I've bought some either way. Sometimes it's not necessary to ride one. I'd never let a stranger ride my bike, regardless if I was selling it or not. Now the horror story... A friend from long ago, a Honda mechanic, let a stranger take a check ride on his early model Honda 750 he was selling. The guy takes off in this residential neighborhood, little rolling hills, and goes full blast around the block several times, like a race track, till he dumps it. He apologized and handed over a check for the damages. The check was worthless. Life sucks.