Buying without trying?

Yeah I bought my track bike 2md hand without test riding or even particularly detailed pics...and got an absolute bargain because of that, I was confident what I needed so went ahead and bought it. No regrets.

I bought a Kona Jake the Snake from Wiggle earlier this year. My first drop bar bike in 20 years. I love it. It seems to fit fine, as far I can tell. Haven't done more than about 45 miles on it so far in a single ride but it's very comfortable with 28mm Schwalbe Ones.
I did try some local bike shops and saw some lovely bikes but I wanted a 61cm frame and they're never available for test rides. So yes, it was a punt - but I'd have returned it in a flash if I hadn't liked it. Wiggle have a good return policy but frankly 14 days under the Distance Selling laws is surely enough for you to work out whether you like a bike?

I bought a Mekk a year ago, online, no test ride. Seems fine.

I bought a Mekk a year ago, online, no test ride. Seems fine.

OP - have you got an Evans Cycles near you? They were the best retailer I found in my hunt earlier this year. You have to pay a deposit and book it, but they let you test ride pretty much anything.
I found a lot of shops only have upmarket bikes for demos, Giant for example start their demo bikes at 2.5k and my budget was a grand less. The 2.5k Propel very nearly changed my mind though!
I demo'd a Fuji Transonic which was nice but harsher than the Propel and the spec was a bit lower in a couple of areas. Also tried a Supersix which again was nice but couldn't sway me off the Propel. Another trial was of a Kinesis Aithein which I really wanted to like, but felt quite similar to the ally bike I had at the time, even with bike show spec wheels it had.
And there is a lot more to a demo than fit, ride quality, handling braking etc etc. Does it look good in the flesh? Is it going to make you want to go out in suspect weather, or take the long route home? Looks and colour are important too, sometimes that's all you can use to separate two similar bikes.
So yes, I think demos are worth it. Fun too!

I think the idea of the one perfect bike and the one perfect bike fit is at odds with my experience.
I've had lots of different bikes and they are all slightly different and it made no difference at all. You can adapt to fit a bike and that's what everyone does when they first start cycling, then your fit on the bike changes over time as well.

I think too many people agonise over the perfect fit instead of just getting on with it.

I've ridden since I was a kid, but didn't test my first online bike - a PX carbon pro - and it was too big after following their guidance.

After that I found the CompetitiveCyclist.com fit calculator which worked a treat. I've bought 3 bikes in the years since then that fitted like a glove. I've made an Excel spreadsheet to put in geometry of any prospective purchase that compares it with my existing bike to see if it's in the zone.

I've also got a Canyon and that fits best of all. If you've ridden for some years and have a known set of fit measurements that work, you can buy with reasonable confidence. IMO Stack and Reach are the two most important measurements, sometimes hard to find in geometry tables.

I wasn't allowed to test my Giant Defy Advanced 2 but I was smack bang in the middle of the rider height versus frame size (5' 11" and an M/L frame) recommended by Giant and it's absolutely awesome. Like others have said if the size is about right, there's generally plenty of scope for adjusting seat height and fore/aft and stem spacer/length etc.

Bought a bike from Ribble without a test ride as obviously they don't allow them.

I do live locally to the showroom so I did go & have a look at it beforehand though & asked them loads of questions as well.

I would've preferred a test ride in all honesty as it's my first "proper" bike & was a bit nervous but being a novice not sure if it would've made that much difference anyway.

Been pretty happy with it so far though touch wood.

Bought a bike from Canyon - spent quite a bit of time looking at the geometry compared to my then current bike on which the frame had broken, hence the new bike. I wanted a more relaxed position so made sure the measurements were going to give me that, and then bought. You can return within a few weeks anyway if you've got it badly wrong.

As far as test rides go taking a bike round the block isn't going to tell you much about how it feels after 70 miles. Think I've read on here that Evans will let you take a bike for a weekend if you leave a hefty deposit, seems like a plan.

Not only have I never had a test ride, I have rarely had to make any adjustments to the way the retailers , ranging from Halfords to LBS, have set up the bikes.

I guess I must be a bog standard average size.

I bought a Planet X RT-58 alloy without trying it and it's been fine. However, I had previously had a bike fit on my first bike, and I had all the measurements from that, so I made sure to buy the right size, get the right stem length, etc based on the geometry chart for the RT-58.

Since then I've built up a Pompino (again from Planet X) and again I just made sure to buy the right size frame and the right size components to set it up the same as the bike I was fitted on.

I'm really not convinced of the validity of a road test, in my experience all it highlights is how different something is to what you already have, at best it may feel unfamiliar, at worst you could be put off when you really need time to adapt.

I once spent a lot of money on a motorcycle without a test ride. I hated it for the first 500 miles, convinced that I had made a horribly bad decision, then it sort of came together and 15 years later you would need a fairly hefty crowbar to prise it from underneath me. Same with my current bicycle, LBS helped me order the right frame size and got it fitted correctly when it arrived, but I would not have bought it on the strength of the first 100 miles riding. Even then, I changed the wheels, which transformed the package into exactly what I was looking for and now I am very, very happy with my choice. A test ride would not have helped at all.

There's a lot of psychology around having too much choice, it makes us confused. Different people have different criteria of course and mine pretty much comes down to 'does it look nice'. Pretty facile I know.

Yes, twice. Both times needed a bit of tweaking (shorter stems both times) but still hugely in pocket. Get a decent bike fit as well after buying to speed up the process.

Both my bikes I've bought without trying (or even seeing in the flesh).

The Cube was my first road bike and I knew f'all about bike fitting at that point. As a MTB'er you just buy a suitable size frame, adjust as required and off you go. I hadn't realised road bikes were any different.

I ended up getting a bike fitting 6 months after buying the Cube and then getting a shorter stem and narrower bars - but this was as much about core-strength and flexibility at that time tbh.

My Rose I bought with a much greater knowledge around bike fitting. I knew what sizes I needed, and also used their bike fitting tool on the site. I ended up buying a slightly bigger frame than I would have normally done (58 vs 56) but the geometry is very different as it's a endurance bike and the front is much higher than the Cube. With the Rose, all I've tweaked is the saddle height and layback - rest has been perfect.

In answer to your questions: yes, and no. But to do so you have to decide exactly what you want the bike to do, and have the experience to work out from the dimensions whether it will do the job well and be comfortable. I've been riding a long time: I know my position and what bike will suit me. But even after this there are those intangible properties which don't come from measurements, and for this I'll look at reviews - or better still, talk to someone who rides one.

This has worked so for me so far, but if you haven't got the experience to know what will be right for you, go and have a test ride.