Yes, it seems that the BMW dealers I have visited are very liberal with test rides. I used to go to St Louis with one of my BMW riding friends when he had to go in for service (often). The normal routine was to drop his bike off and then talk to a salesman who would suggest we take a couple of their bikes for a ride while they worked on my friend's bike. I'm not sure why more Japanese dealers don't. I know that Honda and Yamaha have demo programs whereby dealers get a discount on their cost for demo bikes. They require documentation on at least 10 test riders to qualify, but that is easy. Of course, they can't have 100% demos on the floor. I am fortunate that my local dealer will allow demos on almost anything he has on the floor. I have seen a few very limited edition sport bikes that were exempt from that policy, though.
This is a small town dealership, but still one that sells a lot of bikes. It is about an hour from St Louis and many times riders from that area will come in to look at a bike and ask if they can sit on it and will be told that they certainly can and if they care to take a ride and have the proper license endorsement, they are welcome to do that. Most are very surprised.
It is interesting in the times that I have worked in sales when, for instance a customer will look at a ST1300 and a FJR1300 and ask which is better. I would go over the features and differences and then tell them to ride both and then decide for themselves, as we all like different things.
