Hello and welcome a fully festive, technically flawed, partially visual (which makes no sense to listeners in black and white) but otherwise entirely oral episode 129 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s favourite motorcycling podcast helmed by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons and kept afloat by the oceanic Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, all your two-wheeled needs digitally delivered via fibre optics (get well soon John!)

And this week on FEC we have:

• good news for Norton donors
• good news for scooter and moped manufacturers
• how the Covid pandemic has affected bike sales and how far and often we ride, and how it’s given us renewed motivation to do the things in 2021 we’ve always put off doing
• our favourite bikes of the year, and biggest disappointments
• what we’re looking forward to riding in 2021
• plus! Do you want an MV Agusta Turismo Veloce, or would a Tracer GT do the same thing? Or even a Z1000SX?
• would a Guzzi V85TT suit a novice off-road rider?
• is the NC500 really worth it?
• what’s Britain’s most picturesque motorway?
• is the 1998 Kawasaki ZX-9R C1 the most underrated sports tourer ever?

...and much much more.

Thanks again to Bennetts and BikeSocial, thanks to you for listening to us, supporting us and sending in your thoughts, queries, ponderings and questions to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

...and we hope you manage to have a great Christmas. See you in the New Year!

Ladies and gentlemens, pray welcome to Front End Chatter E128. Inside you’ll discover presentation by the ineffable Mr Simon Hargreaves and the inestimable Mr Martin Fitz-Gibbons, plus their delightfully delictatious Mr Ben Nets, the bike insurance specialist, and wwwbikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the webbage.

And in this episode of FEC we have:

• Mufga’s riding impressions of the new Aprilia RS660 (closes eyes, makes brum brum noises)
• and SiH’s riding impressions of the new Ducati Multistrada V4 (closes eyes, makes brum brum noises), in case anyone hadn’t been watching Bennetts YouTube channel, reading the website or picking up just about every UK bike magazine and newspaper in the last few weeks
• Marc Marquez going for third time lucky for arm operations, while FEC will henceforth be acting as medical advisor for DORNA on the grounds we have a better handle on what constitutes fitness to ride than they do
• why we shouldn’t dismiss Long Way Up with such offhand flippancy
• why do we measure bike tank size in litres and fuel consumption in mpg?
• how to – but really, why – pull a wheelie
• what should a rider do with their helmet when dismounting and walking about?
• what’s the best electric bike out there, and why?
• why oe tyres might not be perfectly not great, but it’s not the tyre manufacturer’s fault, it’s the bike manufacturer we should blame

Thanks to Bennetts and BikeSocial for their indulgence and please download FEC from www.bikesocial.co.uk if you can.

Thank YOU massively for indulging our nonsense, and please continue to populate the FEC sack with your thoughts, ideas, questions and nonsense of your own – write to anything@frontendchatter.com

You can catch us on the socials here:
@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

One more before Xmas! Yay! A Yuletide FEC.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 127, the slightly behind the curve episode, with Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves waffling along as usual – supported and enhanced by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the home of all things two-wheeled and powered by an engine, internally combustible or electric or, indeed, propelled by little more than an inappropriate fragrant emission.

And on the show this week we have:

• a new MotoGP World Champeen, and a slightly subdued Portimao ending to the craziest, least predictable and – let’s be honest – luckiest MotoGP season in modern history
  • the best Joan Mir stat you will ever hear
• new bikes for 2021, including:

– BMW’s S1000R, the bike with the wrong half of the fairing removed

 – Ducati’s Multistrada V4 which Simon hadn’t ridden, much, when the podcast came out, but which it subsequently turns out he had. It’s very confusing

– Ducati’s underrated SuperSport, now called a 950
– ...and the Panigale V4 SP, whatever that is

– Triumph 850 Sport, and how it replaces the world’s shortest-lived model, the Triumph Tiger 900
– Yamaha MT-09 Tracer and GT

– Yamaha’s track-only R6, and the death of the supersports 600

• PLUS! A brief dip into the FECsack and topics such as do track days matter when you’re over 50, is a Z900 RS Café better than a Z H2, tyre scrubbers, how come more people don’t commute on bikes, and much – a bit – more...

