Hello and welcome indeed to Front End Chatter, Episode 219, in which Martin and Simon use their vast misunderstanding of motorcycles as a basis for interminable waffling on a podcast. As ever, they are supported in their efforts by Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers, and bikesocial.co.uk, all your motorcycling info needs on the web. 

And on this pod, Simon and Martin natter about: 
• the forthcoming FEC Tour 2026 – The Moors The Merrier – on July 17-20th in the N Yorks Moors
• smashing phones on bikes
• Triumph's Tiger Sport 800
• why bikes aren't as fast as they used to be, and why no-one cares
• Honda's CB1000GT
• Honda's VR3
• Honda's NW7
• BMW's F450GS
• Norton's Atlases
• CFMoto's KTM 990 Adventure
...and much much much more.

Thank you for listening, please spread the word amongst your peers, and please sign up to the FEC Tour by emailing anything@frontendchatter.com and registering your interest. Onwards!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's Best Biking Podcast presented by 'Fox Mulder' Hargreaves and 'Dana Scully' Fitz-Gibbons – because, spookily, this is FEC Episode 218; exactly the same number of episodes as TV's The X-Files. Except it's not spooky at all because it's not a coincidence. It's inevitable there's a TV show with exactly 218 episodes, and it's the X-Files; if we waited until FEC 219 to make the connection, it would be the same number of episodes as the original ABC run of the American improvisational comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway? Insert your own joke here. 

And thanks as always to our benevolent benefactors Bennetts, Britain's Best Bike insurers, and bikesocial.co.uk, the website/YouTube channel for all your biking needs. And remember to become a BikeSocial Member – it's automatic if you're insured with Bennetts, or it's £60 per year or £6 per month if not. But it means you get access to loads of competitions, offers and money-off deals on a veritable panoply of kit – basically, if you're thinking of buying anything for your bike, check to see if it's on the list; you might be able to save more than the cost of membership.

For a list of current offers and discounts, visit rewards.bennetts.co.uk/categories

Right, on with the show, and this week Simon and Martin natter about:

• Triumph's new Trident 800
• Ducati's new Monster
• Kawasaki's new KLE500
• Honda's new CB1000F
• Yamaha's new Ténéré 700 World Raid

Plus
• BMW R1300 GSA v RS v RT, and the merits of riding 600 miles for one photo
• Has motorcycling got too easy; if you don't have to earn it, is it worth anything?
• What's it like riding Honda's RC213V-S in 2025?
• Riding 'signatures'
• What's the easiest engine to work on?
• And loads of other hot air and nonsense

Thanks for listening, please tell your motorcycling pals and spread the FEC message of love, hope, friendship and riding as far and fast as possible at all times...
And please continue to grace the inbox and anything@fronteendchatter.com with your thoughts, questions, queries and general bantz.

Aye. Carry on.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and it's episode 209 of the 209 episode-long motorcycling podcast presented, and I use the word in its loosest sense, by Martina Fitz-Gibbons and Simone Hargreaves, a pair of transitioning motorcycle journalists whose personal pronouns are 'it'. Fronty End Prongs is supported and comported by Bennetts, Britain's biggest and best bike insurers, and without whom you would all be pretty bloody sorry, I can tell you, so make the most of their offers and support their support of motorcycling ya ingrates. And also BikeSocial.co.uk, the hub of motorcycling's metaphorical Akront rim, with their Youtube channel and website and lots of bike-related content to tuck into.

So on this episode of FEC we chatter about: 
• the latest news from the ailing KTM factory
• bad news from the Nürburgring
• last-minute booking news if you're thinking about coming to ride with us in Scotland in May on the FEC Highland Fling 2 tour
• a ride on Ducati's Multistrada V2 S and exactly how Ducati is it? 
• Honda's new NT1100 and what have they done to it? 
• Honda's new Hornet and wow, how good is it? 
• Honda's last-ever CB1300 and can I have one please? 
• why a 270° parallel twin is rarely an exciting engine
• how to describe engine configurations
• and many more musing and amusings from the FEC Sack of your thoughts, queries, ruminations on a theme

Thank you for listening and supporting us with your ears, and please email your own thoughts and musings to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

Thanks again FECers! 

@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:
anything@frontendchatter.com

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:
anything@frontendchatter.com
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

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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: anything@frontendchatter.com

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 
anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Big up 'spec again to bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts...

And get us both on the Twitters (again)

@Mufga

@SimonHbikes

Aye.

FEC208

 Hello moi luverly FECers and this, believe it or not, is Front End Chatter episode 208 in a long-running series with him, believe it or not, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, believe it or not, Simon Hargreaves.

Believe it or not, you should get your bike insurance from Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers and supporters of Front End Chatter since 1894, with massive range of savings and offers on all sorts of kit and caboodle, plus lots of cool policy add-ons like 90 days EU cover and common mods (like road legal exhausts) covered – as standard!

And you also get free BikeSocial membership (which you can also buy for £60 regardless of your insurer), which gives you access to all the above offers and savings, plus VIP experiences, cheap track days; the list goes on. And don't forget to visit bikesocial.co.uk and their Youtube channel for all your biking media consumption needs. 

And – last few rooms remaining on the FEC Highland Fling 2 – yes, ride Scotland's greatest hits this May with Simon and Martin, enjoying the best of the NC500, the best of the West Coast, and a romp through the Cairngorms, all while staying at the Aultguish Inn and partaking of libation in the evening.

The dates for Fling 2 are arrival Thursday May 6th, departure Sunday May 10th. Visit bit.ly/fecfling2 for more info, or email anything@frontendchatter.com or Paul at MCI Tours – info@mcitours.com 

And on that note, what's actually in the podcast? I'd tell you but, honestly, on this occasion it's easier to just listen!

