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, 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

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, episode 75 of Britain's sweariest motorcycling podcast, presented before your ears by two motorcycle journalists called, literally, Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and furthermore enabled by the humungous humanoids at the UK's most enhanced two-wheeled web experience, otherwise known as www.bikesocial.co.uk – which is itself a mere digit on the mighty, but gentle, hand of Bennetts, the bike insurance people. 
Among the topics for discussion today are: 
• Is the TT more important than MotoGP?

• MotoGP silly season, including why Lorenzo will never, in a million years, take a seat at Repsol Honda, oh, he just did... 

• TT latest including the unbelievably spectacular riding at this year's race, some slightly troubling consequences, and what's the point of the Superbike class?

• How many horsepowers do we a) need, b) want and c) can use?...  

• ... and where does Ducati's V4 Panigale sit on that scale? 

• What are the worst bikes ever (and haven't we been here before)?

• What effect will Yamaha's Niken have, if any, on motorcycling?

...and much, much less. More. I meant more. 

Thank you very much for listening, please visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for 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 – to anything@frontendchatter.com

Simon on Twitter @SimonHBikes

Martin on Twitter @Mufga

 

We’re back!

Welcome to Britain’s most paternal motorcycling podcast, Front End Chatter Episode 74, supported by the infinite patience of our friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk, in association with Bennetts, the bike insurance specalists... and while we can’t quite make up for lost time, we can chatter about a bunch of stuff including:

• armchair gossip about current MotoGP shenanigans – mostly from Argentina, for whom no-one is crying apart from Marc Marquez who, upset at not being disqualified for riding the wrong way up the track, went on to effectively disqualify himself from the race, several times over – what is Marc Marquez on, is he becoming MotoGP’s bad boy, and is he heading for a biggie?
• a bit of catch-up with WSB and BSB, including a refreshingly new look to the top step of the BSB podium at Donington in the shape of a myopic mop-head from Kent called Bradley Ray...
• ...plus a bit of chat about Triumph’s Tiger 1200 XRT v BMW R1200GS TE Exec v Ducati’s Multistrada 1260S Touring v KTM’s 1290 S Super Adventure
  • ...and a bit about Kawasaki’s Z900RS v BMW’s RnineT Pure and Yamaha’s XSR900...
• ...and exactly how extraordinary is Kawasaki’s H2 SX SE?

Plus!

• what’s the point of KTM in MotoGP?
• does being a dad slow you down?
• which retro naked bike has the sportiest character?
• should Triumph release a Speed Triple RS half-faired sports tourer?
• can you do a track day on a BMW R1200 GS?
• is the VFR800Fi a future classic?
  • can we form an emotional attachment to an inanimate object?
• why do some bikes have unadjustable suspension that works, while some have adjustable suspension we struggle to set-up?
• why do journalists criticise adjustable suspension, then comprehensively fail to actually be bothered to adjust it?
• hello to Jason Isaacs
• what’s the best bike to get married on?

...and so much more!
Thank you for sticking with us, and please remember to visit www.bikesocial.co.uk to give us a Like.
You can catch us on the usual social media things they have now:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

...or on Front End Chatter’s Facebook page.

And please email your questions and thoughts to anything@frontendchatter.com

Hello and welcome to a slightly sweary, distinctly snowy Front End Chatter Episode 73, supported as ever by nos amis at BikeSocial (wwwbikesocial.co.uk) and Bennetts the bike insurers – and which ignores the current level of white precipitation (sounds iffy) while resolutely chattering on about:

• last weekend’s racing season opener, with World Superbike at Phillip Island – was it or wasn’t it dull, and what’s the difference between an exciting race and dull racing?
• recent MotoGP testes, and what’s the likely outcome of Tech 3 and Yamaha announcing their conscious uncoupling?

...and then FEC73 dives headlong into proper motorcycling and confronts pressing issues such as:

• the launch of Triumph’s new Speed Triple S and RS, and when is a hooligan not a hooligan?
• how does Triumph’s Daytona 675R rate against MV Agusta’s 675 and 800 F3s?
• is it only us thinking this, or have Triumph got some massive holes in their model line-up, and does that presage a completely new, large-capacity engine powering a range of new models in the near future?
• would we buy a Panigale 959 Corse if a) we wanted it and b) could afford it?
  • are some new bikes ‘better’ than other new bikes, and does it matter, or is modern motorcycling more about deciding what the bike feels like?
• what’s the wisdom of filming ourselves for vlogs – does it make motorcycling look bad?
• should we feel guilty about not using a bike all the time?
• how much does rider weight and fitness level affect our ability to ride a bike?

