Private bike sale - test ride insurance question?

[sparkey]

From the point of view of traffic offences it's a good idea to make a formal note of the time the buyer takes the bike out and brings it back, so that the seller won't end up getting nicked for a speeding offence (or worse) that he wasn't involved in.
I work with a lot of bike dealers and not many of them would allow a potential customer to test ride a used bike - often the used bikes are not taxed,or even fully prepared for the road when they're in the showroom. I wouldn't let a buyer test ride a bike of mine.

If the buyer's a mate then it may be different.

S..

[Alex@POD]

I was waiting to pass my test to be able to test ride a few bikes before to buy one, but in light of all this, is it worth it? Would I be better off looking for one now to avoid needlessly waiting for one I can test ride?