Email anything@frontendchatter.com with your thoughts and queries and stuff, and get Martin and Simon on some of the social medias:

Insta:
Mufga
Simonhbikes

BSky:
@sihbikes.bsky.social
@mufga.bsky.social

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 anything@frontendchatter.com 

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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 anything@frontendchatter.com

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 FEC100@frontendchatter.com
• 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 FEC100@frontendchatter.com
  • 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 anything@frontendchatter.com
• 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 anything@frontendchatter.com

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 anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

 anything@frontendchatter.com

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

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

@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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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 anything@frontendchatter.com
• 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

 anything@frontendchatter.com

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...

HOT NEWS! The FEC Highland Fling is here! 

Yes folks, come ride with Simon and Martin in Scotland in May 2025 – we've booked an entire hotel in the heart of the Highlands as a base for three days of riding the most stunning loops around the most iconic routes in the UK. It's majestic, it's mind-blowing, it's the best riding – and the best hospitality – you'll get in 2025. 

The FEC Highland Fling starts with a grand ride-in on Friday 2nd May through Glen Coe up to the hotel near Garve. After an evening of greetings and meetings, we'll spend the next three days exploring the finest roads and scenery Scotland has to offer – the north coast, west coast, and across to the Cairngorms, talking in all the Highland hits along the way. And, on the final night (Monday 5th May), Martin and Simon will host a special live episode of Front End Chatter. 

To register your interest in the FC Highland Fling, please send an email to anything@frontendchatter.com titled "I'm interested in the FEC Highland Fling, please send me more info."

We look forward to seeing you in Scotland in May!

Meanwhile....

Hello and welcome to E206 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most Christmassy (he means 'Festive' – Ed) motorcycling podcast, brought to you gift-wrapped in last week's MCN by Simon Humbug Hargreaves and Martin Ho Ho Ho Fitz-Gibbons, supported as ever by the bike insurance baubles at Bennetts, and their multimedia minions at BikeSocial.co.uk. Get your insurance with Bennetts because their industry-wide offers and discounts will pay you back big time in 2025. Become a BikeSocial Member, take advantage, get involved, come to a discounted trackday and keep your eyes on your inbox for amazing events with which you can get involved.

And on this week's FEC we have:
• our fave bikes of 2024 (and a few of 2025)
• more KTM woes, plus does talking about it make it worse? 
• the last new bike news of 2024, Ducati's down-sized V2 Multi
• plus a whole heap of nattering on topics raised by you, the FECers, sent in via email to the FEC-Sac, to anything@frontendchatter.com

Please keep your thoughts and ideas and musings and fantasies coming in! 

Thanks for listening, and see you in Scotland in May! 

Bsky
@sihbikes.bsky.social
@mufga.bsky.social

Insta
simonhbikes
mufga

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com

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:

anything@frontendchatter.com (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:

literallyanything@frontendchatter.com

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 www.bikesocial@co.uk, 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 www.bikesocial@co.uk 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 www.bikesocial@co.uk we'd be very grateful!), and please email us on anything@frontendchatter.com

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

anything@frontendchatter.com

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 anything@frontendchatter.com

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's premium motorcycling podcast, hosted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. This is episode 205, probably, and is supported in its endeavours by Bennetts, the 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.

And on this week's FEC we natter about

• Motorcycle Live – was it any good, what was the vibe, any hot takes?
• KTM – more financial woes, and they thought chocolate cams were bad...
• Why the Govt's failure to have plans to encourage the use of motorcycles isn't the bad news it might sound like...
• ...but we can't still use all bus lanes
• plans to introduce a blanket 50mph speed limit on Scottish single-lane carriageways
• when is depreciation slight enough to make an upgrade worthwhile?
• some EV stuff Simon doesn't understand

Plus loads... well, *some* more... please get in touch at anything@frontendchatter.com with your thoughts, musings, questions and ponderings.

Or get us on Instagram:
@Mufga
@SimonHbikes

Or Bluesky:
@mufga.bsky.social
@sihbikes.bsky.social

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 anything@frontendchatter.com

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 anything@frontendchatter.com (literally anything).

Hello and welcome to episode 76 of Front End Chatter, Britain's most argumentative motorcycling podcast, presented in the loosest sense of the word by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and spilling seamlessly into your ears courtesy of www.bikesocial.co.uk – the motorcycling world on a website – and Bennetts, the bike insurance people who put back more into biking than any other insurance company, and that's a true fact.

On E76 we have:

• Jorge Lorenzo – why's he started winning on a Ducati, why's he signed to ride for Honda in 2019, what's in it for new teammate Marc Marquez, and is there a conspiracy theory we can generate from it all? (The answer is yes)

• Peter Hickman's astonishing Senior TT lap record, and a lengthy discussion (again) about whether discomfort at supporting the event is legititmate

• Why so many motorcyclists dislike football

• How to do 200mph on the cheap

• Should there be courses in basic motorcycle understanding?

• Why Honda's NC750X is a good bike. But only if you don't test ride a Yamaha Tracer 700 first

• Suzuki GSX-R750 – is the best middleweight sportsbike on the road?

• Can anyone actually name Jonathan Rea winning a "really close and exciting race that will go down in history"?

• ...and much more (well, a bit)
  
  Thank you very much for listening, please visit www.bikesocial.co.ukfor all your motorcycling media needs, and please subscribe on iTunes or your Android device to make sure you get every episode of FEC. 
  
  Please email your thoughts, questions, musings – in either written or .mp3 formats – toanything@frontendchatter.com