Hello one and all, and welcome to Episode 193 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s best motorcycling podcast and winner of the coveted Wooden Microphone at the 2015 International Podcast Awards. Thanks as ever to Bennetts, Britain’s Best Bike Insurers – hey, “It’s insurance by the people, for the people!” (you can have that for free, Newbs) – and bikesocial.co.uk, the website with all the news, reviews, twos, blues and clues. For youse. With lots of lovely YouTube content to digest too. Right, on this episode of FEC we have: • deets of BMW’s R1300 GSA including its built-in coffee cup stand • riding impressions of Yamaha’s blingy MT-09 SP hooligan compared to Triumph’s Street Triple RS • Kawasaki’s rad new H7 Hybrid with the acceleration of litre sports, the performance of a 650 and the fuel economy of a 250 (it says here) PLUS a deep dive through the FEC sack where we chat about all things great and good, such as: • should you buy a bike with your heart or your head? • are auto transmissions the future and can motorcycling be *too* easy?  • our thoughts on the KTM chocolate camshaft issues, and can history teach a manufacturer how to manage a reliability problem? • how much do bike videos cost to make? • is there any point to wings on road bikes? ...and much much more. Please like and subscribe, tell everyone you know about the pod, and if you want to ask us a question, comment on any of the issues we’ve raised, start a new topic, ask for bike buying advice – get in touch and send us an email:   [email protected] Thanks for listening, and see you again soon!  @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello one and all, and welcome to a freshly squeezed episode of Front End Chatter, Britain's most absent motorcycling podcast featuring him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons.  We are, as always, indebted to and inebriated by Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers, and biksocial.co.uk, the place to get all your news and views on motorcycling.  And on this return to some kind of form, we have: • what we've been up to (most of the episode, to be fair) including: the FECspagna tour of France and Spain on Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GX+ and BMW S1000 XR TE, Suzuki live, the ABR Festival, and a chat about the sudden appearance of auto gearboxes (including what, exactly, the definition of 'auto' is).  Thank you for persevering and more episodes will be along shortly.  Send emails, questions, queries and abuse to [email protected]  @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Greetings, podcast pilgrims, and welcome to Front End Chatter - just like having a fun chat down the pub with your mates about bikes, only without the drinks, or the ability for you to say anything back, or your actual real-life mates being involved. Or the fun, come to think of it. Alright, so it's nothing like having a fun chat down the pub with your mates, and much more like earwigging in on a pair of motorcycling mid-life crises unfolding in real time, mixed in with the odd history lesson pinched shamelessly from Wikipedia, half a badly photocopied GCSE maths exam paper, and a few swear words. Still, after 190-odd of these things it's somehow gathered enough momentum that neither of us knows where the handbrake is.   And so in episode #191 of this moss-dodging rolling stone, Simon and Mufga cover:   • KTM's return to building sportsbikes, in the thinly camouflaged guise of the new 990 RC R, heading to a Supersport race series near you • MotoGP's plans to drop two dress sizes by summer, slim down those aero love handles and give their saggy rear ends a long-overdue lift • Yamaha's XSR900GP, which proves it can delight everyone from Rose-Tinted Racers to Portuguese school kids • Husqvarna's Svartpilen 801, which also stirs together dollops of the past, present and future like a timeline trifle • BMW's new Automated Shift Assistant tech and, perhaps more intriguingly, which as-yet-unannounced (but possibly already-photographed) bike it'll debut on • Whether one bike exists that could possibly replace a listener's pretty awesome-sounding three-bike garage • What motorcycling experiences you'd want to experience if your body had just a few years of riding left in it • Why tyres dare to demonstrate so alarmingly little respect for mathematical consistency • Whether hip replacements and motorcycles go together like a femoral head and an acetabulum   If you get through all that and are thirsty for more, don't forget to like and rate and subscribe and leave a comment and tag a friend and all the rest, but most importantly do remember the great and benevolent Bennetts the next time your motorcycle insurance is due. Go on, they're Britain's best bike insurers, and if you get your insurance direct from them you'll also get free BikeSocial membership, which is statistically possible to make your motorcycling year both better and cheaper by virtue of its capacious catalogue of discounts, deals, experiences, offers, opportunities and more!   As always, if you're on the X-stagram socials you can find us lurking at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga   And if you're reading this in May 2024, it's not quite too late to join us on our incredible Viva FECspana tour - head to bit.ly/fecspain   Peace, love and understanding x

Hello everyone, two, three here we go and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 190 in series one of Britain's best (or at least longest-running) podcast-flavoured semi-occasional long-form motorcycling nattertainment, no thanks to him, Simon Hargreaves, and even less to him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons. FEC has been FECing for a whole FECing decade now, mostly thanks to two things: not knowing when to quit; and the tireless support and encouragement and assistance of Bennetts, easily Britain's best bike insurers. You need some of that motorcycle insurance they have these days? Actually, that's not really a question. You need some of that motorcycle insurance they have these days! And you should head directly to Bennetts.co.uk to get it, or at least get a quote for it. Not only are they wonderful people who put back in the bike industry (like, cough, this load of free ear-muck), but if you buy your policy direct you'll get a year's free BikeSocial membership, which unlocks all manner of exclusive discounts, competitions, offers and experiences like some kind of cheat code for your wallet. And in this episode, we have: - Honda's new E-Clutch, ridden and rated - have Honda finally figured out a way to overthrow the manual transmission after nearly 70 years of trying? - Triumph Tiger 1200 - only two years old and already updated, well a bit, but also a hell of a lot. - BMW R1300GS - what's it like compared to the R1250GS, and what will BMW do with the Adventure? And a hearty shuffle through the bulging FECsack, including * Street Triple - standard or R? * Guess the shaft-drive, garage-wood inducing tourer * How long do helmets really last, really? * The Biking Ladder - is it a load of tosh? * Fun bikes for occasionally taking a pillion (who may or may not be fun) * Best tyres for a Tenere * Credit where Viva FECspana credit is (over)due Please keep topping our FECsack up by emailing your thoughts, wonderings, ponderings and observances to [email protected] And it's not too late to join us on a 10-day biking tour of a lifetime! Viva FECspana takes in amazing best roads in France and Spain, fab company and lush hotels. Don't miss out on the highlight of your summer - bit.ly/fecspain And, as ever, find us on the socials: @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Welcome ladies, gentlemens and ornithologists, to Front End Chatter – episode 189 of Britain's favouritest motorcycling podcast presented by him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons. This pod is, as ever, nurtured and natured by Bennetts, the gorram best bike insurers in 'verse, with their wealth of offers, discounts and competitions – and BikeSocial.co.uk, the website & YouTube channel with all the latest news, views, road tests and consumer info. And on this episode of FEC we have:  • Martin's experience riding the Triumph Daytona 660 at its recent launch • Simon's experience riding the Moto Gutzi V85TT at its recent launch • Norton victims get some of their money back • KTM assume control of MV Agusta  • and lots more – I mean, if I list it all here it's a bit of a plot spoiler so download the pod and have a listen, is the idea Please email your thoughts, queries and general comments – in fact anything at all, even poetry – to: [email protected] Please have a think about coming on tour with us: FECspana will be a glorious ten-day ride across France and Spain with a select group of FECers riding the finest roads, tasting the finest wines and eating the finest food. We'd love to have you along.  Go to www.bit.ly/fecspain for more info.  Reach us at:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the motorcycling podcast presented by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, a pair of bike journalists who've been riding and writing about dem motorbikes they have these days for bleedin' ages.  The pod is, as ever, supported and enabled and ennobled by Bennetts, the bike insurance gods, and BikeSocial.co.uk – the brightest and best biking website and YouTube channel rammed with motorcycling goodness content. Including lots of new bike reviews. Oh yes.  So on this long-awaited return to pod action, Martin and Simon talk about:  • the new bikes they've been riding, such as: BMW's R1300 GS Honda's Africa Twin Adventure Sports Triumph's Speed & Scrambler 400s Suzuki's GSX-8R Yamaha's MT-09 Moto Guzzi's Stelvio Harley's Road and Street Glides Kawasaki's Eliminator 500 Phew! No wonder there's not been a pod for over a month! Plus the lads natter about Yamaha's defunct-or-is-it R1, what is Euro5+ and why World Superbike might be making a comeback to a podcast near you soon.  Please like and subscribe, no, hang on, that's videos innit, getting me content mixed up... please download and tell your mates about the pod, what do you mean you haven't got any mates, tell you mum then, I dunno. Compose questions, queries, ideas, perverted thoughts and musings, offers of free stuff, recreational and/or procreational pharmaceuticals, and send them electronically to: [email protected] Bless ya, we're all in it together x @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the UK's most flexible motorcycling podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – a pair of disreputable motorcycle journalists who have yet to find a block around which they have not been.  We are supported in our endeavours as ever by the estimable Bennetts, the UK's most bike-friendly bike insurers (a higher standard than some meet), and their multi-media wing on the web at bikesocial.co.uk Right, on this episode we have:  • all the deets on the new Triumph Daytona 660 brought to you from a meeting with the bike itself – listen here, or watch us wrestle with words in realtime on FEC TV – search Front End Chatter on YouTube or go to  bit.ly/fecdaytona • Simon's been to Scotchland on a Suzuki V-Strom 800DE and mighty cold and mighty comfy it was too • he still also chuntering about a bike he'll never buy, and now can't decide between not buying a BMW R1200RT or a Triumph Trophy 1200 SE – but is leaning towards the Triumph at time of recording... • plus a pile of FECers emails including not watching racing in 2024, are fast, fun, lightweight bikes gone forever, will anyone be building specials with engine swaps in the future, and much much more.  Thanks for listening, please check us out on YouTube, please email questions and queries and thoughts and musings to [email protected] And it's goodnight from him, and goodnight from me.  @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the UK’s most flammable motorcycling podcast with him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons. This is episode 186, a gentleman’s agreement of an episode, in which we thank Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurance experts, and BikeSocial.co.uk, all your two-wheeled needs and nerds catered for on the web and on YouTube – before once more diving into a couple of hours of chatter. And on this episode we bring you a FEC first – our inaugural (but not last) new bike launch – yes, Front End Chatter was privileged to be invited to the first ride of Triumph's 2024 Tiger 900 range in Spain – the new Tiger 900 GT Pro and Rally Pro, on road and off. The fact the bike's a corker is entirely coincidental, and we can confidently state the launch gift of a dose of Covid didn't sway our opinion even it it ruined Xmas at Chatter Manors.  In this episode we also sling a leg over Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GX which at a slightly compromised launch that didn't let us really get under the skin of the bike and left us with more questions than answers – which gives us an excuse to put more miles on the bike later in the year, and which is no bad thing.  Also in this episode, Mufga and a crew of ne'er-do-wells win a historic trophy by riding a pair of Zero electric bikes through thick, but mostly thin, the length and breadth of Britain.  Thank you very much for listening, please email your thoughts and musings and questions to [email protected], and get us on the socials (when we're feeling up to it) at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga. Have a splendid Christmas and see/hear you/us in 2024. 

Hello and welcome to FEC185, the new-bikes-for-2024 special version of Front End Chatter, Britain’s fave motorcycling podcast with him Martin Fitz-Gibbons and him Simon Hargreaves. But WAIT! Before you move on, thinking “Oh, I’ve already endured that pair of idiots nattering about the new bikes for 2024 in their EICMA Show review on the Bennetts BikeSocial YouTube channel they have these days,”... (to watch it, go to www.bit.ly/feconfilm) ...well – yes, that’s what you’re getting here; the audio version of the video, but one you can take on your travels while you’re raking up fallen leaves on the lawn, walking the dog (or dogs if you have two of them), spannering in the garage (not heard it called that before) or even dogging on the treadmill in your local gymnasium. Jogging. I meant jogging. But there’s more! Because we’re also revealing details of something far more important than the tired old toot the manufacturers are trying to foist on you in 2024. Because, dear FECers, we have details of not one, but TWO FEC Tours in 2024 – both flawlessly organised, as always, in conjunction with Paul from MCI Tours. For the first tour, and to celebrate the 10th birthday of Front End Chatter (aka A Decade Of Drivel), FEC Tours is going international with a 10-day FECstravaganza – riding for two days across France down to the Pyrenees, spending three days exploring the sensational mountain passes, then another two days across to the fabulous Picos range in northern Spain before heading back to Santander and the leisurely cruise back to Plymouth – with a live podcast recording on the boat.* *subject to sailing conditions and Brittany Ferries playing ball, which we’re sure they will. Viva FECspaña promises to be a spectacular motorcycling holiday and the trip of lifetime. The dates are: Sunday 2nd June (depart Portsmouth) to Tuesday 11th June (return Plymouth). Find more details here: www.bit.ly/fecspain The second tour is a little more modest in scope and commitment, as we FEC Up The Borders. Long overlooked by passing tourists, the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway are regions of stunning riding and gorgeous scenery. FEC has (literally) taken over the Buccleuch Arms Hotel in Moffat, a legendary motorcycling establishment dedicated to serving the needs of hungry motorcyclists. We have an extensive ride-in and ride-out either side of two days exploring both areas including Britain’s second-longest B-road, the birthplace of Steve Hislop (plus riding some the roads he surely cut his teeth on), a suite of border passes steeped in tribal history and legend, and the desolate splendour of the Galloway National Park. It’s some of our fave riding in the UK. The dates for FEC Up The Borders are: ride-in on Tuesday 30th July, ride-out on Friday 2nd July. More info here: www.bit.ly/fecborders STOP PRESS – the FEC Up The Borders Tour is almost sold out already, so get your enquiry in pronto to secure a place! Only after putting up with all that – hope you enjoy the FEC Guide To 2024’s New Bikes (well, the ones we’re really interested in!). Thank you for listening/watching, if you appreciate what we do please get your insurance from Bennetts and become a BikeSocial Member, email your thoughts and questions to [email protected] (normal service will be resumed next episode) and catch us on the socials: @Mufga (wry commentary and nerdy tech stuff) @SimonHbikes (drunken passive/aggressive shit-posting and paracord/bass guitars) Aye.    

Hello and welcome to Episode 184 of Front End Chatter, Britain's Bestest Biking Bodcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – with thanks as ever to our patient and perfect partners Bennetts, the bike insurance specialisms, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the most informative and entertaining motorcycling website on the, er web. Is it still called the web?  Anyway, check out the offers, discounts and competitions available should you choose to become a BikeSocial Member (free to Bennetts customers, £60 a year if not) – seriously, if you're planning on spending a few quid this year on tyres, kit and accessories, chances are the shop you'll buy them from has a discount offer with Bennetts – so sign up, ya fool! Right, on with the show and today it's a bit of a FEC-sack Special because we're getting a bit behind with your emailed questions and queries – so it's all you today: • whose leathers are on the wall of a hotel near the Nürburgring? • great biking reassessments, such as Harley are technically advanced and Honda do think they can change gear better than you after all: with mandatory DCT and, now, Honda's Eclutch – another auto transmission. Honda really don't like manual gearboxes, do they?  • plus, Martin recalls having to reassess adventure bikes after it became clear they were taking over the world • how to regain a biking mojo • how will BMW's front collision warning cope with 'progressive' riding in traffic?  • best bike for long range commuting?  • is the SWC300 any good?  • do we grow out of modifying bikes? And much much more... Thanks for listening, please spread the word, please ring-fence a couple of dates in your diary – we have a FEC tour of Spain coming up in early June 2024, and a FEC tour of the Borders in late July 2024! YOU HAVE TO BE THERE! It's such a good time. Also – keep your emails coming in to: [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most foresighted motorcycling podcast and, as regular listeners, you don't need to be Nostradamus to know what we're going to say next. So no surprise it's a massive thank you to Bennetts, Britain's best motorcycle insurers, who continue to amaze and astound with a litany, nay, cornucopia of offers, competitions and nice things – one of which is bikesocial.co.uk with all the biking news, new bikes, consumer features and BSB info fit to eat. And check out Bennetts' YouTube channel coz it's amazing. And become a Bennetts BikeSocial Member and get access to all the above, for a paltry £60 a year – and it's free if you're insured with Bennetts.  Right, after all that, onto the pod. And it's a Knobbly News kinda week, what with BMW's R1300 GS getting the full nerd-out in-depth detail – what's the motor/frame/suspension/styling, and how's it different, why's it different and will we like it? Plus Honda have nibbled at the Africa Twin and ruined the Adventure Sport by not importing a manual gearbox version (we love Honda, we really do, but blimey they make it hard sometimes). Meanwhile Suzuki unveil the V-Strom 800RE, possibly the most useful motorbike of 2024, and Triumph announce some prices. And in the green corner, literally, there's Kawasaki letting slip a small trump of details about the "Strong Hybrid Ninja 7" - a half battery, half petrol-powered 451cc parallel twin with what Kawasaki say is the fuel economy of a 250 combined with the performance of a 750 and the 0-60 of a ZX-10R, yeah right chinny chin chin (that bit wasn't in the press release). And after all that, we FECsack about CX500s, commuting 100 miles a day and cramming a lifetime of motorcycle choices into a few years as you work out what kind of biker you are.  Right, that's all for now. We should start a newsletter. Hey, that's a good idea.  Email your thoughts and queries and desires and offers of, well, anything goes tbh but money's good, to: [email protected] Thanks for listening, you mad FECers you x @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 182, live in front of a bunch o' FECers from the Elephant & Castle in Newtown, Wales! Thanks as ever to Bennetts, the finest motorcycle insurers in the country, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the place to go for all your bike-related news, new bikes, tests and stories. Become a BikeSocial Member and take advantage of a plethora of offers, discounts and competitions. It just makes sense, ya heathens. Anyway, on this episode of Front End Chatter, Simon and Martin natter about:  • Suzuki's forthcoming GSX-8R, GSX-S1000X and V-Strom 800 • BMW's fifthcoming R1300 GS and F900 GS  • Kawasakis sixthcoming EV-1s • ...and much more, plus chat with the FECers on tour – where's the bar?  Thank you for listening to Front End Chatter, and please send your questions, queries, thoughts and musings to: [email protected] I'm @SimonHbikes and he's @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Episode 181 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s most electric, eclectic and eccentric motorcycling podcast, presented by hoary old motorcycle journalists Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons. We are as ever indebted and in cahoots with Bennetts, Britain’s leading bike insurance experts, and BikeSocial.co.uk. No flipping, don’t change that channel – check out the offers, competitions and discounts Bennetts offer and become a BikeSocial member to access them all even if, for some reason beyond the wit of man, you aren’t insured with Bennetts. Don’t take our word for it – see for yourself. However, speaking as someone who always fails to take advantage of money-saving offers because I’m hamstrung by a belief that paying less than full value is somehow morally wrong (I don’t like using loyalty cards because why should a supermarket item be cheaper for someone who has a ‘loyalty card’ than for someone who hasn’t? An item should cost what an item costs for every human in that shop, regardless of where they habitually grant their custom). Mind you I’m perfectly happy to stream football matches off an eastern European website, so figure that one out.   On this episode of Front End Chatter we have topics as widely varied as: • Triumph’s new 660 Daytona and how middleweight sportsbikes now often less sporty than middleweight naked bikes • Triumph’s addition of user-lowered rear preload on Tiger 1200s to make them more usable for more people of inversely advantaged verticality • why KTM’s 890 Adventure R could be a forever bike, even if it doesn’t last forever • proving a Zero electric bike can manage a day’s adventure (including off-road) • and why every single commentator on YouTube, in print or on podcasts need their riding advice filtered through an ‘it doesn’t apply to me’ filter – this stuff ain’t Gospel, okay? Anyway, that’s enough for now because I’m on holiday and the wifi in the holiday cottage uploads at a prehistoric pace which, given I’m on the Jurassic Coast, is appropriate if not completely infuriating. Please grace our inbox – [email protected] – with your thoughts, queries, jokes, funny stories and any random stuff that passes across your grey matter. Catch me and him here: @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome back to Front End Chatter, Britain's most durable motorcycling podcast, with Simone Hargreaves and Marion Fitz-Gibbons – a pair of ye olde worlde motorcycle journalists like wot they had off them magazines they used to have, talking about bikes, talking about riding them, talking about remembering what it was like to ride them, talking about dreaming of riding them, and talking about other things as well. Or even better. There's more to life than bikes – you might think that's what you came here for, but bikes are just the start.  Anyway, thank you to Bennetts, the marvellous bike insurers, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best place on the web to locate all your motorcycling news, views and reviews. And check out their YouTube channel, whydontcher?  On this mighty organ of FEC we have:  • a chat about the BikeSocial group test of the Suzuki GSX-8S, Honda Hornet, KTM 790 Duke and Yamaha MT-07  • Yamaha's Tracer 9 GT+ with added radar soup • a bit of natter about manufacturers using throttle mapping to define the power delivery of their bikes • KTM's upcoming 1390 motor, and what size it might actually be • ...and do we really need more capacity, and is that what really sells new bikes?  • plus some of your FECsack emails, including what bike best sums up the 1990s?  Thanks again to everyone for your ears, and please write with your questions, thoughts, queries, jokes, funny experiences, and that time you met and he tried to get off with your girlfriend, to:  [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 179 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s Chattiest Motorcycling podcast with him Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – underpinned, as ever, by Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurer and BikeSocial.co.uk, the place to go for your biking info.  And on this week’s FEC we have:  • EXCLUSIVE details of a special ADDITIONAL FEC tour THIS YEAR! Yes, we’ve teamed up again with our friends at MCI Tours to bring you a FECin Welsh Weekend. When’s that, I hear you ask? I’m glad you did – the FECin Welsh Weekend is taking place from the afternoon/evening of Friday 22nd September, riding on Saturday and Sunday, departing Monday 25th September. JOIN US – on the best roads in Wales, officially selected by the Cannes Jury Of Mint Roads in Wales, Bach.  Visit bit.ly/fecwales and get involved. Also in this honestly massive episode of FEC (because bigger is better, right?) • Ivan Cervantes, multiple enduro world champ and Triumph test rider speaks about his world record endurance ride on a Tiger 1200, doing 2493 miles in 24 hours – and also updates on the progress of Triumph’s forthcoming range of enduro and motocross bikes Plus!  • all the info on two new technologies coming up on BMW’s R1300 GS – radar-powered front collision warning system and a new suspension system with variable spring rate (haven’t we heard this before? – Ed) • details of Triumph’s new 400 Scrambler X and Speed 400 • how to ride in the wet ...and if that’s not enough, there’s more of the same. Blimey. Please keep your emails coming in – queries, thoughts, musings, amusings, funny stories, nothing too heavy if you don’t mind, keep it light – to: [email protected] Aye. Youse brilliant, youse are. @SimonHbikes @Mufga    