Many thanks to Bennetts and Bike Social for their continued patronage, and many thanks to you, dear listener, for lending us your ears... and please keep sending your thoughts, musings and life stories to us here:

anything@frontendchatter.com

You can get us on the Socials:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Cheers ma dears.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most paracorded motorcycling podcast Fronted by Simon Hargreaves, Ended by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Chattered by www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And in E126 we have:
• Yamaha's overhauled, uprated and enlarged (but not in the way you might have read) MT-09
• Martin's unnatural desire to buy a Piaggio MP3, as winter-hack path to an almost equally irrational Aprilia RS660
• the usual ramblings on MotoGP including where in the world is Marc Marquez, has he been moonlighting as his own brother, and what does this all mean for the 2020 title? 
• plus emails on topics as wide-ranging as more small acts of human kindness, the IOW Diamond Races (or not), ugly features on otherwise not ugly bikes, the difference between buying the first bike you look at and the bike you look at first, why under- (or over-) inflating a tyre for an extended stint on a motorway might not be a good idea, and the real reason you want to adjust your suspension.

Thanks for letting us into your ears, hope the new lockdown and winter aren't too savage for you, and please email us your further thoughts, comments and/or questions to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

Hello and welcome for Front End Chatter, Britain’s best biking podcast, and Episode 125 of the aforementioned, presented by him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves. And we are, as ever, enabled and legitimised by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the wonderful world of woking on the web.

And in this fun-sized Mars Bar of an episode we chatter about:

• how IAM observers are like twitchers
• what’s the best 125 ever, why isn’t it the Varadero, and are modern 125s better than classic 125s?
• how to topple off an Africa Twin and an F800GS in style
• how far can you go on a Zero SRF, and still get back in a day?
• wet MotoGP from Le Mans including an uncannily prescient Martin suggesting Covid could play a part in sideling riders THE DAY BEFORE a viral Rossi misses a couple of rounds
• loads of chat about Ducati’s new V4 Granturismo motor powering the new Multistrada – how it’s bigger, but smaller, lasts longer, makes more power but less torque, and where has the whole Desmo business gone? And why?
• a natter about details of Aprilia’s RS660, as Martin from the past pays a visit to remind us his half of FEC worked all that stuff out a year ago. Apart from the price.
• all before we dive into the FEC sack with its usual barrage of good points, corrections and fab stories.

Please email us all your thoughts and questions to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Thank you very much for listening, please spread the word, leave us a review on iTunes, and if it’s not too late and you’re in the US – VOTE!

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hurrah for wet roads, diminishing daylight and dropping temperatures. We’re so excited about the onset of winter. Excited, excited, excited. Apparently, a study of the moods of the Nordic peoples shows a successful strategy for coping with long periods of little sunshine – and Seasonal Affective Disorder – may be to simply develop a positive attitude toward it. Literally, repeating “I am excited about <insert name of thing you really hate here>” has been shown to reduce anxiety.

So we’re excited, excited and excited to invite you into Fronty End Prongs, episode 124, brought to you by Bennetts, the people who offer amazing discount deals and offers with bike insurance thrown in, and the world of motorcycling at www.bikesocial.co.uk. Please remember to wipe your feet on the way in and your bum on the way out.

And this week Simon and Mufga natter about:

• autumn – why?
• why Dumfries and Galloway is a good place to ride a bike
• why we don’t review bikes any more
• BMW’s new M1000RR and why it’s failing to light Mufga’s fire
• future Mufga pays us a visit down the time tunnel
• Triumph’s Trident – what it is and how much it should cost
• high speed MotoGP review
• where, or not, to get up-to-date info on MotoGP engine use
• advice for your second track day
• is the current lack of spectators at race events sustainable, and if the racing has to change, how will it change?
• is buying a bike while under the influence a good idea?

...and much, much more.

Thanks for listening, and let’s do this again in a fortnight.

Please send thoughts, questions and musings to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Keep up with Simon and Mufga on the socials:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s nicest motorcycling podcast, with Simon H & Mufga, punctuated and perforated by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and BikeSocial.co.uk, home of news, views, road tests and Jammie Dodgers.

And on this month’s – hang on, it’s been a month? – we chatter about:

• the closest, craziest MotoGP season since records began with exploding brakes, exploding forearms, exploding engines, first-time winning teams, bikes and riders, unlikely crashes and testing pit-to-bike radios
• why World Superbike is worth watching this year
• the merits or otherwise of Ewan and Charley’s Long Way Up, on Harley Livewires
• does Regina’s new M-Endurance chain signal the end of lubing and adjusting?
• is the FIM’s criteria for five push-ups really sufficient to determine a human’s fitness to ride a MotoGP bike?
• do bike journos adjust test bike suspension to suit their preference?
• do men really ask their partners for ‘permission’ to buy a new bike?
• the wisdom of repairing a puncture with a proper kit v a self-tapping screw
• how to start racing and which is the best bike or series to choose?
• which is the best hypersportsbike for a bit of pillion action?
• has the rise of social media bike content and the decline of print media brought younger riders into motorcycling?

Plus much more (well, a bit).

