did damage. In those days, everyone was unfamiliar with the Spyder.

Fast forward to present...there are far too many "bad" people out there trying to steal rather than buy. Unless I know the person...no test drives. i have sold a few two wheelers by taking the prospective owner for a ride. The suggestion for money up front, 30 minutes and money back all seem good to me. Just give the keys and tell them to drive safely? Not me.

Of the seven Spyders I have owned, never test drove any of them. All bought sight unseen, two were delivered by iMoto. The other dealer, where I bought the other five, did not allow test drives.

[Deanna777]

I agree with Slice.

Deanna

[BajaRon]

From the "good old days." Back to 2008 when Spiders were new to the public. A dealer had a get together to sell the new Spyders. They were offering test rides. One of the media people boarded a Spyder for a test ride. He promptly crashed it and did damage. In those days, everyone was unfamiliar with the Spyder.

Fast forward to present...there are far too many "bad" people out there trying to steal rather than buy. Unless I know the person...no test drives. i have sold a few two wheelers by taking the prospective owner for a ride. The suggestion for money up front, 30 minutes and money back all seem good to me. Just give the keys and tell them to drive safely? Not me.

Of the seven Spyders I have owned, never test drove any of them. All bought sight unseen, two were delivered by iMoto. The other dealer, where I bought the other five, did not allow test drives.

Are you talking about the Alcoa Good Times event in Knoxville, TN? I was there. Watched the guy run full throttle into a flatbed trailer. Didn't even apologize. Just totaled the Spyder and walked away. I'll never forget it.

[Longtimer]

Around 2020 a local dealer let a guy drive a Spyder. He'd ridden HD's for years. They went over the Spyder with him and as he started to leave the parking lot, lost control, tried to put his feet down, grabbed for the clutch and hand brake that weren't there, hit the truck across the street, came back across the road, hit a building, threw him off, and broke his neck! He survived but was lucky. And just to throw this out there, who is responsible if you let someone to ride it and they get hurt? Could get real ugly. Sold a lot of two wheelers and never let anyone ride, even refused to sell to a guy with the money in hand because he'd never ridden anything except a 50cc moped... I was selling a Goldwing!

[ARtraveler]

Are you talking about the Alcoa Good Times event in Knoxville, TN? I was there. Watched the guy run full throttle into a flatbed trailer. Didn't even apologize. Just totaled the Spyder and walked away. I'll never forget it.

That's the one. Looks like our age on the site is showing.

[tntnj]

You could take their license and reg for the car/bike they came with and let them take a test ride then give them back the license and reg.
and or Have them sign a paper if they wreck it they bought it.

[MRH]

One way to do it is to tell the buyer that the process will be as follows: payment will be made in full, in cash, to the seller, who as part of the bill of sale offers a 30 minute money back guarantee. The buyer hands over the money, gets the keys and UNSIGNED title transfer, and the time is noted. The buyer then gets to take it out for a ride, and if he decides to keep it, just returns to get the now signed title transfer. If he decides to not keep it, he returns within the 30 minute time frame and gets his money back when he dismounts the bike and returns the keys.

I was simply going to say that you needed a liability release and cash in hand, but I think this is a far better option. One vote for this very wise suggestion.

[JohnnyG56]

The decision has been made to sell my Spyder RTS..... My question is the buyer test ride - my plan is to have them ride passenger....... But what is the protocol on test rides? I am leaning pretty heavy on the buyer riding in the passenger seat. Your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

I wouldn't buy a bike/car/truck that I couldn't test drive unless it was a really good deal and I had a lot of experience with the product. Maybe meet the buyer at a dealer and have them take a dealer bike for a test ride while you follow. If they are a good rider, then let them ride your Spyder.

-JG

[blacklightning]

Let your conscience and the potential buyers experience be your guide.

[mn.roadking]

Ii would let them drive it, that’s what sold me on one…