Hello everybody and welcome to a Front End Chatter FECsack special. Special you say? Yes, very special indeed, thanks for asking. Why so special? Special because in a change from FEC's (un)usual format, we've devoted a full hour to answering one single, solitary, lonely, individual question sent in by a listener. Well, you know, after 170-odd of these things, we figured it's about time we did one properly... And as such it is the unbelievably enormously magnificently humongous pleasure of Britain's best bum-lickingiest biking podcast to welcome the one and only Adrian Morton - Britain's best bike designer - to the deepest deep dive (too soon?) you'll ever hear on: what it was like to work with (and then take over from) Massimo Tamburini - how the Cagiva, sorry, MV Agusta F4 750 came to life, and whether it can ever be repeated - how many designs does it take to get a footpeg right - who really designed the F3, despite what Wikipedia says - and much, much more, including the future of motorcycle design... We hope you love this detour from our usual FEC waffling as much as we do. And if you'd like to contribute to our bulging FECsack of listener questions, please fire your ponderings through to [email protected]

Hello and welcome one and all to Front End Chatter, Britain's cakiest motorcycle podcast with she/him, Martina Fitz-Gibbons and it/blimey, Simone Hargreaves. As the country's leading formerly employed but subsequently jettisoned motorcycle journalistas, now freelancing for anyone with a gold sovereign and a glint in their eye, we're proud to be supported and stimulated by Bennetts, Brian's leading bike insurers, and BikeSocial.co.uk, more motorcycling news, reviews and blues clues on the web than the web really deserves.  And on this mightily magnificent episode we have:  • the NC500 and why it's not a Honda parallel twin, but a blummin' ace ride around the top of Scotland • BMW's new M1000XR • Kawasaki's new ZX-6R • the price is announced for Kawasaki's ZX-4RR • Michael Dunlop and Peter Hickman dominate the 2023 TT • how Triumph's Tiger 1200 is the fastest bike ever over the longest distance in 24 hours • details of Bennetts High Performance Awards for bike clothing, taking the complexity out of bike kit protection ratings and why you should look out for it • FECsack musings including why isn't cruise control fitted to smaller bikes, the best small-bore track bike, why bike modern bike seats don't always fit and much more... Thanks for your ears, please keep your musings and queries and general thoughts coming to: [email protected] @simonhbikes @mufga

Hello everybody, and welcome to a quick but exciting FEC cordially inviting you, dear FEC listener, to the Bennetts Snetterton Track Day on Thursday 13th July. We’re going, and we’d love you to be there with us for a chin-wag and a cup of coffee. Bennetts BikeSocial trackdays aren’t like other trackdays – they’re WAY better. As well as 7 x 20-minute track sessions, with novice, intermediate and advanced group options, you’ll also get FREE action shots taken by a professional British Superbikes photographer, and be able to meet and ride on track with Mr John McGuinness. An onsite BSB mechanic will offer set-up advice, a team of instructors will offer riding tips, and Yamaha track hire bikes are available to book. If you’re a novice, this is the perfect introduction – there’s an extended safety briefing if it’s your first time, plus two free classroom sessions offering advice on body position and circuit riding. And all of this costs just £139 – an absolute bargain. Normally Bennetts trackdays are only available to BikeSocial members, but we’ve swung a deal to allow FEC listeners to come along too, even if you’re not a BikeSocialist. We'll be there, and we’ll have a garage put aside exclusively for the use of FECers. Obviously you will need all the usual trackday safety kit (ACU approved full-face helmet, full one-piece or complete zip-together two-piece leathers, proper boots and leather gloves and all the rest) plus a full length back protector, and a front brake lever guard or hand-guards, and your bike will need to meet the noise limit (102DB static / 92DB driveby). To book, you’ll need to head to the link below: https://rewards.bennetts.co.uk/rewards/snetterton-trackday-13072023-discount-voucher-code You’ll find all the info you need, the terms & conditions, plus a link to take you through to book your place, at Snetterton, on Thursday 13th July. See you there!

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's best general-purpose biking podcast (apart from racing podcasts, of which there are many and excellent). This is Episode 177 of nonsense, the first since the FEC Grin Up North tour. And it's been a while because Simon and Martin have been busy eking a living from the dry, dusty soil of freelance motorcycle journalism.  Thanks as always to Bennetts, with whom you ought to be insured for so many reasons – they're actually motorcyclists, for a start. And they support www.bikesocial.co.uk and its associated YouTube channel, where you can find road tests, launches, news, proper consumer advice and loads more genuinely useful, and entertaining, stuff. Check out becoming a BikeSocial Member, because the money-off offers alone are more than worthwhile – not to mention the competition offers.  Anyway, on this episode of FEC Simon and Martin natter about:  • The FEC800 Grin Up North Tour • Martin's impressions of Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GT+ • Simon's impressions of Honda's Gold Wing • Honda's DCT system and why it's taken 13 years for Simon to get over himself  • why Ireland is SO NICE! • speculation about BMW's M1000XR • some truths about the hydrogen as an alternative fuel, and why the Japanese manufacturers have got together to find out it's probably not the answer • your FEC Sack questions and queries including why changing your tyres is a Good Thing, why there's good riding in the south of England if you go looking for it, is Ducati's Monster defined by a trellis frame, and riding bikes before you were born. *From* before you were born, not actually pre-womb.  Thanks for listening, send your questions, thoughts and lunatic ravings to [email protected] Get me and Martin on the socials @simohbikes @Mufga  This episode is dedicated to the memory of Boz. 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E176... LIVE FROM THE 2023 GRIN OOP NORTH TOUR! Yes folks, after a lengthy absence due to life, the universe and everything, Front End Chatter is back – and not only back, but back LIVE. Recorded in front of a hand-picked audience of FEC friends from a hotel in Lancashire, your hosts Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons talk a load of nonsense including: • guff about the new Suzuki GSX-S 8S and why it might be better than Honda’s Hornet • guff about the new Yamaha Tracer 9 GT+ and how it helps you brake • Mufga goes trials riding with Inch Perfect Trials • plus questions from the audience, including: • how to set-up, or not, a GSX-S1000S • why pillion seats are so small • how to save motorcycling • who will build the last petrol engine ever And a bit more. Thanks as always to Bennetts and BikeSocial.co.uk for their enduring and endearing support. Thanks also to Paul at MCI Tours (www.mcitours.com) for organising and managing the FEC Grin Oop North Tour. Thanks to the staff of Crooklands Hotel, Kendal, for their hospitality. And, more than anything, thanks to our friends on the FEC Grin Oop North Tour 2023: Matt, DJ, Peter, Jamie, Owain, Dale, Paul, Jono, George, John, Iestyn, Fazer John & Pamela, Andy & Carol, Stuart & Leonie, Stuart & Jenny, PJ, Connor, Matt, Avi and Jake. @SimonHbikes @Mufga      

Hello and welcome to Episode 175 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s funkiest motorcycling podcast, presented by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, supported as ever by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best place to get your motorcycling news and other two-wheeled resources. And on FEC175 we have: • Simon becomes one of a handful of humans to ride both Suzuki’s V-Strom 800DE and Honda’s Transalp at their respective launches – find out what he thinks and which one might suit you • KTM and MV Agusta re-organise their dealers (which only matters to the half of the podcast who owns an MV Agusta) • Irish road racing is back on after securing £90,000 from crowdfunding and a renegotiation of their insurance premium, which is good news – although is this now going to be an annual issue? • the first two races from World Superbike at Phillip Island and Mandalika • plus more of our emails, including:             - the when and where of throttle snatch             - why can’t I go round right handers?             - how come Sikhs don’t have to wear helmets?             - recalibrating quickshifters – urban myth or actual thing?             - why does my bum ache? ...and much more... Thank you very much for listening, and please send your thoughts, queries and random comedy motorcycling moments to [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga    

Dearest FECers, welcome to episode 174 of the long-running – well, it's our ninth birthday, apparently, Happy Birthday to us etc – motorcycling podcast brought to you by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and ably, nimbly and elastically supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists (and if you haven't yet, you really should) and bikesocial.co.uk, the world of wokecycling on the web.  And on this episode of FEC we have:  • Martin making his spring comeback on his MV • top tips for getting back into it after a winter lay-off • the current state of play on the roads in Ireland • Simon rides BMW's R1250 RS and gets confused by Triumph's DRLs • plus a bunch of FECmails including naming your bike, which Guzzi, does your confidence dip, and what a compression and why is it ratioed?  Thanks for listening once more, please spread the word, and please keep sending your thoughts, ponderings, musings, anecdotes, jokes, questions and offers of, well, anything, to: [email protected] @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello & welcome to Front End Chatter with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and me, Simon Harararargreaves. This is episode #173 of a long-running saga, in which we are as ever indebted to Bennetts, the only bike insurers who actually invest a shed-load back into British motorcycling culture to promote the British Superbike series, create an ocean of free content at www.BikeSocial.co.uk, planted the seeds for a rich and fertile YouTube channel, and allow FEC to come in your ears once a fortnight. That's gotta be worth the entry fee.  And on this fortnight's FEC we have a new bike blitz with the return of the sports 400 in the unlikely shape of Kawasaki's ZX-4RR, the return of the sports touring supermoto with KTM's 890 SMT, and the debut of Suzuki's V-Strom with a 21in front wheel. We also dive into the FEC sack – and, in a break with tradition, we harvest it from the top down, responding to the most current emails first (mostly commenting on FEC172's rather depressing message about the end of life as we know it).  Anyway, we're still here, you're still here, and bikes are still awesome. So we're good.  Please keep the questions (bike choice or existential), plus any other queries, comments and funny stories, coming to us at: [email protected] Catch us on the socials at:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga Aye. 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 172, hosted by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons and supported in their noble endeavours by Bennetts, the bike insurance gurus, and bikesocial.co.uk, the world wide web of wokorcycling.  Bit of a special episode of FEC – c'mon, keep it light – as we visit the Motorcycle Industry Association annual conference and speak to the head of the MCIA, Tony Campbell, to find out what the great and the good of the British motorcycle industry are doing to prepare for the UK government's proposal to ban the sale of new petrol-engined bikes in just over a decade from now. It's not all bad news, but some of it might be.  Thanks for listening, and please email your thoughts, reactions, questions and opinions to:  [email protected] Get us on the socials:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E171 and I’m a bit short on time this week so here’s a condensed version of the usual word salad: FEC is a motorcycling podcast created by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, a pair of motorcycle content creators (I wrote a load of other stuff here about crumbling ivory towers but thought the better of it and pressed delete). Meanwhile, FEC is truly, deeply, madly proud to be supported and fertilised by the good people of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and bikesocial.co.uk, the best motorcycling website in the world. Pay them a visit, check out what's going on, and get involved with Bennetts Membership with all its offers and discounts. And there are many.  Bit of a slow news week for this episode, so in the absence of actual news worth repeating we have a deep dive into the FECsack instead, covering so many topics you might as well listen than have me type them out here, if that's ok? Ta.  Please keep your thoughts, queries, musings and mumblings coming in to: [email protected] And thank you for your continued aural appreciation.  @SimonHBikes @Mufga 

Hello and welcome to episode 170 of Front End Chatter, the UK's finest motorcycling podcast with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons (other finest motorcycling podcasts without Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons are available). FEC is, as ever thus far, supported and ported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the greatest motorcycling website on the, er, web.  And on this episode, we natter about:  • birthdays, and why BMW are celebrating theirs like a death in the family • prices for Suzuki's GSX-8S and P-Strom, and why maths isn't their strong point • KTM's spy-shotted RC990, and possible the origins of its motor • last chance for an exclusive place to the FEC tour 2023 (It's Grin (and indeed, Gin) Up North) before we spread the love on the internet • our memories of ex-motorcycle journo John Cantlie • plus loads of next bike recommendations, too late as usual but no-one ever does what we suggest anyway Thank you for your listening ears throughout 2022, and 'ears to a similarly audible 2023.  Please keep your thoughts, ponderings, musings and questions coming to [email protected] @SimonHBikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's best biking podcast even if we – 'we' being Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, a pair of motorcycling ne'er-do-wells who once had an opinion and now just have onions – do say so ourselves, which is just as well because no-one else does.  Front End Chatter is as ever supported like a great surgical truss of benevolence by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and their media empire of bikesocial.co.uk, upon which one can find all the news, reviews, new bike and consumer tests one could wish for. And check out their YouTube channel too.  On this esipode of Fnet Rund Chasser we have, for your aural delectation:  • a bit of goss from that Motorcycle Live they had recently • a thoroughly in-depth chat about Honda's new CB750 Hornet • why World Superbike will be worth watching in 2023 • the return of KTM's 790 Duke and Adventure, only made in China and as we predicted ages ago • details of the FEC Tour 2023 – It's Grin Up North!  • plus a stack of your emails from the FECsack Thank you for listening, and please keep your thoughts, queries and ponderings coming to:  [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Episode 168 in the long-running series of Great Motorcycling Podcasts – yes, we're back after a late summer break in which one of us got married and one of us didn't.  Thanks as ever to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk – supplying quality motorcycle news, reviews, videos, launches and consumer product tests longer than anyone can remember. No, not the consumer tests themselves; how long BikeSocial has been aro... oh never mind.  Right, 168 is easy to describe: • a big chatter about the finale of the MotoGP races of the season, who won, are the Japanese factories on the way out, and why it will be our last for a while • tons of new bike news, including Honda's Transalp & Hornet 750 slugging it out with Suzuki's P-Strom 800DE and impossible-to-pronounce GSX-8S, plus a bit of green news from Kawasaki (geddit?), the most advanced radar system ever on the new Yamaha Tracer 9 GT+, revamped Triumph Street Triples and loads of stuff we forgot to mention.  Thanks again for listening with your ears, and please send thoughts, questions and offers of pretty much anything to: [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello everyone, and welcome to episode 167 of Front End Chatter, Britain's poddiest motorcycling cast, supported as ever by nos amis at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and bikesocial.co.uk, not only the web's most informative and enlightening motorcycling website, but also refreshingly free of the nasty, irritating ads and pop-ups you get on other websites. So let that be a lesson.  And on this FEC we rabbit about: • the new Ducati Multistrada V4S Rally • BMW's uprated S1000RR • Honda's new CB750 Hairnet • ...and which of those is the most important for the future of motorcycling • the action from MotoGP in Thailand, including how Ducati are actually managing to beat themselves • 42 MotoGP races at 21 MotoGP rounds next year, including one in Kazakhstan (why?) and India  • Plus more ruminations from the FECsack  • details of FEC at the NEC – yes, on the Black Horse stand talking with Jamie Whitham on Thursday 24th Nov Thanks for your ears, and please send your thoughts, ideas, disputes and questions to: [email protected] Get us on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s chattiest motorcycling podcast with him, Simon Hargreaves and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and supported as ever by the wonderful folk at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best biking website, er, on the internet. And on E166 we have for your aural delectation: the fallout and the fall-offs from Aragon, son of Arathorn, including Marc ‘Mayhem’ Marquez a farewell to Dovi, the new Dani Pedrosa speculation around the new Honda Hornet 750 parallel twin and Transalp more speculation around Suzuki’s forthcoming parallel twin adventure bike and roadster, including why it could be an 800, not a 700 a whole thing about the future of motorcycling if there’s anyone left, a bit of FECsack including Suzuki power modes, Groms, and how crash recovery isn’t the same thing as breakdown recovery. Thanks for listening, please send thoughts, questions, contributions and other scribbled notes to [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's best biking podcast, and episode 165 featuring him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons. Front End Chatter is, forever and day, sponsored and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and www.bikesocial.co.uk – the best website on the planet to get your fix of news, views and reviews.  Hot news – FEC will be *briefly* be on stage at the NEC at 11am Thursday 24th November at Motorcycle Live! Be there, and come prepared to FECkle!  And also on this week's FEC we have:  • MotoGP's plans for an additional Sprint Race in 2023 • Marc Marquez's Honda ultimatum • the long-term future of Yamaha and Honda in MotoGP • oh, and there was a race in Austria • meanwhile, we take a guess at Ducati's seven new 'products' in 2023 • plus the usual deep dive in the FEC sack - your questions, queries, comments and thoughts - please send them to [email protected] Thanks for listening!  @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Episode 164 of Front End Chatter (or 'FEC' as it's also known around these parts) – a motorcycling podcast, ish, supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and bikesocial.co.uk, the world of biking on the web.  And on this episode of FEC we have:  • a round-up of Silverstone MotoGP, for the benefit of the 26,000 people who went last year but didn't go this time.   • Energica Experia – in a genuine ooo, Mufga test rides the best electric bike, by a mile, so far. • Royal Enfield make the UK's best-selling big bike.  • Triumph's Enfield Meteor rival, built by Baja . All this and more, including ruminations from the FEC sack of listeners' emails.  Thanks for listening, keep the emailed questions coming to:  [email protected] @SimonHBikes @Mufga 

