Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 150, presented as ever by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialist, and bikesocial.co.uk, your one-stop on the interwebs for everything bike-related – and don’t forget to check out Bennetts’ YouTube channel with a stack of new bike launch videos, consumer advice and how-tos.

And on this Christmassy episode we have:

• Some bad bike jokes
• FEC at the NEC; our chat on stage with Mr Jamie James Whitham live at Motorcycle Live
• Triumph's new Tiger 1200 gets more from less
• BSA's Goldstar gets something from nothing
• Ducati's Desert X gets it white first time
• John McGuiness returns to Honda for the NW and TT
  
  Plus
• why Sargent seats are good
• how having kids changes motorcycling
• synthetic fuel alternatives to electric as the future
• ...and loads of chit-chat in between

Thanks to all of you for downloading and giving FEC a listen, please continue to spread the word, and please keep your thoughts, queries, questions and musings coming in to 
anything@frontendchatter.com

...Ands catch us both on the various socials:
@SimonHBikes
@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and is it that time already? This, in all its error-strewn glory, is episode 149 of the biking podcast presented by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves in which they attempt to steer a smooth path between pot-holes on the A87 of modern motorcycling, and avoid denting their rims. 

Front End Chatter is, as ever, proud to be supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and Bikesocial.co.uk, the best website in the world for getting all your motorcycling news, reviews, product tests, racing info and first rides of the latest bikes. 

And on FEC this week Simon fails to understand much about anything, leaving Martin to soldier on nattering about: 

• EICMA No-Show – the big Italian bike show normally flush with new bikes... but minus some big names this year...
• new Bimotas, Hondas – including the resurrection of the Hornet, by name at least – Kawasakis, Moto Guzzi and MV Agusta
• Toprak Razgatlioglu finishes the WSB season in dominant style by losing the final two races but winning the title
Plus samples from the FEC-sack, including:
• what would a bi-directional track day be like as a way of teaching on-road rider training?
• what bike would we love to ride but never want to own? 
• what bike would we love own despite there being more exciting rivals?
• what bikes were ahead of their time, failed, but would be a success now?
• what are our best, or closest, near misses?
• plus lots, lots more

Thanks for listening, please keep your mails coming to anything@frontendchatter.com

Come and see us at Motorcycle Live at the NEC on Thursday 9th at 11am, catch us on the socials:
@SimonHBikes
@Mufga

And thank you for your ears. 

Hello and welcome to episode 148 of the long-running motorcycling podcast otherwise known as Front End Chatter, presented before your brain by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons and supported like a bridge over troubled water by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and bikesocial.co.uk, the place to get all your bike news, reviews, product tests and racing.

And on this week’s episode Simon and Martin blather about:

• goodbye and farewell to you-know-who, managing to make the very last lap of his career one of his most impressive
  • what’s his legacy, what was his finest moment, and what was his worst?
• more MotoGP farewells from Petrucci and Mr Steve Day
• Marc Marquez’ eye injury – what does it mean long term for Marquez, Honda and Repsol?
• Jack Miller racing a Panigale V4 R in the Australian Superbike Championship
• the passing of Paul Smart, Ducati legend and all-round great bloke

Plus a bunch of new bike reviews:

• Ducati’s Multistrada V4 Pike Peak
• Honda’s NT1100 tourer
• Ducati’s ‘new’ Multistrada V2 S
• Aprilia’s Tuareg 660

And finally, news of the FEC800 Tour 2022 – and go see FEC at the NEC on Thursday 9th December on stage with James Whitham, where Simon and Martin will be talking bobbins about the best bikes of 2021 and what we’re looking forward to 2022…

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and episode 147 of the world’s most motorcycling podcast performed by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the number one place on the web to carbon capture all the info fit to eat on anything to do with news, new bikes reviews, gear guides and kit tests, used bike info and all manner of racing stuff. 