Thank you for listening and supporting Front End Chatter; please email your questions, thoughts and queries to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

And catch FEC on the socials at

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello und velcome, friends, to Front End Chatter Episode 122 in which Simone and Marion chatter endlessly, augmented into three dimensions under the auspices of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and BikeSocial.co.uk, the finest accumulation of news, sport, views, product tests and road tests ever to grace the ether.

And this week – well, what do you reckon? Let’s talk about the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix Von Österreich. Topics include:

• who’s to blame for that crash?
• is the circuit safe?
• why did Ducati apparently provoke Dovi into sacking himself?
• if riders could be somehow 100% protected from all harm and injury in crashes, would we still find racing such a compelling spectacle?
• is ‘safer’ inherently a) less exciting than dangerous, and b) is it inversely proportional to speed?

Plus

• is Honda BSB rider Andy Irwin a liability ?
• what’s not the correct method for transporting a guitar on a bike?
• more ‘heaviest things you’ve carried on a bike’, and why it might include 14 bottles of Jerez brandy, 24 bottles of Kronenburg and 45 multipacks of Orbit chewing gum
• don’t buy the first bike you see, unless it’s not the first bike you’ve seen
• more rear brake cornering advice
• is it worth chopping in a 2005 R1200 GS for the new R1250 GS?
• is a Sur Ron Light Bee (a sort of electric mountain bike) the future of biking?
• which bike has the best-sounding standard exhaust note?
• which is better: Triumph’s old Tiger 800, new Tiger 900, old Tiger 1200 or even older Tiger 1050? And what will Triumph’s almost certain new Tiger 1200 have a grumbly T-plane crank, and will it come with a 30-litre tank Adventure option?

And muchly much more gossip and slander. Don’t sue us. We’re skint anyway.

Thanks again to Bennetts and BikeSocial – but especially to you, for listening and putting up with us – and please keep your emails of thoughts, observations, jokes and questions coming to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

And get us on the socials at:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Ta-raa.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E121, Britain’s most aromatic motorcycling podcast, presented by the fragrant Simon Hargreaves and the perfumed Martin Fitz-Gibbons – and supported as ever by the mellifluous niff emanating from the guys and gals of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and the aromatic scent wafting from www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the interweb.

And on this edition of FEC we natter about:

• details of the proposed Isle of Wight Diamond Races – Britain’s first new road race in modern times – and ask how likely it is to happen, who's paying for it, and what do the islanders have to say – plus, a detailed look at the layout and quality of the circuit itself
• action from MotoGP from Jerez #2, including the wisdom of racing with broken bones
• action from WSB at, er, Jerez again
• more electrical issues and who can solve them
• is there such a thing as a good, cheap, sporty V-twin?
• does comfort matter on a naked bike? 
• have sportsbikes got too radical and would a Superleggera outsell a GS if it was the same price?
• what does 'best bike of 2020' actually mean?

...and loads more!

Please send your emails of thoughts, musings, questions and offers of free Fazer 1000s to anything@frontendchatter.com

Thank you very much for continuing to grace our chattering with your ears, please continue to support Bennetts with your dollars, BikeSocial with your eyes and MCN and RiDE and Practical Sportsbikes with your dollars and your eyes.

You can get us on the socials:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to FEC120, the 120th episode of not the UK’s most popular automotive podcast but one of them. As ever, we are indebted to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – and check out www.bikesocial.co.uk for the kind of comprehensive investigative consumer journalism you can’t find anywhere else.

However, if it isn’t comprehensive investigative consumer journalism you want but a pair of gas-bags waffling instead, here’s what’s in store for you in episode 120:

• does a necktube count as a face mask?
• a scatter-gun and largely incoherent round-up of MotoGP from Jerez #1 – including:
  - should riders be allowed to race with broken bones, and is the ‘medical’ tough enough?
  - will the championship result be any less significant if the favourite is injured?
  - should Repsol team manager Alberto Puig be allowed to troll other riders?
  Plus!
• goodbye to the Honda Ron Haslam Race School
• does just the thought of selling a bike mean eventually selling becomes inevitable?
• which is the best Multistrada: original 1200S, Skyhook version, Pikes Peak, Enduro or 950?
• if a bike is SORN, is it worth MOTing it?
• should you try your first track day without tuition?
• what’s the future of bike magazines?
• what happens to press demo bikes?
• do phone cameras fail when they’re used on bikes as sat navs?
• is it safe to plug a tyre puncture with a plug kit?

...plus loads more...

Thanks for listening, please get your insurance from Bennetts – it helps the world keep turning – and take advantage of the Rewards scheme! Get your bking info from www,bikesocial.co.uk, plus RiDE, MCN and Practical Sportsbikes magazine!