Hello and welcome to Episode 163 of Front End Chatter, Britain's most flavoursome motorcyclistic podcast with Simon Fitz-Gibbons and Martin Hargreaves if you're listening in black & white.  Front End Chatter is supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best place on the web to keep up to speed with all things two wheels (and don't forget the Bennetts' YouTube channel wot has tons of good stuff on it).  And on this week's FEC we have:  • testing jackets for RiDE magazine on the hottest day EVER  • the splendour of a Bennetts' track day at Cadwell on an SV650 • World Supers from Donington • running over cats and dead piglets • does MotoGP visit democratic countries?  • why boots squeak and how to fix it • how much better is a Tracer 9 GT than a Tracer 900 GT? • should we experiment with cornering ABS? All this and much more, or less, depends on your point of view and the orientation of your ears.  Thanks to everyone for listening, please keep your emails coming in to anything@frontendchatter and see you soon! @simonhbikes @mufga    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Episode 162 of the long-running family of motorcycling podcasts featuring wayward sons Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons (combined motorcycle journalism age: 50+, combined mental age: -50), supported like a pair of workshy fops by the patriarchal benevolence of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and bikesocial.co.uk, the place on t'internet to get all your bike info.  And on this week's FEC we have:  • when does riding off-road stop being fun? • Peco Bagnaia done for drink-driving and sticking his car in a ditch • Suzuki cease World Endurance support as well as MotoGP – is it the beginning of the end?  • detail on Ducati's V21L MotoE race bike (which exists and be ridden) and Triumph's TE-1 prototype (which exists but won't) • bolt-ons that make you ride like an idiot All this an much more...  Thanks everyone for listening, please send your thoughts, feelings, emotive pleas and questions to: [email protected] Get us on Twitter and Insta: @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's Podcastiest Motorcycle, brought to you by Simone Hargreaves, Martina Fitz-Gibbons, Ben Nets (the bike insurance specialists) and bikesocial.co.uk (the best biking website on the er, web).  And on this, the 160th episode, we have for your aural delectation, gossip about:  • Marc Marquez – will he or won't he?  • Suzuki – will they or won't they?  • MotoGP – is it better than WSB or not?  • The FEC800 – was it amazing, or was it amazing?  • Simon's injury – is it broken leg or ankle?  • Yamaha's Ténéré 700 World Raid – is it better than a Ténéré 700 or not?  ...and much, much more! Thank you very much for listening, and please follow Simon and Martin on the socials:  @Mufga @SimonHbikes And get your insurance from Bennetts, visit www.bikesocial.co.uk, subscribe to RiDE magazine and buy your kit from www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk

Hello and welcome everyone to Episode 159 of Front End Chatter, Britain's Lengthiest Motorcycling Podcast – supported and extended by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and Bikesocial.co.uk, the best biking website on, er the web. And on FEC159 we have:  • MotoGP gossip from Portimao and Jerez • the FEC800 is nearly upon us! • Suzuki Bennetts BikeSocial Busa Bonanza • the planned trials of 'noise speed cameras' • more on motorcycling training in the US • disappearing testicles and inopportune arousals •... and plenty more where that came from Thanks again for listening and please keep your thoughts, questions and poetry coming to [email protected] And catch us on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Episode 158 of Front End Chatter, Britain's most sideways motorcycle podcast, supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best place on the web for all your biking news, views and reviews.  And on E158 we have:  • the implications of Marc Marquez' remarkable ride at COTA • what is going on with Alvaro Bautista's hair? • The return of the Honda Hornet, but not as we remember it • Kevin Schwantz and Wayne Rainey ride together again at Goodwood Festival of Speed • Mufga's new bike revealed! • why are some modern bikes too cramped to even fit an alarm? • the merits of revamping your existing track bike instead of buying a new one ...plus much more!  Thanks for listening, keep your questions, thoughts and admonishments coming to [email protected] Follow me and him on the socials:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome everyone to Front End Chatter, Britain’s talkiest motorcycle podcast, and episode 157 presented by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves – supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web. And on today’s episode we cover the following ground: MotoGP gossip post Argentina but pre-Circuit of the Americas (well, the North Americas) will head-butting a herring gull write off your helmet? bar muffs – sensible and comfortable, or unforgiveable fashion faux pas? should you take your helmet as hand-luggage or checked-in hold luggage on a flight? does a wide helmet aperture reduce riding stress? suggestions for extending life of a high-compression two-stroke (no, really) best all-season daily textile jacket for under £200 group riding as a confidence-builder and much much more Thank you so much for continuing to grace us with your ears, and please keep your thoughts and questions coming to [email protected] Catch us on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello everyone and welcome to Front End Chatter, a motorcycling podcast of sorts in which Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons conspire, despite something like a combined half century in motorcycle journalism, to demonstrate the absence of having learned anything worthwhile. They are ably supported in their endeavours by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best motorcycling website in the world. If you’re insuring you bike, you’d be well advised to have a look at  Bennetts BikeSocial Membership scheme, which gives you access to a vast array of discounts, competitions, tracks days and events – including the upcoming Busa Bonanza: the chance for Hayabusa owners to come to Elvington near York and take their bike up the runway as often as they like. Details below. Onto FEC Episode 156, among the contents of which you may find: guff from the second MotoGP race from Indonesia, including Marc Marquez – he gets knocked down, he gets up again... but how long can this go on? MotoGP Unlimited: hit or a miss? ex-500GP-and-lots-more old-age-race-ace Jeremy McWilliams wins a race in the US on an American V-twin for the first time since 2010, when he last won a race in the US on an America V-twin Busa Bonanza details, and why going fast in a straight line is a Good Thing KTM 790 Duke makes a comeback after a colossal one year’s absence Honda Hawk, a modern café racer based on the, take a guess, yes, the Africa Twin platform Triumph’s Tiger 1200 ridden, rated, and is it as good as a GS? There isn’t lots more, because that’s it for this week! Lots of FEC-sack emails thoughts, questions and ponderings in FEC158, promise! Thanks for listening and supporting FEC, and please continue to spread the word! Follow Simon and Martin on the socials at: @SimonHBikes @Mufga Busa Bonanza details! Calling all Hayabusa (and B-King) owners, road legal or otherwise… how would you like to attend our event in conjunction with Suzuki GB for as many high-speed runs as you want? What?We’re calling the event, The BikeSocial Busa Bonanza! BikeSocial and Suzuki GB are inviting all Suzuki Hayabusa (and B-King) owners, road legal or otherwise, to a disused two-mile long airfield for a chance to run their bike flat-out. Straightliners, the drag racing events experts, will use their immense experience to operate the event with support from BikeSocial and Suzuki GB. Bikes that have run at over 200mph will also be running, and a team of experts will be on hand to help with launches and body positions. Free professional photos, as well as a commemorative printout of the registered speed at ½ mile and one-mile intervals, and a beautiful sticker(!) will form part of the record of your day. Suzuki GB will bring several of the latest generation Hayabusa models which can be booked for a trial on the day. The 2022 Buildbase Suzuki team who’ll be competing in the Bennetts British Superbike championship will be in attendance along with riders Christian Iddon and Danny Kent, fresh from the season’s opening round at Silverstone. Come on, how many opportunities will you get to feel what 170mph+ is like?! Where? Elvington Airfield, Yorkshire, YO41 4AU. A former RAF base. When? Tuesday, 26th April 2022, 10.30am – 5pm. Gates open from 8:30am. First runs at 10:30 following the safety briefing. No need to pre-register, just turn up. Spectators are welcome too but it'll only be Hayabusa's and B-King's permitted on the runway! How much? After a £5 entry fee per person (rider, pillion or spectator), the opportunity to run-what-you-brung along the runway will be free of charge for BikeSocial Members, but there’ll be a one-off £10 charge for non-members. There is no restriction on the number of runs between 10.30am – 5pm. Small print: Riders will be required to sign an indemnity and have their riding gear checked (one-piece leathers preferred though 2-piece leathers must zip-together all the way around) then they’ll receive a sticker for their bike and a wristband for themselves. Only once a safety briefing is completed can the rider join a queue to be escorted to the beginning of the runway. Only one bike at a time will be permitted on the runway. The noise restriction is 105dB static. For those wishing to book one of the latest Suzuki Hayabusa road bikes to test on the runway, you need to provide your licence and DVLA check code. You will be entitled to two runs. Spectators: £5 (under 16s free but must be accompanied by a fee-paying adult). BikeSocial members must bring their policy or membership number. We look forward to welcoming you to Elvington, and don’t forget to tell all your Hayabusa owning friends! For further information or any questions, please email us on [email protected] or join the discussion at the Busa Bonanza Facebook Events page          

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E155, the Ben Bostrom episode, presented by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons from Chatter Manors, ably supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance experts, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the place for all your motorcycle news, launches, reviews, road tests, product tests and racing. And on this edition of FEC we have: the first round of MotoGP 2022 from Qatar and matters pertaining... as Triumph announces the restarting of bike manufacture in the UK, would you pay more for a bike assembled in the UK instead of elsewhere in the world? should tech development in MotoGP, like carbon discs and shapeshifters, be limited to relevance on road bikes? Honda’s V4 history filtered through the FEC mangle ...and much more – nearly two hours’ worth of chatter and bobbins. Thank you very much for your ears, please keep your emails, thoughts, opinions and musings to anything@frontendchatter, and catch Martin and Simon the socials... @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E154, and – please put your lips together and pipe us a tune – it’s our 8th birthday! That means Simon has been making Front End Chatter for 14% of his life – and 20% of Mufga’s. Front End Chatter is proud, nay, positively tumescent to be sponsored and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and their multimedia wing, BikeSocial.co.uk. We implore, nay we beseech you to get your bike insurance with Bennetts – bike insurance run by motorcyclists, FOR motorcyclists, and putting more back into the industry than any other bike insurer, FACT. From BSB sponsorship to their YouTube channel with bike reviews and features and kit and gear tests, to the BikeSocial website with news, stories and tests – right through to BikeSocial Membership which gives you access to tons and tons of cool stuff such as: discounts at Sportsbikeshop, money off Yoshimura and Akrapovic exhausts, R&G stuff, Evotec stuff, a VIP weekend at the Nick Sanders Expedition Centre, and bargain track days exclusively for Bike Social members.   Anyway, before all that, a bumper episode of FEC including MotoGP testing from the disintegrating Mandalika circuit, rants about MotoGP Unlimited, surprising indifference to the news Wayne Rainey is riding at Goodwood Festival of Greed Speed, the new Yamaha Ténéré Wordle Raid, and a slew of lovely listener emails. Keep ’em coming to [email protected] And catch Simon and Martin on the socials at @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front Endy Prongs number 153 in the long-running cerealised podcast of motorcycle-related things, sponsored forever and a day by Bennetts, the prince among Thebes of bike insurance specialists – and bikesocial.co.uk, the number one place to go for bike-related news, reviews and product and kit tests. And check out Bennetts' YouTube channel, with all the lovely lovely lovely moving images contained therein.  Now, to business. This week Simon and Martin natter about:  • MotoGP testing from Sepang • sending long termers back to importers in a crate • taking the bodywork off test bikes on location • Norton ex-boss Stuart Garner pleads guilty • Triumph's TE-1 electric Speed Triple ready for testing • BMW's 2022 K1600 reviewed • and a tone of other stuff, including a smattering of your lovely lovely lovely emails Thanks for continuing to indulge our witterings, and please continue to send emails with thoughts, queries and questions to  anything@frontend chatter.com Catch us on the socials at:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome everyone to Front End Chatter, Britain’s Best Predominantly Road-Based Biking Podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons supported for the 100th time by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and bikesocial.co.uk for all your motorcycle news, launches, reviews, road tests, product tests and racing. And on episode 152 this week we have: quiz time: who had 152 MotoGP podiums in their career? Marc Marquez is making his comeback, but in his 10th season he’s basically the old timer of the class now 2021 has given BMW and Ducati their best-ever sales results – but where in world do they sell the most? RIP to the man inspired a generation to ride bikes (okay, maybe just me), Mr Meatloaf Plus FECsack specials including: got any good tips for sportsbike touring? what used litre sportsbikes will get me into the fast group? how a Grand Prix could be coming to Lincolnshire Plus loads more – about 2 hours’ worth. Blimey. Thanks for lending us your ears, and please send your questions, queries and thoughts to: [email protected] And catch Simon and Martin on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, possibly Britain’s longest-running motorcycling podcast, don’t sue us, we haven’t done the maths, and welcome to episode 151, supported and enhanced as ever by the presence and patronage of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and bikesocial.co.uk – the place get all your news and views and reviews of new bikes, used bikes, kit tests and everything happening in motorcycling. And on Front End Chatter E151 we have a FECsack special, partly because there’s no news to speak of (apart from Petrucci being a star), and partly special because Simon read the wrong emails. We hope you enjoy!  Thanks again to Bennetts and bikesocial.co.uk, and please keep your thoughts, questions and ideas coming to:  [email protected]

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 150, presented as ever by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialist, and bikesocial.co.uk, your one-stop on the interwebs for everything bike-related – and don’t forget to check out Bennetts’ YouTube channel with a stack of new bike launch videos, consumer advice and how-tos. And on this Christmassy episode we have: Some bad bike jokes FEC at the NEC; our chat on stage with Mr Jamie James Whitham live at Motorcycle Live Triumph's new Tiger 1200 gets more from less BSA's Goldstar gets something from nothing Ducati's Desert X gets it white first time John McGuiness returns to Honda for the NW and TT Plus why Sargent seats are good how having kids changes motorcycling synthetic fuel alternatives to electric as the future ...and loads of chit-chat in between Thanks to all of you for downloading and giving FEC a listen, please continue to spread the word, and please keep your thoughts, queries, questions and musings coming in to  [email protected] ...Ands catch us both on the various socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and is it that time already? This, in all its error-strewn glory, is episode 149 of the biking podcast presented by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves in which they attempt to steer a smooth path between pot-holes on the A87 of modern motorcycling, and avoid denting their rims.  Front End Chatter is, as ever, proud to be supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and Bikesocial.co.uk, the best website in the world for getting all your motorcycling news, reviews, product tests, racing info and first rides of the latest bikes.  And on FEC this week Simon fails to understand much about anything, leaving Martin to soldier on nattering about:  • EICMA No-Show – the big Italian bike show normally flush with new bikes... but minus some big names this year... • new Bimotas, Hondas – including the resurrection of the Hornet, by name at least – Kawasakis, Moto Guzzi and MV Agusta • Toprak Razgatlioglu finishes the WSB season in dominant style by losing the final two races but winning the title Plus samples from the FEC-sack, including: • what would a bi-directional track day be like as a way of teaching on-road rider training? • what bike would we love to ride but never want to own?  • what bike would we love own despite there being more exciting rivals? • what bikes were ahead of their time, failed, but would be a success now? • what are our best, or closest, near misses? • plus lots, lots more Thanks for listening, please keep your mails coming to [email protected] Come and see us at Motorcycle Live at the NEC on Thursday 9th at 11am, catch us on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga And thank you for your ears. 