So on this episode of Front End Chatter we have a trundle on about:

• a new MotoGP champion, a retiring MotoGP champion and a MotoGP champion returning to form
• why are there no mean, moody bastards in racing any more, and do we miss them?
• WSB's knobbled Kawasakis and does it undermine the legitimacy of Yamaha's success? 
• Ducati's shock entry into the MotoE world cup
• new bike news including Honda's NT1100, Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GT, Ducati's Multistrada V2 and Triumph's Tiger 600 Sport
• good lids for oblong heads
• what are the best and worst adventure bikes to take on a track? 

All this and more in E147 of Front End Chatter. Thanks for listening, and please keep your emails, thoughts, queries and questions coming to: 
anything@frontendchatter.com
And also – if you fancy being part of a crowdfunded road test, check out Twitter: 
@SimonHbikes
@Mufga
And don't forget, only a couple of rooms left on the FEC800 Tour! Email for info!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E146, the UK’s most iambically pentametered motorcycling podcast, poetically performed and produced by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and perennially supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the happeningiest place to go for offers, deals and square meals – if you can buy it for your bike or your riding life, you can get discounts and cool points with Bennetts BikeSocial. Fact.

And on this episode of FEC we have:

• Bagnaia and Bastianini go big in Misano, plus a bit of wow from Aragon the week before
• A look at the career of Chaz Davies, who’s called WSB a day, so... see you at Darley Moor
• Suzuki’s new GSX-S1000 GT – is it good value or not, and should we be excited or not?
• Ducati’s Desert-X – a Multistrada in an off-road frock? Or an entirely new ‘middleweight’ adventure bike (we don’t invent these categories... oh, hang on, we do)
• Triumph’s new Tiger 1200, with a T-plane crank, and how it’ll fare against BMW’s R1250 GS – featuring the return of the Mufgulator and some educated guesses on the Tiger's actual capacity, bore x stroke, and a prediction on its power output
• Plus more of your thoughts, musings and questions from the FEC-sack
  
  Thanks for listening, and keep an eye out for details of the FEC800, a tour around Scotland's Greatest Hits in May 2022 and to which you are all cordially invited to ride with Simon and Martin, and drink beer in the evening. Full details on the socials: 
  
  @SimonHbikes
  @Mufga
  
  
  

Hello and go away to Front End Chatter, the UK’s most motorcycling podcast featuring aural nonsense from Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. This is episode 145, supported and nourished by Bennetts Bike Social; so much more than just bike – and now car – insurance: check out their website to discover the multifarious munificent benefits of membership. And, if you’re at all interested in Yamaha’s Tracer 9 GT v Triumph’s Tiger 900 GT Pro v BMW’s F900XR v Kawasaki’s Versys 1000 SE GT, check out the road test video at https://youtu.be/C5SJO6trgz8

Anyway, on this week’s moany, miserable-ass FEC we have:

• on-the-scenes goss from the British MotoGP at Silverstone, including why Mufga loved being there on Saturday and Simon hated it
• Dorna’s race feed going down just before the race
• Marquez crashing out *again* and why he’s the crashingiest rider this season
• Aprilia’s... we can’t call it a resurrection so let’s just call it an erection...
• WSB gets a mention with some fab racing from Magny Cours – and some scandalous losing
• more new bikes from Triumph with a teaser for the all-new Tiger 1200 and leaked shots of the new Speed Triple RR
• ...and the new Moto Guzzi V100 – all-new water-cooled engine, with fins, with fairly *interesting* looks...

Plus the FEC sack, including:

• changing pads to change braking character
• re-setting the quickshifter on an S1000XR
• a touching story about becoming emotionally attached to items of bike clothing
• when is a tubeless tyre not a tubeless tyre? Answers please, because we don’t know...

And much, much more – including more info on the first, and perhaps only, FEC Tour coming in May 2022...

Thank you for listening, please keep your questions and thoughts coming in to:

anything@frontedchatter.com

And get us on the socials:

@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 144, Britain’s – nay, the world’s – most irreverent motorcycling podcast, with Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. Thanks as ever to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web, for their unwavering support (especially while the new wing of Chatter Manors is built).