Keep your questions, thoughts, musings and jokes coming to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

And get us the Twitters and Instas:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

x

Hello and welcome to possibly the final lock-down episode of Front End Chatter, the motorcycling podcast that reaches the parts upon which other podcasts fear to tread. Thanks as always and eternally to that repository of all that is knowledgeable and wise, BikeSocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And in episode 119, Martin and Simon chatter about:

• revving up for the return of MotoGP at Jerez with more speculation about who goes where in 2021, and guessing who’s going to win
• the great biennial KTM giveaway
• is Arai’s Pro Shade: inelegant solution or just naff?
• is taking weight off your bike’s flywheel a good idea, and can it improve handling?
• track days are back in action, but how safe are they post-lockdown?
• after six years and 119 episodes, what are our FEC highlights?
• how would riders who ride in POLITE vests react if they were asked to do actual police work?
• what’s the biggest thing you’ve carried on the back of your bike?
• what’s the best post-Direct Access bike for a new rider, for around £4000, apart from Honda’s CBR650F?
• what to look for when buying your first bike, and how to try not to buy one with a shagged gearbox without getting a test ride
• the pros and cons of commuting on so-called ‘exotic’ bikes, and is Husqvarna’s Nuda 900 the ideal exotic commuter?
• how high can you drop a helmet from before it’s knackered?

Thanks for listening, downloading and being all-round good eggs. Please visit www.bikesocial.co.uk,get your insurance from Bennetts, and subscribe online through the Bikes Unlimited app to MCN, RiDE, Bike, Practical Performance Sportsbikes and Billet, the magazine about temporary civilian lodgings for soldiers.

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the occasionally number one motorcycling podcast in Iceland and, now, Singapore. This is episode 118 in a series we can confidently state contains at least 118 episodes recorded from the orals of Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, a pair of motorcycle journalists who’ve both forgotten more than they ever knew anyway.

Eternal thanks to that font (sans serif) www.bikesocial.co.uk – all your two-wheeled infotainment emanating from one convenient portal (and YouTube) – and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts who not only insure your motorcycle but also add all kinds of benefits and bonuses; discounts, offers and competitions. Quite the array of offers should you so be inclined, as indeed you should.

Anyway, to matters in hand: in this episode of FEC we have:
• more speculation on the MotoGP merry-go-round of who’s signed for who and who’s not signed for anyone and who might be getting the Herr Flick
• disgraced Norton ex-boss Stuart Onions is required to pay back £14m of other people's money he no longer has
• Yamaha release details of the Ténéré 700 Rally, which may or may not be the best-looking bike of 2020
• Ducati launch the Superleggera in an exclusive ride at Mugello, and it's really fast and really expensive and sounds nice, aye
Plus!
• our favourite rides of all time
• the perils of using a phone as a sat nav
• keep the GSX-R750 or get an SV650X or a Tiger? 
• why tracing fuelling faults is the worst job in the world
• why aren't photo-reactive visors more common? 
• the problem with carbon fibre wheels
...and much more including Simon's sandwich recipe and Martin's biking spirit guide revealed. 

Thanks for watching with your ears, and you'll hear from us again soon!

@SimonHBikes
@Mufga

Halló og velkomin to Front End Chatter E117, briefly the most popular automotive podcast in the whole of Iceland (a country renowned for its exquisite and most excellent taste) and also, briefly, the second-most popular automotive podcast in the UK (er, yes, them too).

Great bundles of thanks to the hominids at Bennetts BikeSocial – improve everyone’s lives and get your bike insurance from Bennetts and your biking infotainment from www.bikesocial.co.uk (and their YouTube channel).

Right, on this week's episode we have chatter about: 
• The return of racing, with condensed schedules proposed for MotoGP and BSB – and which riders will benefit?
• Rider line-ups for 2021 taking shape, with him there and him going there, does that mean he won't go there? 
• no Motorcycle Live in 2020 – so what new bikes will we see in 2021, and where can we see them?
• why do manufacturers make bikes with small fuel tanks? 
• the four-wheel Honda powered by an Africa Twin engine
• how to fit earplugs properly, and are foam plugs better than custom-made plugs?
• with touchscreens and electronics, are bikes getting too complicated for their own good? 
• will voice-activation be a thing for bikes in the future? 
• ...and much, much more, no, really. 

Thanks again for supporting us, please leave a review on iTunes, visit bikesocial.co.uk and get your insurance from Bennetts, follow us on Twitters at @SimonHBikes and @Mufga and email your thoughts, musings, questions and insults to:
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.

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.