Hello and welcome to episode 148 of the long-running motorcycling podcast otherwise known as Front End Chatter, presented before your brain by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons and supported like a bridge over troubled water by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and bikesocial.co.uk, the place to get all your bike news, reviews, product tests and racing. And on this week’s episode Simon and Martin blather about: goodbye and farewell to you-know-who, managing to make the very last lap of his career one of his most impressive • what’s his legacy, what was his finest moment, and what was his worst? more MotoGP farewells from Petrucci and Mr Steve Day Marc Marquez’ eye injury – what does it mean long term for Marquez, Honda and Repsol? Jack Miller racing a Panigale V4 R in the Australian Superbike Championship the passing of Paul Smart, Ducati legend and all-round great bloke Plus a bunch of new bike reviews: Ducati’s Multistrada V4 Pike Peak Honda’s NT1100 tourer Ducati’s ‘new’ Multistrada V2 S Aprilia’s Tuareg 660 And finally, news of the FEC800 Tour 2022 – and go see FEC at the NEC on Thursday 9th December on stage with James Whitham, where Simon and Martin will be talking bobbins about the best bikes of 2021 and what we’re looking forward to 2022…

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and episode 147 of the world’s most motorcycling podcast performed by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the number one place on the web to carbon capture all the info fit to eat on anything to do with news, new bikes reviews, gear guides and kit tests, used bike info and all manner of racing stuff.  So on this episode of Front End Chatter we have a trundle on about: a new MotoGP champion, a retiring MotoGP champion and a MotoGP champion returning to form why are there no mean, moody bastards in racing any more, and do we miss them? WSB's knobbled Kawasakis and does it undermine the legitimacy of Yamaha's success?  Ducati's shock entry into the MotoE world cup new bike news including Honda's NT1100, Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GT, Ducati's Multistrada V2 and Triumph's Tiger 600 Sport good lids for oblong heads what are the best and worst adventure bikes to take on a track?  All this and more in E147 of Front End Chatter. Thanks for listening, and please keep your emails, thoughts, queries and questions coming to:  [email protected] And also – if you fancy being part of a crowdfunded road test, check out Twitter:  @SimonHbikes @Mufga And don't forget, only a couple of rooms left on the FEC800 Tour! Email for info!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E146, the UK’s most iambically pentametered motorcycling podcast, poetically performed and produced by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and perennially supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the happeningiest place to go for offers, deals and square meals – if you can buy it for your bike or your riding life, you can get discounts and cool points with Bennetts BikeSocial. Fact. And on this episode of FEC we have: Bagnaia and Bastianini go big in Misano, plus a bit of wow from Aragon the week before A look at the career of Chaz Davies, who’s called WSB a day, so... see you at Darley Moor Suzuki’s new GSX-S1000 GT – is it good value or not, and should we be excited or not? Ducati’s Desert-X – a Multistrada in an off-road frock? Or an entirely new ‘middleweight’ adventure bike (we don’t invent these categories... oh, hang on, we do) Triumph’s new Tiger 1200, with a T-plane crank, and how it’ll fare against BMW’s R1250 GS – featuring the return of the Mufgulator and some educated guesses on the Tiger's actual capacity, bore x stroke, and a prediction on its power output Plus more of your thoughts, musings and questions from the FEC-sack Thanks for listening, and keep an eye out for details of the FEC800, a tour around Scotland's Greatest Hits in May 2022 and to which you are all cordially invited to ride with Simon and Martin, and drink beer in the evening. Full details on the socials:  @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and go away to Front End Chatter, the UK’s most motorcycling podcast featuring aural nonsense from Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. This is episode 145, supported and nourished by Bennetts Bike Social; so much more than just bike – and now car – insurance: check out their website to discover the multifarious munificent benefits of membership. And, if you’re at all interested in Yamaha’s Tracer 9 GT v Triumph’s Tiger 900 GT Pro v BMW’s F900XR v Kawasaki’s Versys 1000 SE GT, check out the road test video at https://youtu.be/C5SJO6trgz8 Anyway, on this week’s moany, miserable-ass FEC we have: on-the-scenes goss from the British MotoGP at Silverstone, including why Mufga loved being there on Saturday and Simon hated it Dorna’s race feed going down just before the race Marquez crashing out *again* and why he’s the crashingiest rider this season Aprilia’s... we can’t call it a resurrection so let’s just call it an erection... WSB gets a mention with some fab racing from Magny Cours – and some scandalous losing more new bikes from Triumph with a teaser for the all-new Tiger 1200 and leaked shots of the new Speed Triple RR ...and the new Moto Guzzi V100 – all-new water-cooled engine, with fins, with fairly *interesting* looks... Plus the FEC sack, including: changing pads to change braking character re-setting the quickshifter on an S1000XR a touching story about becoming emotionally attached to items of bike clothing when is a tubeless tyre not a tubeless tyre? Answers please, because we don’t know... And much, much more – including more info on the first, and perhaps only, FEC Tour coming in May 2022... Thank you for listening, please keep your questions and thoughts coming in to: [email protected] And get us on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 144, Britain’s – nay, the world’s – most irreverent motorcycling podcast, with Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. Thanks as ever to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web, for their unwavering support (especially while the new wing of Chatter Manors is built).   And on this week’s episode we have: what year would Kenny Roberts Snr have retired if he’d had Rossi’s career longevity? excerpts from the Secret Diary Of Maverick Vinales, Age 14 and a half, and does he need sympathy or a stiff talking-to, or possibly both? ...but if you think Vinales’ behaviour is odd, wait until you hear what Miguel Oliveira’s been up to ...and we finally get an explanation as to why Rossi’s not come first for ages plus, the will-they/won’t-they Isle Of Wight road race saga continues ex-Norton boss Stuart Garner is in the dock Triumph’s new half-faired sporty-ish Speed Triple 1200RR... ...and Triumph’s also new Tiger 660, based on the Trident speculation about Yamaha’s sporty MT-09, the R9 can we put E10 fuel in our tanks? Mufga has the answer (for SV650s) plus your FEC sack queries and thoughts...   PLUS! A vague hint about a potentially forthcoming FECing tour of Scotland sometime next year – gauging interest, what do you think? Fancy going for a big ride with Simon and Martin, involving bikes, beer and banter? Let us know at [email protected] Thanks super so much for ears and support, please keep the FEC mails with your thoughts, queries and mad ideas coming in to [email protected]   Get us on the socials: @SimonHbikes @Mufga      

Welcome, friends, to Front End Chatter E143 – the one hundred and forty third time Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, some-time motorcycle journalists past and present, have sat, stood and otherwise presented themselves before a pair of microphones and spoken unto them, sometimes with funny accents.  And special thanks to our sponsors and friends at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk where you can find new bike news, racing, buying guides, used reviews, and gear guides – and don't forget their Youtube channel! And on this episode of Front End Chatter: The GOATI (Greatest Of All Time Ish) announces his retirement: not a moment too soon, or wailing and gnashing of teeth? all the spills and thrills... yes, count them... from the Styrian MotoGP, let’s call it Austria #1 between friends Aprilia’s new Tuareg 660, the third model in the popular parallel twin series, picked apart on paper if you could buy your first bike back now, would you restore it to its original condition or put it back to how you last rode it? What's the best sportsbike to buy now as an investment?  weren't the 1990s great? All this and more on FEC143. Thanks for lending us your ears, please tell your fwends about us, please keep sending us your thoughts, musings and questions to [email protected] and download us from www.bikesocial.co.uk  @SimonHbikes @Mufga    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E142, and right up front please accept sincere apologies for the lousy sound quality – the usual recording room at Chatter Manors has been flooded by an unfortunate incident involving a blockage in the sceptic tank and Ron, the missing handyman, who, it transpires, is in fact the blockage. Thus Simon and Martin have been forced to squeeze into the only room in Chatter Manors that isn't knee-deep in effluent – which is, ironically, the downstairs toilet complete with its unfavourable podcasting acoustics. It might have an echo but at least it's not swimming in raw sewerage. Although some might suggest the two have a lot in common.   None of this is the fault of Britain's best bike insurance specialists, Bennetts, nor indeed BikeSocial, who both are blissfully unaware of the infernal plumbing irregularities plaguing Chatter Manors. Anyway, assuming you can tolerate the infuriating slapback delay, here's what's in store on FEC this week: • Isle Of Wight Races are back on – or are they?  • Triumph's plans to race enduro and motocross  • Cal Crutchlow subs for Morbidelli at Silverstone and Austria x 2 • who's done more for motorcycling: Keanu Reeves or Tom Cruise? • when are you too old to ride an MV Agusta?  • when are brakes too good, and how do you make them worse? • why isn't more love given to Kawasaki's 2004 ZX-10R?  All this and lots more on this week's Front End Chatter, brought to you from the echo chamber. Please keep your thought, ideas, mad plans and questions coming to: [email protected] Get Simon and Martin on the socials @SimonHbikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to E141 of that Front End Chatter they have nowadays, spoken with words by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves and supported, enabled and legitimised by our fwends at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists (and yes, they will insure a Tuono!), and Bike Social, the bike club that gives you access to discounts, track days, events and competitions – as well as running the most up-to-date and informative biking website and YouTube channel, at www.bikesocial.co.uk And on this episode we have:  • how Suzuki's Hayabusa is still the go-to bike for old-school performance • how Suzuki's revamped 2021 GSX-S1000 is much, much better than the previous version • why WSB might be worth watching • how Norton are still getting it wrong • does Harley-Davidson's history of 'breakout' models bode ill for the Pan America? • are UK bikers more conformist these days? • do riders from different countries ride differently? All this and much much more! Thanks for listening, and please keep your thoughts, queries, arguments and ideas coming to [email protected] Get Mufga and Simon on the socials @Mufga @SimonHbikes 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 140 – in which Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves (supported and nurtured by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of biking on the web) natter at length about: the Dutch TT at Assen and very much about the future of one Maverick Vinales – and where *is* his head at? BMW’s new R1300GS and why it might not be what everyone thinks it might be news of Mufga’s SV650 renovation which sporty middleweight twin for the larger gent and costing around £8000 which regular commuter middleweight what’s the best way to park a bike upright that isn’t a paddock stand? when do you tell a mechanically incompetent friend not to touch his bike? ...and much, much more... Thanks for listening, please tell your friends and spread the FEC word, thanks again to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk – and: Send your thoughts, musings, arguments and questions to: [email protected] And get Simon and Mufga here on the socials:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to episode 139 of Front End Chatter, the marvellous motorcycling podcast supported and, indeed, buoyed by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web. And on FEC this week we have: • young Fabio’s habit of getting his boobs out, and the propriety of doing it on the last laps of a MotoGP race plans to livestream the 2022 TT, plus more racing in 2023 where we stand on Ana Carrasco’s balls Simon’s latest headphone revelations Plus! more on where to your feet when you’re riding if you haven’t got a bike, are you still a biker? what would you do and where would you ride if you knew you had limited time left? are electric bikes *really* green or is it just a great big hypocrisy? And much, much more! Thanks for listening, please support Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk with your patronage, email your thoughts, questions and musings to: [email protected] And catch us on Twitter and Insta @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and benvenuto to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most tardy motorcycling podcast with Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. And why not. And, lest we forget, grazie to our wonderfully benevolent benefactors Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, from who you can secure not only, some say, the most competitive insurance premiums in the business, but who also are the only bike insurers who plough so much back into motorcycling – where do you want your cash to go? Into the pockets of fat cat shareholders using retired racers as a PR stunt for an existing bike insurance broker? Or actually back into motorcycling and, full disclosure, into our pockets? Right, on Episode 138 of FEC we natter about: MotoGP from Mugello, in which the racing was overshadowed by the death of Moto3 talent Jason Dupasquier in qualifying. But the racing went ahead anyway: should it? Plus why can't Marc Marquez and Alex Rins stay upright?  we also natter about Yamaha’s R7 (we wuz rite) why southern Italy is a cool place to ride a bike why a 2021 Tracer 9 GT is a good bike to ride it on why a 2021 BMW S1000 XR maybe isn't and Simon's completely unbiased opinion of Bridgestone's new Battlax T32 sport touring tyres (cheque to the usual please Mr Stone) Plus! do we still have to deduct a Covid year of not riding from a helmet's life?  should we give Harley's Pan Am a chance? if adventure bikes are the bikes for all occasions, and we don't like scooters, what doe we think of Honda's X-ADV?  should a first-time A2-licence bike owner go for a project bike or a new/used bike - and what's the best pillion A2 bike?  All this and much more! Is this the longest FEC ever?  Many thanks again to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk, please remember to like and subscribe and leave a review on iTunes, please send your questions, queries and thoughts to [email protected] And please follow/get in touch on Twitter and Insta @Mufga @SimonHBikes        

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 137 in the long-running series of 137 so far, in which Simon H and Mufga, a pair of motorcycling outfluencers, talk about motorbikes and motorcycling – and are supported in their endeavour by the mighty Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the wonderful world of widing on the web. In this episode we have: MotoGP from Portugal, wherein did Marc Marquez return to the fray and managed to score more points in one race than Valentino Rossi has in the first three. And although his body may be weak, it took but a few minutes to discover the Marquez spirit is still strong. a brief summation of a first ride on KTM’s new 1290 Super Adventure S a few impressions from the first big trips on Suzuki’s 2021 Hayabusa and Mufga’s final road test (maybe for a while, maybe not) on Aprilia’s Tuono 660 how hot is too hot to ride a bike? best tourer for a six-footer with a sportsbike background? why a Kawasaki KLX230 might the answer to reliving your biking youth (if you could buy it in the UK) best sporty all-round tyres for a custom-built Suzuki SV650… …should used scrubs from racing be used on the road? …all this and much, of so much, more! Thanking you muchly for listening; please keep your thoughts, observations and questions coming in to: [email protected] And you get us on the socials, here: @SimonHBikes @Mufga Aye! Till the next time, whenever it is.

Hello and welcome to Episode 136 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most chocolatey motorcycling podcast.  Thank you to Bennetts, the suspenders to our stockings, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the internet's repository of all that is wise and current about motorcycling. A And in this episode Simon and Martin rattle on about:  • MotoGP is back! Two races from Qatar, a veritable oasis of human rights, and a few lefts, in the desert – where, true to current MotoGP form, there is literally and metaphorically no form book.  • Suzuki's Hayabusa gets ragged up a runway fo some speed figures, and reveals the result of its engine changes • Triumph unveil the TE-1 – their electric Speed Triple [it's not a triple - Ed] and even cynics are taking an interest [will the first test be written by Sir Alan Cathode? Hahhaahha – Ed] • and a deep dive into the FEC sack, with wide ranging questions such as: • which Scrambler is the best? • are there any bike models in which the bike with the smaller engine is better than its bigger brother? • are illegally ridden electric mountain bikes putting kids off 'proper' motorbikes?  • advice on new bikes and rubbish tyres ...and much, much more.  Thanks again to the patron saints of FEC – Bennetts and BikeSocial – and please keep you thoughts, questions, queries and musings coming to:  [email protected] And get Simon:  @SimonHBikes And Martin: @Mufga Laters!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the world’s most self-deprecating motorcycling podcast in which, for the 135th time, Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons talk two wheels into a microphone. FEC is supported by Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the web’s central repository of all the news, new bike reviews, product tests and touring info worth a read. And on this week’s FEC we have: the season hasn’t even begun yet, but MotoGP testing from Qatar has already produced a long list of winners and losers, and raised more questions than it answered: will Dovi race an Aprilia this season? when will Marc Marquez return? who will be Yamaha’s top rider? will this be Rossi’s last season? Plus we have gossip about: a potential return for the R7 name, but not as we know it when buying a crash helmet, do you get better protection the more you spend? is a KTM SUperDuke GT a better sports tourer than a Kawasaki Z1000SX or a new Yamaha Tracer 9 GT? where should we put our feet, part II what’s Moto Guzzi’s next step? is a 2021 FireBlade really a better road bike than a 2011 model? what’s the best bike for a motorcycling Rip Van Winkle? All this and more! Get it while it’s hot! Thanks for listening and please continue to fire in your emails with thoughts, musings, meanderings and mutterings to: [email protected] And catch Simon and Mufga on the socials: @Mufga @SimonHBikes    

Hello and welcome to Episode 134 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most scatterbrained motorcycling podcast featuring the musical talents of Martin 'Maverick Not Vinales' Fitz-Gibbons and Simon 'Iceberg Lettuce' Hargreaves. Apparently it's the seventh anniversary of Front End Chatter. Happy birthday to us.   We are enabled and besotted with Bennetts, the Bike Insurance specialists – yes, ask them nicely and they'll do their best to help, as proven by Mufga – and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web.  And on this week's episode we chatter about:  • which bikes from the 1990s Performance Bikes archives did *exactly* 134.0mph? • Harley-Davidson's Pan Am adventure bike and what we can glean from the – let's not be coy – frankly amazing spec. Is it too good to be true? And is it ugly or good-looking?  • the return of Buell, which probably isn't actually • Keanu Reeves' virtual sex • Suzuki's Hayabusa, with an explanation by Suzuki as to why it makes less power – and does it matter?  • will the battery-swapping tie-up between Honda, Yamaha, KTM and Piaggio make any difference to the acceptance of electric bikes? • what's the best road to the West Coast of Scotland? • what bike from the last ten years will go to be collectable in the next ten?  All this and much, much more. Thanks for listening and continuing to support the podcast with your magnificent ears, we really do appreciate it. Please keep your thoughts, queries, questions and musings coming to: [email protected] ...and please download from www.bikesocial.co.uk if you can.  Find Simon and Martin on the socials:  @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most pancake-powered biking podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, Britain’s most pancaked motorcycle journalists. And Front End Chatter is, as ever, made from the plain flour and two eggs of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world’s most comprehensive motorcycling website. And on this episode of Front End Chatter we have: how do you like your pancakes? full details of Suzuki’s 2021 Hayabusa, including some thinking behind that headline power deficit over the old bike… Martin’s new bike – what’s he got and why’s he got it? how cool would an adventure bike rally-cross race at the Isle of Man be? how will a proposed naked superbike class effect the prospects of up-and-coming young riders on an international stage? wouldn’t it be cool if Triumph lay on a Speed Triple one-make series to promote the new bike? the pros and cons of the Rekluse auto clutch system fuelling and throttle snatch – why, oh why does it exist? why is fuel injection less efficient than carbs? … all this and much more chattering! Thanks for listening and supporting the pod, and please keep your emails and questions coming to: [email protected] And catch us on the socials: @SimonHBikes @Mufga    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and episode 132 of the long funning ramily drama in which ranty old seadog Simon Hargreaves (played by Oliver Reed, in his final screen role), rattling around alone in the east wing of Chatter Manors, is faced with moral bankruptcy and can only be saved by the intervention of the saintly Martin Fitz-Gibbons (played by Peter O’Toole in his final screen role). Together they form an unlikely alliance with Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists (played by Alan Bennett, in his final screen role) and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of biking on the web (played by Meryl Strepsil, in her final screen role). And there are some motorbikes in all this, in case you’re new round here. And in this episode, Simon and Martin chatter about: a new Suzuki Hayabusa they know nothing about, but which you, by now, do – was we right or was we right? Triumph’s new and rather impressively spec’d Speed Trip KTM’s updated but also impressive 1290 Super Adventure with rude tyres Are BMW really not going to bike shows any more? And in the FEC sack, we have topics as varied as: how to secure your helmet to your bike when going walkabout how to ride over potholes and bumps (at speed) what do electric bikes have to achieve to find widespread acceptance? what makes a bike exceed expectations? what’s the Five Nations Tour? when is a Vyrus not a virus? ...and much, much more... Thank you for downloading and listening, and sending your thoughts, ideas and questions to: [email protected] And thanks to Bennetts and BikeSocial for continued support! Get Simon and Martin on the socials at: @SimonHbikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E131, Britain’s favourite and longest serving motorcycling podcast, possibly either or, who’s counting? What’s for sure is we’re indebted and abetted by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the marvellous motorcycling website. And on FEC this week, Simon and Martin chatter about: Triumph’s new Speed Triple 1200 RS – how big will it be really, is it bored and/or stroked, and will Triumph go after hyper-naked revs and power, or keep the Speed Trip a raunchy but slightly more useful super-naked? when is a spy shot not a spy shot? guesswork around Aprilia’s new RSV4 and Tuono, for whom the passenger has always been a "barely tolerated guest" according to Aprilia – and wouldn’t it be nice if they made a CapoNord V4? We also dive in the FEC sack and ponder delights such as: when is it too cold to get your pegs down and why motorcycling shouldn't be a faith-based activity where should we put our feet when we're riding? how racing isn't necessarily a mandatory next step on from track days what's the adventure bike equivalent of a ZZR1400 for £6-£7k?  and much, much more! A bit. Thank you very much for listening, thanks to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk for putting up with us, and please keep your thoughts, musings, queries and fact correcting coming to: [email protected] Catch us on the Instas and Twitters: @SimonHbikes  @Mufga      

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E130, and the first FEC of 2021; a brand new year, and hopefully things will get better – but some things stay the same and there’s not much chance of FEC improving any time soon. Thanks as always to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, home of all that’s good and virtuous in motorcycling. And on FEC this week, Simon and Martin chatter about: Davide Brivio’s shock exit from Suzuki MotoGP team boss to F1... and who we’d choose to replace him John McPint MBE has won an MBE from the Queenie, but who else has and who hasn’t? when motorcycle manufacturers get market research wrong hello to Aprilia’s new Tuono 660... ...and goodbye; we mourn the passing of true racing and engineering pioneer, Peter Williams We also dive in the FEC sack and answer some timeless wonderings: what was that about preload and ride height again? winter hacks – it’s a love/hate thing magazines are for old riders; YouTube is for young ’uns: discuss are the Isle Of Wight Diamond Races going to happen in 2021? all this and much more! Thank you very much for listening, thanks to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk for putting up with us, and please keep your thoughts, musings, queries and fact correcting coming to: [email protected] Catch us on the Instas and Twitters: @SimonHbikes (but to be honest it’s more paracord hobbies and current affairs than bikes; I like to think it’s context) @Mufga (he’s funnier than me)    

Hello and welcome to a very special mini-episode of Front End Chatter, sponsored by Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk – and it’s the one where Simon and Martin, literally a quartet of spods in underpants, get to have a 10-minute chat with none other than the 2020 MotoGP World Champion, Suzuki’s Joan Mir. It’s short and sweet, a bit like Mr Mir himself.

