Welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 53a, powered yet again by our friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk – and yes, it’s the first of two FECs; 53b will be along shortly. Or at least soon.

In the meantime, feast your ears on the will they, won’t they two-wheeled soap opera of Qatar MotoGP – including:

• how recording BT Sport in hi-def when you haven’t upgraded your package can result in missing the race
• the argument for and against remounting a crashed bike
• how Tech3 Yams (pronounced ‘Trois’, but don’t tell Simon) do well at Qatar until a certain Moto2 champion gets carried away
• disrespeculation about why Crutchlow crashed
• some nerdy stats about top speed
• what exactly Lorenzo is packing in his lunchbox
• plus chatter about World Superbike, World Supersports 600 and 300 at Aragon, and BSB at Donington – including a guest appearance by Martin Fitz-Guintoli...

We also say farewell to Sir John Surtees, have a quick tour around Suzuki’s new and rather wonderful V-Strom 650, the less new and less wonderful V-Strom, and chatter about the launch of the least powerful, least torquey, most heavieriest and most expensive Yamaha R6 ever which neither Martin or Simon attended, but about which they have an opinion anyway. Typical.

Thanks for listening, your emails will be answered in FEC53b, and please please please get in touch via:

email – anything@frontendchatter.com

Twitter – @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Facebook – Front End Chatter

And, of course, please listen to FEC from our new home at www.bikesocial.co.uk

Chatter again soon!

Welcome to Front End Chatter, episode 52 – and it’s a very special episode of Britain’s least regular but much-loved motorcycling podcast because this is the first to be brought to you by the lovely people at

Bike Social (www.bikesocial.co.uk)!

 Front End Chatter is a podcast spoken at length by us, a right pair of motorcycle writers called Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and we chatter about every and any subject with two wheels and an engine: racing, news, new bikes, old bikes, and the issues that effect you, me and him (like what bike should you get next, how to ride, what kit to wear, and generally why things are the way they are). We don’t know all the answers (in fact we hardly know any of them) but we now people who do.

Bike Social – and if you’re not reading this on their website, WHY NOT? – is Britain’s most comprehensive biking website, packed with road test, new bikes, old bikes, features and news. It’s like a bike magazine, but on the web, created by Bennetts, the bike insurance people. Did I mention you can find it here: www.bikesocial.co.uk

So if you’re a long-time FEC listener, it’s good news because it means we’ll be coming in your ears twice a month.

 And if you’re a Bike Socialist, it means FEC will be brightening-up your browsing experience. We may even have a few other bits and bobs about the place after a while.

So, from now on, please get your Front End Chatter fix from www.bikesocial.co.uk – and it’s on with the chatter...

 This episode may contain nuts:

• MotoGP 2017 is nearly upon us, so we have look at the final test from Qatar and rate the chances of the major runners and riders courtesy of William Hill (other bookmakers are available)

• World Superbike, on the other hand, is underway and the burning question is: can the WSB racing from Thailand live up to the craziness of the opening Supersport 600 race from Phillip Island a few weeks ago?

• KTM 1290 Super Adventure v BMW R1200 GS Rallye Sport: we’ve been lucky enough ride both bikes recently – one in Portugal and one in Peru – so we compare our experiences and discover how one is genuinely capable off-road bike for novices while the other is one of the best road bikes in the world, in a frock. Plus, is semi-active suspension really ‘better’ than comparable standard suspension?

• more news on the Honda Africa Twin heated grip saga

• The best waterproof textile jacket and trouser combo for £400, with buying advice help from www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk

• why covering your bike in aftermarket tat isn’t the smartest idea

• why photochromic visors don’t go black faced with car headlights (it’s obvious)

• your five dream bikes

• why MotoGP bikes don’t have vacuum die-cast frames. Or do they?

Please send you questions and comment to: anything@frontendchatter.com

You can follow us on Twitter:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

Thank you for listening, thank you for your support, please listen to us and download from Bike Social at:

www.bikesocial.co.uk

Say hello to Front End Chatter Episode 51, a numerically insignificant episode that nonetheless contains much chatterage about:

• the opening round of World Super Brits from Phillip Island – although if you haven’t seen the racing you’ll be none the wiser afterwards because we watched it and still manage to get the race result wrong not once, but twice...

• MotoGP testing from the very same Phillip Island at which, it seems, “They’re all going really fast...”

Plus!

• how Ducati’s new SuperSport is less sports tourer, more sportsbike

• why Kawasaki’s new Z900 is a 123bhp entry-level naked bike

• and why the new Ninja 650 is, er, an entry-level bike with a full fairing

And there’s more:

We read out your lovely emails on subjects as wide and wonderful as:

• the great hi-viz debate – to yellow or not to yellow

• bike security in London

• the wisdom of modifying modern sportsbikes

• a comparison of the average increase in rider skill v the increase in motorcycle performance

• the great Honda Africa Twin underperforming heated grip and corroding spokes problems – BOTH SOLVED! Ish.

• why some new bikes are released with obvious problems you’d think the factory would sort during testing

• what’s the better choice – a six-grand Triumph Daytona 675 or Suzuki GSX-R750?

• why we should argue more often (‘no we shouldn’t’, etc)

• why photochromic visors are a good idea

• how FEC is ‘helping’ native Spanish-speakers with their English comprehension

• Honda’s DCT v quickshifters

• what bikes do we prefer – riding older, nostalgic machines or sampling the new stuff, with modern technology?

• how oe fitment tyres are completely different to aftermarket tyres with the same name from the same manufacturer

As ever, we remain humbly grateful for your continued ears. Thanking youse!

You can get us on:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

 And please email anything@frontendchatter.com with whatever thoughts stray across your mind

www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

Buy merch at www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter