Being able to testride a bike on a real trail is huge, especially for mountain bikes -- riding around a parking lot just can't mimic the type of terrain you'll encounter.

But man, sometimes ... I ended up not buying a Klein Palomino because the bike shop couldn't get the shifting working on their demo bike ... even after I brought it back a few times. They told me it was just the demo bike. Like I'm gonna buy a 2K+ bike because they *tell* me it's gonna shift properly, honest. Yeah right. Anyway, in that case, they would have been a lot smarter *not* to let me demo the bike. Unless maybe they were trying to steer people away from the bike without actually saying so ...

Er, hi. I've rambled enough now.