Hello and welcome a fully festive, technically flawed, partially visual (which makes no sense to listeners in black and white) but otherwise entirely oral episode 129 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s favourite motorcycling podcast helmed by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons and kept afloat by the oceanic Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, all your two-wheeled needs digitally delivered via fibre optics (get well soon John!) And this week on FEC we have: good news for Norton donors good news for scooter and moped manufacturers how the Covid pandemic has affected bike sales and how far and often we ride, and how it’s given us renewed motivation to do the things in 2021 we’ve always put off doing our favourite bikes of the year, and biggest disappointments what we’re looking forward to riding in 2021 plus! Do you want an MV Agusta Turismo Veloce, or would a Tracer GT do the same thing? Or even a Z1000SX? would a Guzzi V85TT suit a novice off-road rider? is the NC500 really worth it? what’s Britain’s most picturesque motorway? is the 1998 Kawasaki ZX-9R C1 the most underrated sports tourer ever? ...and much much more. Thanks again to Bennetts and BikeSocial, thanks to you for listening to us, supporting us and sending in your thoughts, queries, ponderings and questions to: [email protected] ...and we hope you manage to have a great Christmas. See you in the New Year!      

Ladies and gentlemens, pray welcome to Front End Chatter E128. Inside you’ll discover presentation by the ineffable Mr Simon Hargreaves and the inestimable Mr Martin Fitz-Gibbons, plus their delightfully delictatious Mr Ben Nets, the bike insurance specialist, and wwwbikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the webbage. And in this episode of FEC we have: Mufga’s riding impressions of the new Aprilia RS660 (closes eyes, makes brum brum noises) and SiH’s riding impressions of the new Ducati Multistrada V4 (closes eyes, makes brum brum noises), in case anyone hadn’t been watching Bennetts YouTube channel, reading the website or picking up just about every UK bike magazine and newspaper in the last few weeks Marc Marquez going for third time lucky for arm operations, while FEC will henceforth be acting as medical advisor for DORNA on the grounds we have a better handle on what constitutes fitness to ride than they do why we shouldn’t dismiss Long Way Up with such offhand flippancy why do we measure bike tank size in litres and fuel consumption in mpg? how to – but really, why – pull a wheelie what should a rider do with their helmet when dismounting and walking about? what’s the best electric bike out there, and why? why oe tyres might not be perfectly not great, but it’s not the tyre manufacturer’s fault, it’s the bike manufacturer we should blame Thanks to Bennetts and BikeSocial for their indulgence and please download FEC from www.bikesocial.co.uk if you can. Thank YOU massively for indulging our nonsense, and please continue to populate the FEC sack with your thoughts, ideas, questions and nonsense of your own – write to [email protected] You can catch us on the socials here: @SimonHbikes @Mufga One more before Xmas! Yay! A Yuletide FEC.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 127, the slightly behind the curve episode, with Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves waffling along as usual – supported and enhanced by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the home of all things two-wheeled and powered by an engine, internally combustible or electric or, indeed, propelled by little more than an inappropriate fragrant emission.   And on the show this week we have:   a new MotoGP World Champeen, and a slightly subdued Portimao ending to the craziest, least predictable and – let’s be honest – luckiest MotoGP season in modern history • the best Joan Mir stat you will ever hear new bikes for 2021, including: – BMW’s S1000R, the bike with the wrong half of the fairing removed  – Ducati’s Multistrada V4 which Simon hadn’t ridden, much, when the podcast came out, but which it subsequently turns out he had. It’s very confusing – Ducati’s underrated SuperSport, now called a 950 – ...and the Panigale V4 SP, whatever that is – Triumph 850 Sport, and how it replaces the world’s shortest-lived model, the Triumph Tiger 900 – Yamaha MT-09 Tracer and GT – Yamaha’s track-only R6, and the death of the supersports 600 PLUS! A brief dip into the FECsack and topics such as do track days matter when you’re over 50, is a Z900 RS Café better than a Z H2, tyre scrubbers, how come more people don’t commute on bikes, and much – a bit – more... Many thanks to Bennetts and Bike Social for their continued patronage, and many thanks to you, dear listener, for lending us your ears... and please keep sending your thoughts, musings and life stories to us here: [email protected] You can get us on the Socials: @SimonHbikes @Mufga Cheers ma dears.    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most paracorded motorcycling podcast Fronted by Simon Hargreaves, Ended by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Chattered by www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in E126 we have: • Yamaha's overhauled, uprated and enlarged (but not in the way you might have read) MT-09 • Martin's unnatural desire to buy a Piaggio MP3, as winter-hack path to an almost equally irrational Aprilia RS660 • the usual ramblings on MotoGP including where in the world is Marc Marquez, has he been moonlighting as his own brother, and what does this all mean for the 2020 title?  • plus emails on topics as wide-ranging as more small acts of human kindness, the IOW Diamond Races (or not), ugly features on otherwise not ugly bikes, the difference between buying the first bike you look at and the bike you look at first, why under- (or over-) inflating a tyre for an extended stint on a motorway might not be a good idea, and the real reason you want to adjust your suspension. Thanks for letting us into your ears, hope the new lockdown and winter aren't too savage for you, and please email us your further thoughts, comments and/or questions to: [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome for Front End Chatter, Britain’s best biking podcast, and Episode 125 of the aforementioned, presented by him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves. And we are, as ever, enabled and legitimised by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the wonderful world of woking on the web. And in this fun-sized Mars Bar of an episode we chatter about: how IAM observers are like twitchers what’s the best 125 ever, why isn’t it the Varadero, and are modern 125s better than classic 125s? how to topple off an Africa Twin and an F800GS in style how far can you go on a Zero SRF, and still get back in a day? wet MotoGP from Le Mans including an uncannily prescient Martin suggesting Covid could play a part in sideling riders THE DAY BEFORE a viral Rossi misses a couple of rounds loads of chat about Ducati’s new V4 Granturismo motor powering the new Multistrada – how it’s bigger, but smaller, lasts longer, makes more power but less torque, and where has the whole Desmo business gone? And why? a natter about details of Aprilia’s RS660, as Martin from the past pays a visit to remind us his half of FEC worked all that stuff out a year ago. Apart from the price. all before we dive into the FEC sack with its usual barrage of good points, corrections and fab stories. Please email us all your thoughts and questions to: [email protected] Thank you very much for listening, please spread the word, leave us a review on iTunes, and if it’s not too late and you’re in the US – VOTE! @SimonHbikes @Mufga  

Hurrah for wet roads, diminishing daylight and dropping temperatures. We’re so excited about the onset of winter. Excited, excited, excited. Apparently, a study of the moods of the Nordic peoples shows a successful strategy for coping with long periods of little sunshine – and Seasonal Affective Disorder – may be to simply develop a positive attitude toward it. Literally, repeating “I am excited about ” has been shown to reduce anxiety. So we’re excited, excited and excited to invite you into Fronty End Prongs, episode 124, brought to you by Bennetts, the people who offer amazing discount deals and offers with bike insurance thrown in, and the world of motorcycling at www.bikesocial.co.uk. Please remember to wipe your feet on the way in and your bum on the way out. And this week Simon and Mufga natter about: autumn – why? why Dumfries and Galloway is a good place to ride a bike why we don’t review bikes any more BMW’s new M1000RR and why it’s failing to light Mufga’s fire future Mufga pays us a visit down the time tunnel Triumph’s Trident – what it is and how much it should cost high speed MotoGP review where, or not, to get up-to-date info on MotoGP engine use advice for your second track day is the current lack of spectators at race events sustainable, and if the racing has to change, how will it change? is buying a bike while under the influence a good idea? ...and much, much more. Thanks for listening, and let’s do this again in a fortnight. Please send thoughts, questions and musings to: [email protected] Keep up with Simon and Mufga on the socials: @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s nicest motorcycling podcast, with Simon H & Mufga, punctuated and perforated by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and BikeSocial.co.uk, home of news, views, road tests and Jammie Dodgers. And on this month’s – hang on, it’s been a month? – we chatter about: the closest, craziest MotoGP season since records began with exploding brakes, exploding forearms, exploding engines, first-time winning teams, bikes and riders, unlikely crashes and testing pit-to-bike radios why World Superbike is worth watching this year the merits or otherwise of Ewan and Charley’s Long Way Up, on Harley Livewires does Regina’s new M-Endurance chain signal the end of lubing and adjusting? is the FIM’s criteria for five push-ups really sufficient to determine a human’s fitness to ride a MotoGP bike? do bike journos adjust test bike suspension to suit their preference? do men really ask their partners for ‘permission’ to buy a new bike? the wisdom of repairing a puncture with a proper kit v a self-tapping screw how to start racing and which is the best bike or series to choose? which is the best hypersportsbike for a bit of pillion action? has the rise of social media bike content and the decline of print media brought younger riders into motorcycling? Plus much more (well, a bit). Thank you for listening and supporting Front End Chatter; please email your questions, thoughts and queries to: [email protected] And catch FEC on the socials at @SimonHbikes @Mufga    

Hello und velcome, friends, to Front End Chatter Episode 122 in which Simone and Marion chatter endlessly, augmented into three dimensions under the auspices of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and BikeSocial.co.uk, the finest accumulation of news, sport, views, product tests and road tests ever to grace the ether. And this week – well, what do you reckon? Let’s talk about the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix Von Österreich. Topics include: who’s to blame for that crash? is the circuit safe? why did Ducati apparently provoke Dovi into sacking himself? if riders could be somehow 100% protected from all harm and injury in crashes, would we still find racing such a compelling spectacle? is ‘safer’ inherently a) less exciting than dangerous, and b) is it inversely proportional to speed? Plus is Honda BSB rider Andy Irwin a liability ? what’s not the correct method for transporting a guitar on a bike? more ‘heaviest things you’ve carried on a bike’, and why it might include 14 bottles of Jerez brandy, 24 bottles of Kronenburg and 45 multipacks of Orbit chewing gum don’t buy the first bike you see, unless it’s not the first bike you’ve seen more rear brake cornering advice is it worth chopping in a 2005 R1200 GS for the new R1250 GS? is a Sur Ron Light Bee (a sort of electric mountain bike) the future of biking? which bike has the best-sounding standard exhaust note? which is better: Triumph’s old Tiger 800, new Tiger 900, old Tiger 1200 or even older Tiger 1050? And what will Triumph’s almost certain new Tiger 1200 have a grumbly T-plane crank, and will it come with a 30-litre tank Adventure option? And muchly much more gossip and slander. Don’t sue us. We’re skint anyway. Thanks again to Bennetts and BikeSocial – but especially to you, for listening and putting up with us – and please keep your emails of thoughts, observations, jokes and questions coming to: [email protected] And get us on the socials at: @SimonHbikes @Mufga Ta-raa.  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E121, Britain’s most aromatic motorcycling podcast, presented by the fragrant Simon Hargreaves and the perfumed Martin Fitz-Gibbons – and supported as ever by the mellifluous niff emanating from the guys and gals of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and the aromatic scent wafting from www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the interweb. And on this edition of FEC we natter about: details of the proposed Isle of Wight Diamond Races – Britain’s first new road race in modern times – and ask how likely it is to happen, who's paying for it, and what do the islanders have to say – plus, a detailed look at the layout and quality of the circuit itself action from MotoGP from Jerez #2, including the wisdom of racing with broken bones action from WSB at, er, Jerez again more electrical issues and who can solve them is there such a thing as a good, cheap, sporty V-twin? does comfort matter on a naked bike?  have sportsbikes got too radical and would a Superleggera outsell a GS if it was the same price? what does 'best bike of 2020' actually mean? ...and loads more! Please send your emails of thoughts, musings, questions and offers of free Fazer 1000s to [email protected] Thank you very much for continuing to grace our chattering with your ears, please continue to support Bennetts with your dollars, BikeSocial with your eyes and MCN and RiDE and Practical Sportsbikes with your dollars and your eyes. You can get us on the socials: @SimonHbikes @Mufga        

Hello and welcome to FEC120, the 120th episode of not the UK’s most popular automotive podcast but one of them. As ever, we are indebted to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – and check out www.bikesocial.co.uk for the kind of comprehensive investigative consumer journalism you can’t find anywhere else. However, if it isn’t comprehensive investigative consumer journalism you want but a pair of gas-bags waffling instead, here’s what’s in store for you in episode 120: does a necktube count as a face mask? a scatter-gun and largely incoherent round-up of MotoGP from Jerez #1 – including: - should riders be allowed to race with broken bones, and is the ‘medical’ tough enough? - will the championship result be any less significant if the favourite is injured? - should Repsol team manager Alberto Puig be allowed to troll other riders? Plus! goodbye to the Honda Ron Haslam Race School does just the thought of selling a bike mean eventually selling becomes inevitable? which is the best Multistrada: original 1200S, Skyhook version, Pikes Peak, Enduro or 950? if a bike is SORN, is it worth MOTing it? should you try your first track day without tuition? what’s the future of bike magazines? what happens to press demo bikes? do phone cameras fail when they’re used on bikes as sat navs? is it safe to plug a tyre puncture with a plug kit? ...plus loads more... Thanks for listening, please get your insurance from Bennetts – it helps the world keep turning – and take advantage of the Rewards scheme! Get your bking info from www,bikesocial.co.uk, plus RiDE, MCN and Practical Sportsbikes magazine! Keep your questions, thoughts, musings and jokes coming to: [email protected] And get us the Twitters and Instas: @SimonHbikes @Mufga x  

    Hello and welcome to possibly the final lock-down episode of Front End Chatter, the motorcycling podcast that reaches the parts upon which other podcasts fear to tread. Thanks as always and eternally to that repository of all that is knowledgeable and wise, BikeSocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in episode 119, Martin and Simon chatter about: revving up for the return of MotoGP at Jerez with more speculation about who goes where in 2021, and guessing who’s going to win the great biennial KTM giveaway is Arai’s Pro Shade: inelegant solution or just naff? is taking weight off your bike’s flywheel a good idea, and can it improve handling? track days are back in action, but how safe are they post-lockdown? after six years and 119 episodes, what are our FEC highlights? how would riders who ride in POLITE vests react if they were asked to do actual police work? what’s the biggest thing you’ve carried on the back of your bike? what’s the best post-Direct Access bike for a new rider, for around £4000, apart from Honda’s CBR650F? what to look for when buying your first bike, and how to try not to buy one with a shagged gearbox without getting a test ride the pros and cons of commuting on so-called ‘exotic’ bikes, and is Husqvarna’s Nuda 900 the ideal exotic commuter? how high can you drop a helmet from before it’s knackered? Thanks for listening, downloading and being all-round good eggs. Please visit www.bikesocial.co.uk,get your insurance from Bennetts, and subscribe online through the Bikes Unlimited app to MCN, RiDE, Bike, Practical Performance Sportsbikes and Billet, the magazine about temporary civilian lodgings for soldiers. @SimonHbikes @Mufga    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the occasionally number one motorcycling podcast in Iceland and, now, Singapore. This is episode 118 in a series we can confidently state contains at least 118 episodes recorded from the orals of Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, a pair of motorcycle journalists who’ve both forgotten more than they ever knew anyway. Eternal thanks to that font (sans serif) www.bikesocial.co.uk – all your two-wheeled infotainment emanating from one convenient portal (and YouTube) – and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts who not only insure your motorcycle but also add all kinds of benefits and bonuses; discounts, offers and competitions. Quite the array of offers should you so be inclined, as indeed you should. Anyway, to matters in hand: in this episode of FEC we have: • more speculation on the MotoGP merry-go-round of who’s signed for who and who’s not signed for anyone and who might be getting the Herr Flick • disgraced Norton ex-boss Stuart Onions is required to pay back £14m of other people's money he no longer has • Yamaha release details of the Ténéré 700 Rally, which may or may not be the best-looking bike of 2020 • Ducati launch the Superleggera in an exclusive ride at Mugello, and it's really fast and really expensive and sounds nice, aye Plus! • our favourite rides of all time • the perils of using a phone as a sat nav • keep the GSX-R750 or get an SV650X or a Tiger?  • why tracing fuelling faults is the worst job in the world • why aren't photo-reactive visors more common?  • the problem with carbon fibre wheels ...and much more including Simon's sandwich recipe and Martin's biking spirit guide revealed.  Thanks for watching with your ears, and you'll hear from us again soon! @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Halló og velkomin to Front End Chatter E117, briefly the most popular automotive podcast in the whole of Iceland (a country renowned for its exquisite and most excellent taste) and also, briefly, the second-most popular automotive podcast in the UK (er, yes, them too). Great bundles of thanks to the hominids at Bennetts BikeSocial – improve everyone’s lives and get your bike insurance from Bennetts and your biking infotainment from www.bikesocial.co.uk (and their YouTube channel). Right, on this week's episode we have chatter about:  • The return of racing, with condensed schedules proposed for MotoGP and BSB – and which riders will benefit? • Rider line-ups for 2021 taking shape, with him there and him going there, does that mean he won't go there?  • no Motorcycle Live in 2020 – so what new bikes will we see in 2021, and where can we see them? • why do manufacturers make bikes with small fuel tanks?  • the four-wheel Honda powered by an Africa Twin engine • how to fit earplugs properly, and are foam plugs better than custom-made plugs? • with touchscreens and electronics, are bikes getting too complicated for their own good?  • will voice-activation be a thing for bikes in the future?  • ...and much, much more, no, really.  Thanks again for supporting us, please leave a review on iTunes, visit bikesocial.co.uk and get your insurance from Bennetts, follow us on Twitters at @SimonHBikes and @Mufga and email your thoughts, musings, questions and insults to: [email protected]