Plus there’s loads more of waffle about grid boys, why manufacturers build the bikes they build, and a satisfied FEC customer!
Thanks for listening, and please keep sending us your questions, thoughts and queries... and picking us up on our errors (that should get a few emails).
Email to: anything@frontendchatter.com

@Mufga

@SimonHbikes

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 72, Britain's most rambling, shambling biking podcast supported as ever by our gender-neutral comrades at www.bikesocial.co.uk (and definitely *not* .com) in association with Bennetts, the bike insurance people. It's like a great big biking family, packed with road tests, new bikes, used bikes, buying guides and kit git guides; come in, the water's lovely.
On a crammed FEC 72, Martin and Simon waffle about:
• Sepang MotoGP testing results
• the cancelled Welsh Road Races: why it's been postponed and how much damage has been done to the reputation of the organisers and a potential 2019 event – plus some sensible mathematics 
• a surprisingly measured and informed opinion on the great grid girls debate... from a man
• McGuinness signs to race the Norprilia at the TT
• news from the launches of the 2018 Honda Africa Twin Adventure Sports (not in Africa) and Triumph Tiger 800 (in Africa)
• embarrassing crashes, heart-breaking crashes and unpredictable crashes (aren't all crashes unpredictable?)  
• do we get the new bikes we want, or the bikes manufacturers think we want... and how are new bikes developed, anyway? 
• what were the best-selling bikes in Europe and who were the biggest manufacturers in 2017? 
Thank you for your ears, and please get in touch at anything@frontendchatter.com 
or on Twitter @SimonHbikes or @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s mostest biking podcast, supported by nos amis at Britain’s foremost and most comprehensive biking website, www.bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And in this week’s compact episode Simon (me) and Martin (him) natter about such diverse matters as:

• the second darkest winter in northern Europe since records began
• results from the Dakar rally, and whether the race is getting too tough (it’s not), and whether the IOM TT is harder
• will Michael Dunlop’s recent test on the MotoGP Suzuki GSX-R RR R at Sepang, Malaysia, presage an entry in the 2018 Senior TT, and do we think he was worried about taking to the track alongside MotoGP regulars?
• what else might or might not happen at the first MotoGP test session of 2018 at Sepang?
• why has Hutchy jumped on John McG’s ‘unlucky’ Honda Fireblade for next year’s TT?
• more news on the Ducati, Aprilia and KTM models affected by Brembo’s master cylinder recall
• first riding reports of Ducati’s V4 Panigale and Honda’s new Gold Wing are in – and if they’re as brilliant as everyone says, how can we tell when it seems like all new bikes are brilliant?

Plus (and sorry, we only have time for a few) your wonderful emails.

Thank you as ever for continuing to listen to our ramblings, and please get in touch at anything@frontendhchatter.com with your questions, thoughts, musings and chit-chat.

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 70, the world’s most eclectic motorcycling podcast, supported by www.biksocial.co.uk, the UK’s most informed and entertaining website, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

My name is Simon and that man over there is Martin, and today we’re nattering about:

• the masochism of riding in winter, and whether a hot bath at the end of it is worth the suffering
• the masochism of riding a Kawasaki H2 and an Enfield Himalayan in winter
• ...or the historical perspective of riding three generations of GSX-R750 on an old runway in Cornwall
• details of a Brembo brake recall in the USA; what it is, what bikes are affected, and whether there’ll be a recall in the UK
• how, despite the Kawasaki H2 SX and Yamaha Niken and BMW F850GS, the Kawasaki Z900RS might just be the best bike of 2018
• an enlightened approach to selling a used bike, and how faith should overcome fear...
• ...or just ask your local dealer to sell it for you
• why Honda’s Crossrunner is always overlooked when discussing used all-rounders
• the crazy new bike deals about last year, such as Honda’s Africa Twin DCT PCP deal of no deposit, 0% finance at £70 per month for three years – and the implications for the values of used Africa Twins
• how cold is too cold to go for a ride?
• and introducing the Hall Of FEC – what bikes are in, what bikes are out (starting with 2009 – which turns out to be a particularly bad year for new bikes)

Thanks for listening, please email your nominations for FEC’s Hall Of FEC, or indeed any other thoughts, questions, requests to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Thanks for listening!

@SimonHbike

@Mufga