Hello you lucky people you, and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 116 with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons,  brought to you via Durham with a detour to Castle Barnard.  Front End Chatter is supported through thick and thicker by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, internet's home of motorcycling.  And in this episode, a still socially distant Martin and Simon rabbit on about: • the return of MotoGP, and whose Alpinestars Jack Miller will be filling at Ducati in 2021... and if they turn out to be Petrucci's, will the Italian then go and do the Dakar instead? • getting back on a bike after post lockdown, and is 'riding rust' actually a thing or is it just riders getting overexcited after a period of inactivity?  • what bikes do we think are the best of all time in a FEC's Factor? • should we celebrate 125 episodes of FEC by doing 125 laps of a flat-track oval, or a roundabout? • will Kawasaki's supercharging technology eventually trickle down to smaller bikes in their range, or will it always be flagship technology?  • is an R1250GS *really* the ultimate aspirational bike, or is it over-hyped? • will wearing an air-bag suit one day be as normal as putting on a helmet? • is it ever okay to cheer a rider crashing on a race track?  ... and much more natter and chatter.  Thank you for your continued appreciation, and please keep your emails with questions, answers, thoughts and ideas to: [email protected] Catch us on the Twitters: @SimonHBikes @Mufga ...and see you next time!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most teeth-sucking motorcycling podcast... but no! That was the previous episode! For FEC115, Simon and Martin have installed a 5G mast at Chatter Manors to deliver you, dear FECers, broadcast quality audio at what I think you’ll agree is the minor cost of second-degree skin burns among the local peasant population. Thanks as ever to our comrades at bikesocial.co.uk – the worldwide web of motorcycling (check out their YouTube channel, it’s awesome despite Simon’s launch videos) and of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this week’s worldwide web of waffle we discuss: when is lockdown not a lockdown, and why it’s important to make our first ride back special how MotoGP and WSB plan to keep calm and carry on – and if a race falls down in a season and there’s no-one there to see it, does it actually happen? Plus! taking an MT-07 off road, and is it better to have a single all-rounder, or two specialist bikes but each at half the value? Fazer 1000 or FZ1 Fazer? And what are the best mods? is there any way to keep cool on roasting hot days, and which bikes should be avoided? And do bikes run hotter today then they used to? what’s our favourite engine configuration and is it the sole reason for falling in love with a bike? drop visors – yes or no? what modern gadgets are hardest to live without? ...and much more nattering and chattering, as usual. Thanks for listening, hope it’s still helping in this crazy time and hope we all can ease back into riding without causing ourselves or other people any problems. Please keep your emails (and sound files!) coming to us at [email protected] with thoughts, advice, queries, questions and observations. Catch us both on the socials at: @SimonHbikes @Mufga And please visit bikesocial.co.uk for all your biking infotainment (and their YouTube channel!), get your insurance from Bennetts, and get your kicks on the A66 – but easy does it. Peace and biscuits.  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s – nay, the world’s – most socially isolated motorcycle podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons... and welcome to Episode 114 – the third in a series in which Martin literally phones it in. Thanks as ever to our brothers and sisters at bikesocial.co.uk – the worldwide web of motorcycling (check out their YouTube channel!) and of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this meandering soufflé of waffle we touch lightly on subjects as varied as: what constitutes an ‘essential’ journey, and is a bike an appropriate vehicle? Norton has been bought by TVS of India for £16... sorry, £16 million... so will any of that go to refund deposits, reimburse pensions and repay creditors? And what does it mean for future Norton motorcycles? the MotoGP 2020 season guessing game continues with news of cancellations and possible fan-free races financed by an energy drink plus! What have the MotoGP stars been getting up to in lockdown, and why they should maybe keep it to themselves Plus! why owning a Firestorm isn’t as fun as dreaming of owning one should manufacturers be forced to reveal where a bike is assembled on the VIN plate? how much influence does the bike press have, and if they covered smaller brands, would it sell more bikes? do bikes have a soul? is downsizing an admission of defeat? more rear brake advice, this time from a MotoGP rider and WSB champ the most embarrassing things we’ve ever done on a bike can you go further riding on your own? ...and much more nattering and chattering. Thanks for listening, hope it’s helping in this really crazy time. Please keep your emails (and sound files!) coming in with thoughts, advice, queries, questions and observations. Catch us both on the socials at: @SimonHbikes @Mufga And please visit bikesocial.co.uk for all your biking infotainment (and their YouTube channel!), get your insurance from Bennetts, and get your kicks on the A66 – just not right now. Even for decking screws. Peace and health.

Hello and welcome to E113 and the second lock-down episode of Front End Chatter, the biking podcast that’s been around for over 160 hours of guffage – none of yer opportunist ‘Johnny-come-lately’ podcasts, jumping on the Corona bandwagon because someone’s bored, here. Oh no, Front End Chatter has been boring people for a lot longer than that. Thanks as always to our amazing benefactors and supporters at the world’s most comprehensive motorcycling website, bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts. On this week’s episode we discuss: coping with life not riding motorbikes will there be any racing at all in 2020? does virtual racing offer any kind of substitute for the real thing? actual Andrea Iannone drugs ban news the joys of watching 1980s racing on YouTube Plus the mighty FEC sack gets a battering, with topics such as: the pleasures of working your way up the biking ladder, then starting again from scratch... ... and is it therefore worth ‘saving’ getting your ultimate bike candidity (© Mufga) in the bike press is an airbag jacket really worth it, and can they save lives? Or better off spending the money on rider training? if bike theft trackers are fitted as standard by dealers, will that mean thieves will just get wise and work out how to disable them? the merits of Honda’s VFR800 v Honda’s 954 FireBlade, and why Honda’s current VFR isn’t as good as its predecessors what’s a good modern sports tourer? ... and much much more... Thanks for listening and we hope lockdown life is made slightly less intolerable by our ramblings. Please continue to populate the FEC sack with your musings, questions, stories and your Corona coping strategies. Email us at: [email protected] And catch us on the socials: @SimonHbikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to very special, hopefully one-off, episode of Front End Chatter in which, as a result of current events, has been assembled from snippets of previous FECs and turned into a completely new podcast!  No, truth is in keeping with government advice, FEC has self-isolated itself with Mufga calling in via Skype from the East Wing of Chatter Manors – yes, he's literally phoning it in.  But even with the seriousness in the world, motorcycling carries on – well, not racing, but we can even talk about not racing.  And apart from the obvious, we take a deep dive through the FEC sack and discuss your many and varied thoughts, questions, points of order and musings.  Please keep them coming; the world might be changing but you can rely on FEC to keep chugging along. Email: [email protected] Thanks as ever to our long-time sponsors and friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.  Catch us on the socials @Mufga and @SimonHBikes 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E111, the Aaron Slight Episode of Britain's flavoured biking podcast, sponsored and supported as always by nos amis at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance peeps.  And aptly enough we have a WSB feel to the front end of Front End Chatter, as the racing season kicks off with a triplet of cracking races from Phillip's Island in Australialia. Sadly, that's about as far as racing is likely to go for a good few months yet, as global events demonstrate racing is not, in fact, life.  Luckily we still have a few new bikes to chunter about, as well as a bulging FEC-sac with topics as diverse as... the best bike to replace a 1400GTR, is riding morally wrong, leathers buying advice and the correct underwear, and riding in France on a bike that smells.  Hope you enjoy the show, please email your thoughts, musings, questions and ideas to  [email protected] And get Simon or Martin on the Twit/Insta socials:  @SimonHBikes  @Mufga  Thanks again, and buy your insurance from Bennetts – and check out their Bennetts Rewards offers!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s best and most motorcycling podcast, supported through slim and thin by the veritable font (or indeed fount; both are legitimate) of tests and news and reviews, bikesocial.co.uk. And of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – check out their customer rewards and make the most of being insured! Right. Nothing going on here. Nothing to see, move along. No, of course we have ill-informed gossip about: Norton – the story you’ve probably already heard, where you can read a bit more, and – while it’s a mere spec of insignificance compared to the very real issue and pain of people losing their life savings – we discuss the role of the motorcycle media in the sorry saga Triumph’s new Tiger 900 – what’s the crank like? Kawasaki’s new Z1000S... sorry! Ninja 1000SX – what’s the steering like? Suzuki’s V-Strom 1050 XT – what’s the paint job like?* *It’s gorgeous! MotoGP is nearly back, with the closest testing times from Sepang in the history of ever meaning it’s even more pointless to try and derive any relevance from it – and why the top-placed factory rider has a V-Strom 1000... news on Iannone’s hair and sausage drug defence and of course the mighty FEC-sack, including: how to wave at other riders VFR800Fi or late 90s Blade? do mods make a used bike more or less valuable? how to overcome a fear of leaning a bike through corners ...and much more. Thanks again for lending us your ears – we really appreciate it – and thanks for all your emails which are truly thought provoking, funny, interesting and just plain daft. Please keep them coming – addressed to: [email protected] Thanks to our friends and benefactors at Bennetts and bikesocial.co.uk – the place for your all biking information, and bike and travel insurance. Get us both on the socials @Mufga @SimonHbikes and simonhbikes (Instagram)  

Hello and welcome to E109 of Front End Chatter, a biking podcast without barriers or boundaries – we know not the meaning of constraints other than the fairly obvious extent of our knowledge and articulacy, the limits of both of which will become obvious as soon as you press ‘Play’. However. Enormous and sincere thanks to our patrons at bikesocial.co.uk, which is where you should go for new bike news, reviews, consumer info and racing gubbins – and Bennetts, the bike insurance bods who are often the cheapest and even when they’re not, at least put something back into biking. Like this podcast. It’s not all about you, you know. Aaaaand on this edition of FEC we have: no news to speak of because the last FEC was plenty newsy enough thanks a patchy film review of 1917 – Kermode & Mayo we are not what we’ve both been up to, including riding around the Peaks on a 2020 Africa Twin, and a visit to Triumph’s splendid museum at Hinckley... a look at the state of UK biking in 2019: what’s selling and what isn’t gossip about Ducati’s V4 Superleggera a rant about the irrelevance of quoting dry weight figures instead of wet weight figures... in fact, taking any manufacturers’ quoted figures as gospel and repeating them, parrot-fashion, without question. And does it even matter? FEC sack emails on a wonderful variety of topics such as: protective clothing standards and the merits of textiles v leather the return of two-stroke to MotoGP snowflakes how to deal with mansplaining motorcycling dead ends and missed opportunities long legs and webbed toes ...and much, much more. Thanks for listening, apologies for rambling on so much (never mind editing your letters, we should try editing the replies), and please keep your mails and thoughts and queries coming to: [email protected] Big up ’spec again to bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts... And get us both on the Twitters (again) @Mufga @SimonHbikes Aye.    

Hello, welcome and feel free, literally, to feast your aurals on Front End Chatter, A Most Biking Podcast, with this being Episode 108 delivered in a stream of barely comprehensible noughts and ones directly into your earballs courtesy of the UK's most celebratory biking website, www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the number one and ONLY place to get your bike insurance because they actually put something back into biking, including this podcast, unlike certain other so-called 'motorcycle' insurance companies who are all just take, take, take. Yeah. You know it, brother.. 🤘 Simon and Martin's scrambled thinking this week includes:  • the fall-out from Andrea Weeannone's B sample*  *warning, may contain drug references and mild ridicule • the fall-out from Guy Martin's court case – oh, hang on, there is none... • the fall-out from a certain Donington Castle-based motorcycle manufacturer facing a winding-up order if their tax bill isn't paid pronto... • more of your emails, thoughts, comment, queries and questions drawn from all four corners of the globe and placed in the mighty FEC sack... ...hang on, a globe hasn't got corners. Enjoy the show, and please email us on [email protected]  Or harass Martin on Twitter: @Mufga But not Simon because he's a snowflake Laters, taters.

  Hello and welcome to E107 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s most biodegradable biking podcast, oralised by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and supported and recycled by the green bins at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.   And in this fab, decidedly retrospective episode we have:   under-achieving factory Aprilia rider Andrea Iannone is in trouble with the FIM after a urine sample is found to contain performance-enhancing drugs. Mr Iannone is understood to be seeking a refund from his dealer under the Consumer Rights Act as the year crawls to its conclusion like a slug looking for the exit sign, FEC goes back 12 months to watch ourselves gazing into our crystal balls and compares what we thought we’d be saying then to, er, now... ...and as the decade grinds to a crushing defeat we also look back at the trends and changes we’ve seen in motorcycling over the last ten years, the look forward to what’s to come in the next ten... plus more of your FEC-sack emails, including subjects as varied as helmets turning to cork, possibly thanks to corrosive perspiration, and/or adding a Best Before date to the lining, sat navs v smart phones part deux, semi-active Fireblade Öhlins v upgrading suspension, why some endurance race bikes have yellow headlights and much much more....   Thanks for listening, you’ve still been wonderful. Props to my man at bikesocial.co.uk – a tumescent repository of motorcycling wisdom – and Bennetts, whose insurance superstardom continues to include 10% off at Halfords on top of goodness knows what else.   Please email your thoughts, queries, questions, musings and mitherings to:   [email protected]   Fank youse.            

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E106, Britain’s fave biking podcast, supported and enabled by the good people at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this fab, decidedly non-Xmassy, episode we have: relatively informed but mostly speculative chatter about Triumph’s new Tiger 900, including probably far too much thinking about its innovative T-bone crank – explained in an aural medium with the help of a drum machine Guy Martin off that telly they have now recreates a half century-old movie stunt by jumping a Triumph over a fence in Austria. Or Bavaria. They all look the same with your eyes shut. Which he probably did when he landed the pros and cons of riding a pair of premium litre sportsbikes on the road in December more of your FEC-sack emails, including subjects as varied as magazines making up letters, does size matter when it comes to riding style, and being gear-shamed in public Thanks for listening, you’ve been wonderful. Big up my man at Bikesocial.co.uk – an outstanding repository of motorcycling wisdom – and Bennetts, whose insurance wizardry includes 10% off at Halfords. Please email your thoughts, queries, questions, musings and mitherings to: [email protected] Fank youse.  

Hello hello hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s rambliest biking podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons and me, Simon Hargreaves – enabled, legitimised and somewhat vindicated by Bikesocial.co.uk – the world’s largest repository, depository and not the one beginning with ‘s’-itory of all modern new and used motorcycle info – and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And on E105 we have: Motorcycle Live round-up – what we thought of Honda’s Blade, Kawasaki’s Z H2, Ducati’s Streetfighter, Triumph’s Rocket and Suzuki’s V-Big Strom, and what we didn’t think of Aprilia’s RS660, Husqvarna’s Denis and BMW’s R1800 concept because they weren’t there... goodbye to Jorge Lorenzo, a ‘complicated’ champion goodbye to Karel Abraham, with a ‘complicated’ exit hello to Alex, brother of Marc. Can’t see that ending well Plus a super-massive FEC-sack including... what is it with Ducati and cam belts? is Aprilia’s CapoNord an alternative to Ducati’s Multistrada 1200? leathers v textiles for commuting, and the best options for wearing over office clothes is your bike a shrinker or a grower? what happened to normal-sized tail units? ...and much, much, too much more. Thank you for listening, and thank you for joining in with the conversation by emailing your thoughts, questions, considerations and jokes to: [email protected] Please visit bikesocial.co.uk for your two-wheeled info, check out Bennetts’ YouTube channel for some cool bike vids (still Africa Twin, ahem), and get your bike and travel insurance from the mighty Bennetts themselves. And don’t forget to check out their offers! @SimonHBikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 104, eventually, brought to you by via the web’s best motorcycling website, bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, via the mouths of Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons. But before we kick off – come and chat to Martin and Simon for real at Motorcycle Live at the NEC on the Bennetts stand (Hall 4 Stand 4B 25) on Thursday 21st November between 11am to 12pm, then again 2pm to 3pm. So it’s a really simple FEC this week: bit of racing, then a metric tonne of new bike news, conjecture, comment and opinion – including: Aprilia’s RS660, Tuono and Tuareg BMW’s F900XR Ducati’s Streetfighter V4 Harley’s Pan Am Honda’s Blade and Africa Twin Husqvarna’s Denis concept Kawasaki’s Z H2 and Z1000SX KTM’s 390 Adventure, 890 Duke R and 890 Adventure. Um... Suzuki’s lovely, lovely, lovely DR Big 1050 Triumph’s... er... hello? Hello? Yamaha’s Tracy 7   We ramble on for so long we run out of time for the FEC sack so apologies if it’s not a vintage episode, but at least it makes FEC150 a bit of a no-brainer. Thank you for listening, and thank you for joining in with the conversation by emailing your thoughts, questions, considerations and jokes to: [email protected] Please visit bikesocial.co.uk for your two-wheeled info, check out Bennetts’ YouTube channel for some cool bike vids (Africa Twin, ahem), and get your bike and travel insurance from the mighty Bennetts themselves. And don’t forget to check out their offers! AND – see you at Motorcycle Live at the NEC on the Bennetts stand (Hall 4 Stand 4B 25) on Thursday 21st November between 11am to 12pm, then again 2pm to 3pm. And probably a few points in between. @SimonHBikes @Mufga    

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 103, suspended like a great chattering hammock from the stout tree trunks at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And what a rambling podcast we have this week, only tangentially about motorbikes but also talking in topics such as: MotoGP from Aragon, with how the winning bike was second slowest, how Bradley Smith beat a factory Honda and what happens to all the “New World Champion” T-shirts that are made for riders who don’t end up winning them Jonathan Rea’s fifth WSB title proves a knife can win in a gunfight if the guy with the gun shoots himself in the foot – or unless he’s actually shot in the foot by a CEO with a Photoshopped head, then takes the money and runs onto a Fireblade news of Honda’s 2020 Africa Twin, including how it’s different from last year’s bike up to and down to lower seat height, more power, fancier gadgets and electric springs – and how much it’ll all cost plus gossip about the 2020 Triumph Street Triple, Kawasaki’s supercharged naked, BMW’s new S1000XR, F850GT and 850R, remote-controlled KTMs whether Ewan and Charlie’s ride across South America on Harley-Davidson Livewires is the most fascinating thing ever or a total irrelevance and, really, who cares? Answers on the back of a TV script please plus loads more nonsense about how to do 200mph on the cheap more motorcycling Room 101 topics (and a few disagreements!) what can replace a KTM 990 SuperDuke? what’s the best litre sportsbike replacement for a 2010 S1000RR? how to chainsaw braches on a fallen tree and why a Husqvarna won’t run on mineral two-stroke...  ...and much, much more of the same. Thank you for listening, thank you for joining in with the conversation by emailing your thoughts, questions, considerations and jokes to [email protected] Please visit bikesocial.co.uk for your two-wheeled info, check out the Bennetts YouTube channel for some cool bike vids, and get your bike and travel insurance from the mighty Bennetts themselves. That is both amazing and great. @SimonHBikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode... oh, look, who's counting? It's not like we're keeping score. Anyway – here are Simon and Martin, Making Britain's Biking Podcasts Great Again, with special thanks and appreciation to bikesocial.co.uk, the one-stop shop (except, er, it's free) for all your bang-up-to-date biking news, views and reviews (not sure that works). And of course thanks also the Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, for their continued loveliness and support. Hugs.  And on FEC102 (stop it!) we have:  • how motorcyclists get in the way • slightly tardy but nonetheless entertaining flashback to the Misano MotoGP in which Marquez and Rossi renew an old on-track friendship and Jorge Lorenzo falls out of friendship with Honda (recorded literally milliseconds before General Zarco got dumped by KTM)  • a new Harley ridden by Martin in that America they have now • have you ever lost the passion for bikes or riding?  • what's the worst bike of the last 10 years?  • should we record another FEC LIVE at the NEC bike show?  • is there any other racing besides road racing, and why speedway is a good night out • is poor marketing to blame for the drop in numbers of young riders?  • are seats less comfy than they used to be?  • which matters more: smiles-per-gallon or engine size?  • what's the best bit of Scotland to ride? ...all this and more! Thanks for listening, and longtime love to everyone who helps us make FEC the FECnomena it is. 

Hello and welcome to the podcast they said would never happen – 'they' being 'us' – yes, it's Front End Chatter E101 – the one hundred and one-est motorcycling podgasm in the world.  And thanks as ever to the munificent and mellifluous melodians of motorcycling, Bikesocial.co.uk, and the brains behind the beauty, Bennetts the bike insurance specialists.  In E101 we have:  • our biking Room 101s (as suggested by Mian Cowell but whom I suspect we forgot to credit!) including:    – Steppenwolf    – Polite vests     – riding certificates     – the good old days      – PR    – track tyre pressure obsession    – moaning about other riders' kit • plus! all the fact -free opinions from Silverstone MotoGP (which, yes, seems like a long time ago but was only last weekend ffs) • opinion about new bikes, including Triumph's Daytona 765, Honda's 1100 Africa Twin, and Triumph's Tiger 900... and a radical guess at Suzuki's 2020 range...  • plus #2 – emails on topics as diverse as: • helmet HUDs • heated visors • how a KTM 1290 and 1050 have the same gearing apart from top gear • best sub-500cc second bike for a short all-year commute • why learning to ride in your 30s might save biking • what are wire crash barriers all about?  • best underwear for hot weather and long distances All this and much more, so give FEC a go! Thanks again to Bennetts and Bikesocial.co.uk, thanks to you for listening (please continue to spread the words!), thanks to all race commentators everywhere for giving us free plugs, and get FEC on Twitter @SimonHbikes and @Mufga.   

Hello and welcome to.... THE FECTACULAR!  Yes, this is the century, the big one-zero-zero, the 100-not-out, the five-score... and widely rumoured to be the last ever Front End Chatter podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves, loins girded by the veritable cod-piece of motorcycling on the web, bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this very special live-in-front-of-an-audience-in-the-canteen-at-Cadwell-Parkingtons (although we sound like we're actually in the toilet; do we look like sound engineers?) we have: MotoGP from Red Bull Ring Pull in Austria in which Mark Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso swapped paint atoms until on of them won, and Johann Zarco agreed to a split at the end of the season with KTM – because obviously it won’t go any further south before then, will it? Yamaha’s Ténéré 700 and KTM 70 Adventure R on the MCN250 test route (but at a track day, we’re kinda preaching to the unconvertible) the best upgrade from a GSR750 for a bit more comfort and more miles what categories of bike are missing from the modern range, and what’s biking’s next big ‘thing’? are brake lever protectors or bark busters best for clipping car mirrors during filtering? what’s a Moto Morini Milano, and is it like a Triumph Hinckley or KTM Mattighofen? what’s our biggest biking disappointment? is the future of the TT safe? And was it safe in 1998? ...and much, much, a bit, more! Thanks to everyone who came along to Cadwell to make the FECtacular truly special, and contributed to a small moment of something. And if you’ve downloaded Front End Chatter in the last five years, thank you. Thanks also to bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts for their enduring good humour and tolerance of a pair of chattering idiots, and please download Front End Chatter via bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts We’re on Twitter at @Mufga and @SimonHbikes, and occasionally elsewhere... See your ears for FEC101 soon... or will we? Yeah, go on then.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 99, the Nearly-But-Not-Quite episode brought to your ears in cahoots with the best biking website on the, er, web – bikesocial.co.uk – and the best biking insurers in the, er, universe, Bennetts. And for your delectation: remarkable Mark Marquez marks his all-time record-equalling 58th pole position at Brno by qualifying with the biggest margin in the modern MotoGP era... ...although technically and mathematically, there’s still a chance Hafizh Syahrin could still take the title... ...but anyway, MotoGP is boring now because the same guy keeps winning all the time so we’re all going to watch WSB instead... ...or maybe we should watch BSB, with Scotch Redding still leading the championship after Thruxton, but by less, from Josh Brookes, not that it matters because, basically, Showdown... ...although we only needed to watch the last lap at the Suzuka 8hr because for 7hrs 57mins some bikes went round the track until Jonny Rea fell off and then won in the restaurant. PLUS! an audio review of Moto Guzzi’s V85 TT ridden for 1000 miles in 35°C AND! Your emails, including... Triumphs are still reliable with a few new bikes now coming with an SP (or R) version with uprated suspension, would it be worth buying the standard-suspended model instead and spending the difference getting it uprated by an aftermarket suspension specialist? how far does Mufga need to shove the drugs up his... oh, you had to be there, really... which used naked bike to upgrade from an Aprilia Shiver 750: Ducati Streetfighter 848, Monster 1200, Aprilia Tuono V4 or Triumph Street Triple RS? Or Speed Triple, even? would you rather have a perfect bike from a shitty dealer, or a bike with a few teething troubles from a really good dealer? is a late-1990s GSX-R SRAD750 or 600 still a good sportsbike today? Or is there something better from the same era? DO NOT MOCK THE MIGHTY DEAUVILLE... please ...and much, much more. No, really, even more. Thanks for listening! Please come to FEC#100, live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected] or why not record us a FEC#100 message? Just a simple “Please stop, again!” would suffice... visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your motorcycling news, stories, fun and frolicking about go get your insurance from Bennetts book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc and hello to Mr and Mrs Preston  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 98, the One Less Than Jorge episode, verbalised and spuffed into noughts and ones with the roadside assistance of bikesocial.co.uk and their insuring overlords Bennetts, the bike insurance guys and gals. And it’s a short and sweet episode this week, as we clear the FECsack in preparation for FEC100 (live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th), including: Mufga gets tugged by the Fuzz Why milking snail mucin for facials is a real thing WSB from the corkscrewy Laguna Se-ca, and the revelation pit lanes the world over are, entirely not in fact, named after Brad Pitt BSB from Snettingham Parks and the revelation Scotch Reading-not-from-Reading can’t half pedal a bike round a circuit he’s not seen before, but when is a jump start not a jump start would you beat Marquez on a road bike, first time out, down your favourite road? would WSB be livened-up by forcing winning riders to change teams? when is an oil flag not an oil flag? airbags – are they pointless out in the random environment on the road, away from predictable race track crashes? Or are they genuinely useful in certain road crashes? why is MotoGP’s video pass 30% more expensive in the UK than, say, France? should corporate greed be regulated? what’s a good, all-weather, non-dissolving London commuter bike for £3k? more from happy, hassle-free Triumph owners (but not Mufga) ...and a bit more. Thanks for listening! email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected] • or why not record us a FEC100 message? Just a simple “Please stop!” would suffice... visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your motorcycling news, stories, fun and frolicking about go get your insurance from Bennetts book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc    

Apologies for the late arrival of FEC#97 – delayed by unexpected items in the bagging area – but now it’s here, let’s tuck in! Brought to you as always by the furiously febrile funkateers at bikesocial.co.uk and the bike-insuring bike insurers Bennetts, this week’s regurgitation of previously held opinions includes: MotoGP (remember that?) round-up from Assen and Sachsenring, including neck braces, tankslappers, youngsters v old ’uns, should JL99 and/or VR46 retire, who’ll take ZR5’s place at KTM, and who’ll replace MCN race reporter now he’s taken the gig as PR blerk for Petronas Yamaha? with Rea overturning Dave Bautista’s lead in WSB, does he still think his ZX-10R is “like taking a knife to a gunfight”? MotoE’s first race – pointless comedy, the future, or both?  PLUS! Listeners’ emails, including: do leathers and other items of bike kit have a safety lifespan, and what’s best to clean them? living proof back protectors are worth wearing all the time... why are the roads in the Fens so bad? has Scott Redding done enough to justify a ride in WSB next year... but will it actually pay more than he’s already getting in BSB? has BTSport’s coverage of MotoGP been successful? Chinese 125 retros: stylish or not? And why don’t the big manufacturers build such stripped-back bikes? ...and should we make an ethical choice not to buy bikes from China, given their human rights record? ...and introducing our new bike-buying advice section, VFECR800 Corner, including: what’s the best big £3k sporty bike for a big sporty bloke, upgrading from a ZX-6R? what’s the best £4k second bike alongside a Daytona 675 for two-up weekend touring? what’s the best bike to replace a Husqvarna 701 Supermoto and a Triumph Tiger 800? what’s the best bike to deliver top-endy, rev-happy thrashable thrills instead of single-gear flexibility? What’s the best cheap track-day bike to suit a 6-footer for a £2k? Thanks for listening! email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected] visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your biking fix get your insurance from Bennetts AND! book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park – places still available!  ...and follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc        

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E96, the world’s most favouritist biking podcast, supported as ever by bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. Rambling gossip this month includes: MotoGP from Catalunya and why Lorenzo wasn’t the bad guy conquering the Rudland Rigg on a Triumph Scrambler 1200 new bike news featuring... 1) Ducati’s Streetfighter V4, with added wings 2) KTM’s 790 Adventure R Rally with added springs 3) Triumph Rocket III TFC with added torques ...which is an awful lot of extreme/exclusivity/exotica all in one go, but should anyone really care, do they actually make any money for the manufacturers or are they just exercises in PR and brand awareness? are bikers getting more gammony? does size matter (we’re talking engines here)? why don’t more bikes have an overdrive top gear, and is it more fuel efficient to use big throttle in top gear of part throttle in lower gears? are Triumphs more unreliable than other manufacturers, and why doesn’t the press talk about it? you want a desirable, fun, impractical road bike – should you buy a Ducati 1098S or an MV Agusta F3 800... or something else altogether? BMW R18 concept bike – thumbs up or thumbs up bums? why focussing on less-tall bikers is size-ist; a lot of tall riders have problems too... more on the merits or otherwise of air-bag vests – do they work, and does risk compensation actually make you more likely to have an accident when wearing one? Thanks for listening, please: a) tell your friends, relatives, work-mates and even people you don’t really like about Front End Chatter b) visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your FEC fix and biking info c) try Bennetts for your biking and travel insurance d) email your thoughts, ideas, questions and rants to [email protected] e) come to the FECtacular FEC100 episode live from Cadwell Park on August 13th (alongside a Bennetts track day) f) find Simon and Martin on the social mediums here: @SimonHbikes @Mufga  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter and the 95th outing for Britain’s most stubbornly random motorcycling podcast, suspended as ever between the 48mm upsidedowners of bikesocial.co.uk – the world of motorcycling in a webby nutshell – and the fully adjustable monoshock of Bennetts, the bike insurance experts. And what a weird podcast we have this week, as two – well, one – of Britain’s funniest, smartest, sassiest and damn amazing moto journalists – that’s him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, with me, Simon Hargreaves –  discuss subjects as widely disparate as: • how MotoGP from Mugello (remember that?) was won by a man who used to race an EXUP who did what at the wettest TT ever, including how Peter Hickman used an S1000RR engine he didn’t use, why it was a hybrid bike but not a hybrid engine, and why Harrison, not Dunlop, won the Dunlop Senior, on Metzelers, not Dunlops why John McGuinness might want to check the details of his Norton pension plan why FEC probably holds the lap record for the North Coast 500 the practical and psychological merits of air-bag suits is it a risk buying a new bike in the first year of production? does wearing hi-viz make you a fluoracist? why oh why isn’t there a magazine website with videos and stories and everything (like, er, bikesocial.co.uk, maybe)? are any skills learned off road transferrable to road riding? is the polite biker nod a dying habit, and should you wave at other riders anyway? are racers made on the roads they grow up riding on?   Thank you so much or listening, we really appreciate it – and please email your thoughts, ideas, questions and stories of helmet paint scheme inspired accusations to [email protected]   Follow @Bennetts on Twitter and Insta and Facebook Follow @Mufga and @SimonHBikes on Twitter/Insta etc Laters taters.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 94, and the clue’s in the name: for the 94th time, two hoary old motorcycle journalists stand around and make front noises into a pair of microphones for your auralisation – fertilised and fermented by bikescocial.co.uk (the world of motorcycling on a website) and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. Good old Bennetts. And this week we have, for your listening infuriation:   gossip and stats from Le Mans MotoGP, including Marquez showing Lorenzo how to stay upright, and Quartararo showing Marquez how to be faster by not crashing who’ll top the TT timesheets this year? Mud, sweat and beers with two days and 350 miles in Wales, following a rally-style route map on road and off on a Scrambler 1200XE News and first impressions from the launch of long-awaited, entry-level Yamaha’s Ténéré 700 and hilarious, expensive XSR700 XTribute How young is too young to ride a bike? And what’s the best route into riding for youngsters? Why aren’t there more Ducatis racing at the TT? What’s the best big naked bike for touring? How to avoid the buffering wheel of death on the online MotoGP feed Is it an unwritten rule of bikes that you need to go fast, and does that put people off? And much, much more... Many thanks for listening to FEC and please come to Cadwell Park on 13th August where, alongside a Bennetts track day, we’ll be recording FEC E100 – LIVE! Wow. Are we? Please send your thoughts, jokes, contentions and opinions to:  [email protected] And catch Simon and Martin on the social medias @SimonHBikes @Mufga Thanks again for listening! X        

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter, E93 in the long-running series of two men talking bobbins about bikes, and if you're looking for someone to blame try bikesocial.co.uk, the bike magazine on the web, or Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, because they're in it as much as we are.    This week on FEC we have:  • rambling thoughts on Jerez MotoGP, including Suzi Quartararo's hot laps, Zarco's loose lips, how this is the joint closest MotoGP championship since 2009, and a resurfaced Silverstone • the experience of Yamaha's Off Road Experience • what off-road bike should you get for you wife, except it's really for you? • are bike vloggers the new bike journalists?  • is there something in the water in Lincolnshire to create so many great racers, and does it match whatever they put in the water in Catalan? • and much much more....  Thanks for listening to Front End Chatter, download it from bikesocial.co.uk, get your insurance from Bennetts, buy RiDE magazine, we love you, come to Cadwell for FEC 100 #LiVE, and email your thoughts and questions to [email protected]

Look out, it’s Front End Chatter E92, the biking podcast enabled, empowered, energised and veritably triggered by the cosmonauts at bikesocial.co.uk and bods at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, without whom this would all still happen but much less often. And this week we have: Why being a MotoGP legend is bad for your health (especially if you’re a Brit) who’s actually likely to win the MotoGP title the next time Marquez doesn’t? what happened at the unfeasibly warm Bennetts British Superbike season opener at Silverstone why we won’t be watching the 2020 Dakar Rally from Saudi Arabia ideas to replace a Honda Blackbird with a £4500 sporty all-rounder why fixed spring rates are a great unspoken compromise of biking is the cost of insurance is putting off new riders? should you wait and get a used Svartpilen 701 or Iannone your KTM 990 SM? if you could spend two weeks touring in the UK, where would you go? ...and lots lots more. It’s a vintage FEC-sack. Thank you to you, to BikeSocial.co.uk, to Bennetts, and see you at Cadwell Park on August 13th. Please email thoughts, questions and comments to: [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga        

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E91, the nearly-but-not-quite episode, supported, enabled and triggered by www.bikesocial.co.uk – or is it just bikesocial.co.uk? – and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And what a bounteous springtime episode we have, containing gossip such as: • COTA – or is it GOTA? – with Marquez beating himself while Rins wins on a Suzuki and Rossi is runner-up again again again (he’s going for another record: Pedrosa’s “Most Perennial Runner-Up” Award) • A half-naked Lorenzo adds to his list of embarrassing advert • World Superbike’s Dave Bautista demonstrates it’s easier to adapt from a V4 MotoGP bike to a V4 WSB bike than from a V-twin WSB bike to a V4 WSB bike... • Brief chats about Husqvarana’s Svartpilen 701 – a KTM 690 Duke in a frock or chainsaw on wheels? – Yamaha’s Tracer/Ténéré 700 GT and BMW’s new R1250R... • Custom-moulded ear-plugs v foam plugs? • How Fairy Liquid solves visor misting • How to approach your first road race • Why aren’t more bike journalists nicked riding like idiots on foreign launches? • Why riding more makes you enjoy riding more • Is Yamaha’s Niken the perfect camera bike for filming cycle racing? • Why seat height isn’t actually a good measure of the height of the seat... • ...and so much less. I mean more. More. Much more. Thanks for listening, please keep emailing your thoughts, ideas and questions to: [email protected] Also remember to download this podcast from www.bikesocial.co.uk, and nip out and buy RiDE magazine! You can catch Simon and Martin on the Twitters: @SimonHBikes @Mufga    

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter E90, Britain’s most least favourite biking podcast, veritably triggered by www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world’s biking on the web, and Bennetts, the bike and travel insurance specialists. And this fortnight we have, for you aural delectation, spoken words on: RACING MotoGP is back, at Qatar where Miller’s seat comes off, Mav goes backwards, Rossi goes forwards, Marquez and Dovizioso repeat last season’s last lap, and Ducati plot a spoiler why MotoE isn’t coming to a short circuit near you soon Dave Bautista keeps on winning in WSB, but it’s not Ducati’s fault... ... so no pressure in BSB then, Scott...   BIKES first ride on Moto Guzzi’s new V85 TT ‘classic enduro’   PLUS! do business biking miles count as much as personal biking miles? more hi-viz pros and cons trail braking explained properly the great seat height debate, and how to make bikes fit more people more of the time more ideas on getting kids into bikes – and were 125s better in the 1990s? which brands offer the best value for money? why are there no wheelies in bike magazines any more?   ... plus much more rubbish, nonsense and stuff.   Thanks for listening! email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected] visit www.bikesocial.co.uk, get your insurance from Bennetts, book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park, follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc    

Hello and welcome to Episode 89 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s most insured motorcycling podcast delivered fresh to your ears by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons – enabled by the humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. This week we’re chattering about: Andrea Iannone’s smelly secretions Jonathon Rea’s Book Of Excuses first ride of KTM’s new 790 Adventure and Adventure R how practical and fun is Enfield’s Interceptor? which bike can renew the sense of fun in your biking is £200 for a one-piece leather race suit on Ebay worth buying? should we feel guilty about NOT riding our bikes much? what’s the best non-sportsbike for track days? does Fairy Liquid work as an anti-misting visor coating? how to find the right people with whom to tour Europe ...and much much more...  Thank you once more for listening to out nonsense, and contributing with your thoughts, queries and opinions: email  [email protected] Please add August 13th to your diary, when Front End Chatter will be recorded LIVE! at a BIkeSocial Bennetts track day at Cadwell Park! More info at www.superbikeschool.co.uk Simon H and Martin are on Twitter: @SimonHbikes @Mufga ...and you can also fund us on various other social media platforms...  

Hellooo and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most homoerotic motorcycling podcast, supported and empowered by www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And for your aural delectation this week we have gossip on: Andrew Iannone’s jawline Maverick Marquez and his pants Dave Bautista’s Rea-beating form at Phillip Island the perfect Franken-racer unfeasible plum-o-meters in the BSB paddock why is bike gear so expensive? what bike did Nev buy? And is a BMW R1250RS better than a Z1000SX? how do we know when not ride a bike but take the car instead? tips for touring in Alaska why there are no exotic small-bore race replicas and how to get more young riders on bikes and much, much more (but definitely no chat about motorcycle magazines; well, a bit...) ...plus! Super-really-very-exciting news of the 100th episode FECstravaganza at... Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, Tuesday August 13th; a Bennetts/BikeSocial/California Superbike track day – and at which we’ll be recording FEC’s centenary episode in front of an eager audience of grass and air. You’re welcome to sign up to the track day, or just come along and have a listen... more details of the 100th episode FECstravaganza in the next FEC!   Meanwhile, thanks for listening and supporting what we do, keep the emails coming to anything @frontendchatter.com – don’t listen to Mufga, you write what you want to write – and catch us both on Twitter: @SimonHbikes & @Mufga, and on Insta/FB/the usual. Love and rockets      

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 87 #Remy Gardner... it’s only just occurred to me, but what kind of name is Remy? Is he named after a cognac or something? Anyway, welcome, one and all, to surreal bantz supported, enabled and triggered by the meaty skinbags at www.bikesocial.co.uk – the best resource for all things motorcycling on the interwebs – and under the munificent auspices of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. This week we have: why Suzuki Hayabusa mirrors remind Simon of Rosa Klebb’s shoes • a timely review of the 2002 Assen MotoGP, back in the days when races could be won by a two-stroke or a four-stroke, and when one four-stroke in particular appeared to be so much faster than the others it was like cheating... ...and how a last lap manoeuvre foreshadowed a more notorious coming-together 13 years later... a mini-review of the new Honda CBR650R and CB650R and is it a ‘new’ CBR600F? And how does the CB compare to a KTM 790 Duke? ...and why does no-one makes a Dakar replica? effective anti-rain visor solutions why do we wear the kit we wear? more on police/scooter tactics an inverse game of ‘what bike should I buy?’, with ‘what bike have I bought?’ have some bike magazines may have lost their sense of humour, and is there a correlation with the demise of sportsbikes? ...and much more natter chatter... ...and if you’re interested in attending a FECstravaganza in August in Lincolnshire, let us know! Many many thanks for listening, please continue to download FEC from www.bikesocial.co.uk. Email your thoughts, queries, questions, observations and comments to:   anything@frontendchatter   ....and catch us on Twitter   @SimonHbikes @Mufga  

Happy New... oh, is too late for that? Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most enduring motorcycling podcast (much to chagrin of Les343) presented by me, Simon Hargreaves and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and supported by the humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance people.   And this month, FEC sinks its teeth into: the Greatest Grand Prix Of All Time, aka the 1990 Australian 500cc Grand Prix, feat. Sir Mick of Doohan, Lord Wayne de Rainey, Baron von Gardner and the Marquis of Schwantz going at it hammer, tongs and forceps • the 125cc side-spectacle of Hans Spaan aiming a punch at Fausto Gresini and Loris Capirossi winning his first world title the year of 2019 in review, as FEC jumps into the Chatter Tardis and zooms 12 months into the future – including the best bike of 2019, the Brit GP from Donington, and some shocking new Suzuki news – yes, you read that right a deep dive into the FECsack with contributions on topics as varied as buying used instead of a new bike on PCP, the mechanics of trail braking and why it’s a good (and bad) idea, how tightly controlled the Triumph 765-powered Moto2 series will be, the reliability of KTM electrics, how odd is it that Marc Marquez’ dad is STILL hanging around his pit box, bike community garages in the US, a FEC track day in August, how to make MotoE more of a spectacle by using an accountant from Bromley, • why is insurance so bloomin’ expensive? Thanks for listening, please keep emailing your thoughts, ideas and questions to: [email protected] Also remember to download this podcast from www.bikesocial.co.uk, and nip out and buy RiDE magazine! You can catch Simon and Martin on the Twitters: @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to a festive Front End Chatter, delivered with a ho-ho-ho by the Santa Claus of motorcycling websites, www.bikesocial.co.uk, in association with Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. In episode 85 of FEC Martin and Simon turn back time to August 1993 and re-live the fags, mags and bags of a classic British Grand Prix at Donington Park when: Doohan played skittles with Schwantz and Barros Yamaha’s Luca Cadalora followed team orders – Suzuki team orders Foggy needed a reserve tap Mackenzie needed no invitation Also in this week’s FEC: Guy Martin’s Irish driving licence Triumph’s Scrambler 1200 XC and XE ridden and crashed more on police scooter crash tactics how to accidentally spend £18k on a winter bike, and how to protect it more advice on PCP v credit cards why there’s life in magazines yet! Simon, Mufga and all at www.BikeSocial.co.uk would like to wish all you FECers a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year, and look forward to filling your ears in 2019.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 84, presented for your ears in association with the multi-purposed humanoids of www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts. And this week, Simon H and Mufga present, for your consideration:   Moto2 testing from Jerez, and the lap record-shattering debut of Triumph’s 765 engine, plus the emerging sibling rivalry of Marquez and Rossi brothers (ish) MotoGP testing gossip from Jerez, including Nakagami’s pace (who?) and the size of Johann Zarco’s... task Lewis Hamilton testing gossip from Jerez, including how slow, or not, he is, or isn’t, on a WSB-spec Pata Yamaha R1 the rights, and wrongs, of police officers hitting scooter-riding criminals with their cars (contentious, this), and what has all this got to do with the Met Office? and, speaking of teenager hoolies, a few details from the launch of Kawasaki’s Z125 and Ninja 125   Plus a selection of your amazing emails, including:   should I sell my Ducati SportClassic to buy a new Moto Guzzi TT85? is PCP better value than buying a bike on a credit card and bouncing it between 0% cards for the life of the repayment? is a lightly tuned R1200GS likely to be as chippy as a new R1250GS? • will JLo and Marquez pinch points off each other in 2019, making a Dovi world title more likely? which will be the best naked hyperbike if they end up with a racing class at World Superbike? what makes the Kawasaki ZX-10R the winningiest World Superbike?   Thanks for listening, please email your thoughts, musings, questions and anything else you want to us yammer about to:   [email protected] (record is 180 characters, so far) or do the Twitter/Instagram thing: @SimonHbikes @Mufga   And please remember to nominate, via email or the Twitter, your favourite MotoGP race from Dorna’s archive for FEC to review. If that’s actually what you want us to do.

Welcome to Front End Chatter E83, and what a perfectly formed audio package it is too – supported and sustained as forever and always by the magnificent humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and their Bennetts-ian, bike insuring benefactors. And wow! Scoop! Front End Chatter has a world exclusive interview with none other than the youngest man-child ever to win a grand prix – fresh from his Valencia Moto3 victory, we present Mr Can Öncü, fresh from his crib, literally. But apart from that, this week we waffle interminably on the following:   winners and losers from the final round of MotoGP from a predictably, or not, sopping-wet Valencia... ...and happy bunnies and sad hedgehogs from MotoGP testing at a largely dry Valencia will Triumph enter a factory team in Moto2 at some point, like, 2020, maybe to coincide with the launch of a Daytona 765 road bike? hits and misses from that 2018 Motorcycle Live they had then Triumph’s new Street Twin and Street Scrambler, ridden at the launch in Portugal (in case it’s unclear) comparing the sound of BMW’s R1250 flat twin v the R1200 engine, and what it can tell us about the development of the new engine Renthal’s chain expert gives his opinion on dealing with burst O-ring seals down a ropey phone line what’s the best road sport tyres for a Daytona 675 for less than £200? what bikes can you buy now that will only increase in value, effectively giving you free biking? And is it worth buying a bike as an investment when you’re 50, anyway? why does no-one make a great touring naked bike, in the mould of BMW’s Rockster? what’s the best small-capacity bike that commute, do a bit of two-up and cope with a more generously-proportioned rider for less than £1000?... • ...and, in contrast, should a man, who isn’t the bass player in the Foo Fighters but could be, sell his already exotic bike collection and then buy something truly, fabulously, exceptional? It’s a tough one.   Many, many thanks for all your emails; please keep ’em coming to:   [email protected] And catch Simon and Mufga on the Twitters at @SimonHbikes @Mufga Until we meet again!

Hello lovely people and welcome to our humble musings on the world of two wheels, otherwise known as Front End Chatter.  FEC is supported by [email protected], your 24-hr convenience store for biking information, and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts.  Here we are again with a marathon podcast to make up for lost time, and we have: • a teeny bit of Moto GP gossip, including why Lorenzo should not be henceforth be known as 'Sicknote' • all (most) new 2019 bikes fresh from the Eicma show they have now, including some detail on BMW's R1250 GS v R1200 GS, as seen on [email protected] and Ducati's Multistrada 1260 Enduro • listeners' emails, on subjects as varied as new Chinese v used Japanese 125s, which new bike to buy if you don't want to lose too much money, are Royal Enfield's new twins better than an old Bonneville... and much more.  Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading (feel free to subscribe on iTunes or your Android pod app, but if you download from [email protected] we'd be very grateful!), and please email us on [email protected]   Thanks! @SimonHbikes @Mufga

  Oh my lordy lord, here’s Front End Chatter E81, hot on the heels of E80 and ploughing an ill-informed furrow through the field of motorcycling podcasts, supported and upheld as ever by the munificence of www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance people. And this time out we have topics as varied as: • Jonathan ‘Nice’ Rea’s fourth consecutive World Superbike title – and which previous WSB champs congratulated him... • Ana Carrasco and her maiden – literally – WSSP300-on-a-400 world title • Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed at the first corner of the Aragon MotoGP race by sheer will power alone • New bikes from Royal Enfield, yes, that’s Royal Enfield, with Simon riding the Interceptor and Continental GT at the launch... • ...and even more new bikes, from the Intermots they have now – including, er, well, not all that much, really – apart from Suzuki’s GSX-S1000-in-a-frock Katana and Indian’s FTR1200 flat-tracker, Moto Guzzi’s V85 TT, Kawasaki’s 125s, Triumph’s Street Scrambler & Street Twin, and Yamaha’s Tracer 700GT... • FEC listeners’ emails including: – making engines ‘emulate’ other engines – what to do in the Isle Of Man instead of riding motorcycles – should Gore-Tex be waterproof after two hours in heavy rain? – are paddock/pit-bikes any good? – is feeling for grip affected by suspension set-up? – is a cheap track bike a bad idea? – best winter hack for £1500 – do we wear different kit for different trips, and should we get upset about riders choosing not to wear appropriate protective clothing? And much, much more. Please enjoy, like and susbscribe (if you download from iTunes, but we’d much rather you went to www.bikesocial.co.uk) – and please email your questions and comments to [email protected] Get Simon and/or Martin on all the socials mediums: @SimonHbikes @Mufga Ta-raa pet!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E80, brought to you from the girded loins at www.bikesocial.co.uk and supported by bike insurance humanoids at Bennetts. This week, chatter topics for your aural entertainment are: Romano Fenasti – the hot-headed ex-Moto2 rider is definitely cracked, but should he be sacked or backed following his Misano misdemeanour? • Mufga’s been riding BMW’s new, enlarged, Shiftcam (careful!) R1250GS... ... and Simon’s had a go on Yamaha’s Niken with some BikeSocialists (and a FECer; hi Dan)... ... and they’re not the only ones; other FECers who’ve tried the Niken let us know what they think, plus loads more of your emails, including      Harley out-selling Triumph, Ducati and Suzuki in Europe last year, is MotoE going to be any good, why V4s don’t sound like inline fours, is it possible to ‘see’ grip, best mods for Aprilia’s RSV-R, advice for smaller riders... and lots more. Thanks, as always, for listening, please bookmark www.bikesocial.co.uk and get your insurance from Bennetts, and follow us on Twitter @Mufga and @SimonHbikes    

Hello and welcome to Never mind all that usual bobbins, we've got an actual interview with actual Marc Márquez! In episode 79 of Britain's best biking podcast – supported, sustained and stimulated by Bike Social (that's www.bikesocial.co.uk) as well Bennetts, the record-breaking, crash-saving, championship-leading prodigy of the bike insurance grid: Fallout from the washout at Silverstone. What happened (or, rather, what didn't), why it happened, how it happened, who's to blame, who's not, who thinks they should have raced, who decided to cancel, who thinks they shouldn't have cancelled, is anyone going to accept responsibility, and can we cover all this without getting threatened with legal action? You can't stop the rock – but you can stop all motorsports activity at Rockingham. Britain's newest race circuit is about to become Britain's newest former race circuit – we explain why it's shutting, when it's all over, whether we'll miss it, and what it's going to become instead. And the main event: a solid gold interview with Marc Márquez himself, live and in person (and courtesy of Shoei), talking his place in history, his regrets, his outrageous riding technique, his future, whether winning or having fun is more important, saving the front, the best rider of all time, his favourite rider, and how many crash helmets he gets through each year given all his trips to the tarmac. We hope you enjoy it – and please email us your questions, comments, feedback and more on [email protected]

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and E78 of Britain's finest motorcycling podcast, presented, in the loosest possible sense, by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, although it's a sobering thought that in an infinite universe it's a certainty there's an Earth-like planet out there with a motorcycling podcast presented by Martin Hargreaves and Simon Fitz-Gibbons.  Anyway, whichever universe you're in, we give thanks to the omnipotent and almighty deities at www.bikesocial.co.uk, the UK's most all-encompassing biking website, and Bennetts, the bike insurance people.  Right, in this episode we have:  MotoGP action from the Czechs... Big Harley-Davidson news, including a guess as to why they're revealing their plans for the next 5 years now... Martin's thoughts on riding the Yamaha Niken... And all your lovely emails – and there are many. We'd love to tell you about them but the damn cat is mewing at the back door and I can't concentrate. Download, listen, you'll find out. Thanks for your ears; please email your questions, musings and ruminations to [email protected] Lucv ya,  Right, where's the Whiskas?

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 77! Courtesy of the alliterative, improvised, indigenous tribes behind Bike Social (that's www.bikesocial.co.uk) and spoken through the mouths of veteran motorcycle-journalists-slash-opinion-havers Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, this near-two-hour extravaganza covers all the latest comings, goings, rumours and controversies across the motorised two-wheeled universe. Including, but not limited to:   The Goodwood Festival of Speed: what it's like, what it isn't, who goes, who cares, who enjoyed their first taste of a Duke's private passage and who gets all bah humbug about it. BMW Motorrad Days at Garmisch: what it is, where it is, the bits we can talk about (and the bits we can't), plus the new bikes announced there (and the bikes that weren't). KTM's Adventure Rally in Wales: an orange dirtstravaganza which we didn’t actually go to, only we sort of did but were a day or two late. Plus some insights into the forthcoming 790 Adventure and its curious pendulous saddlebag petrol tanks. More new bike news and rumours, including whether Kawasaki have a new ZX-6R up their green sleeves, and what it might mean for the supersport class. What to wear in a heatwave: full leathers, mesh textiles or heated vests? No, really… MotoGP from Assen. Wow, etc. The questionably successful but unquestionably first episode of Can You Guess What Bike I Ride If I Give You Some Hints About Me And My Riding Background. Motorcycling must-haves, things to take touring and things to leave at home, old bikes with modern technology and much, much more…   Thank you once again for letting us into your ears, and thank you once again to www.bikesocial.co.uk – the place you should be going to download this podcast, and the place you should be going for all your online motorcycle needs (and, heck, why not get an insurance quote from Bennetts while you're there?) Get in touch with Simon and Martin on the Twitters (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga disrespectively), or less socially by sending an email to [email protected] (literally anything).