And on this week’s episode we have:

• what year would Kenny Roberts Snr have retired if he’d had Rossi’s career longevity?
• excerpts from the Secret Diary Of Maverick Vinales, Age 14 and a half, and does he need sympathy or a stiff talking-to, or possibly both?
• ...but if you think Vinales’ behaviour is odd, wait until you hear what Miguel Oliveira’s been up to
• ...and we finally get an explanation as to why Rossi’s not come first for ages
• plus, the will-they/won’t-they Isle Of Wight road race saga continues
• ex-Norton boss Stuart Garner is in the dock
• Triumph’s new half-faired sporty-ish Speed Triple 1200RR...
• ...and Triumph’s also new Tiger 660, based on the Trident
• speculation about Yamaha’s sporty MT-09, the R9
• can we put E10 fuel in our tanks? Mufga has the answer (for SV650s)
• plus your FEC sack queries and thoughts...

PLUS! A vague hint about a potentially forthcoming FECing tour of Scotland sometime next year – gauging interest, what do you think? Fancy going for a big ride with Simon and Martin, involving bikes, beer and banter? Let us know at FECtours@frontendchatter.com

Thanks super so much for ears and support, please keep the FEC mails with your thoughts, queries and mad ideas coming in to anything@frontendchatter.com

Get us on the socials:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Welcome, friends, to Front End Chatter E143 – the one hundred and forty third time Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, some-time motorcycle journalists past and present, have sat, stood and otherwise presented themselves before a pair of microphones and spoken unto them, sometimes with funny accents. 

And special thanks to our sponsors and friends at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk where you can find new bike news, racing, buying guides, used reviews, and gear guides – and don't forget their Youtube channel!

And on this episode of Front End Chatter:

• The GOATI (Greatest Of All Time Ish) announces his retirement: not a moment too soon, or wailing and gnashing of teeth?
• all the spills and thrills... yes, count them... from the Styrian MotoGP, let’s call it Austria #1 between friends
• Aprilia’s new Tuareg 660, the third model in the popular parallel twin series, picked apart on paper
• if you could buy your first bike back now, would you restore it to its original condition or put it back to how you last rode it?
• What's the best sportsbike to buy now as an investment? 
• weren't the 1990s great?
  
  All this and more on FEC143. Thanks for lending us your ears, please tell your fwends about us, please keep sending us your thoughts, musings and questions to
  
  anything@frontendchatter.com
  
  and download us from www.bikesocial.co.uk 
  
  @SimonHbikes
  @Mufga
  
  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E142, and right up front please accept sincere apologies for the lousy sound quality – the usual recording room at Chatter Manors has been flooded by an unfortunate incident involving a blockage in the sceptic tank and Ron, the missing handyman, who, it transpires, is in fact the blockage. Thus Simon and Martin have been forced to squeeze into the only room in Chatter Manors that isn't knee-deep in effluent – which is, ironically, the downstairs toilet complete with its unfavourable podcasting acoustics. It might have an echo but at least it's not swimming in raw sewerage. Although some might suggest the two have a lot in common.  

None of this is the fault of Britain's best bike insurance specialists, Bennetts, nor indeed BikeSocial, who both are blissfully unaware of the infernal plumbing irregularities plaguing Chatter Manors.

Anyway, assuming you can tolerate the infuriating slapback delay, here's what's in store on FEC this week:

• Isle Of Wight Races are back on – or are they? 
• Triumph's plans to race enduro and motocross 
• Cal Crutchlow subs for Morbidelli at Silverstone and Austria x 2
• who's done more for motorcycling: Keanu Reeves or Tom Cruise?
• when are you too old to ride an MV Agusta? 
• when are brakes too good, and how do you make them worse?
• why isn't more love given to Kawasaki's 2004 ZX-10R? 

All this and lots more on this week's Front End Chatter, brought to you from the echo chamber. Please keep your thought, ideas, mad plans and questions coming to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

Get Simon and Martin on the socials
@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

Hello and welcome to E141 of that Front End Chatter they have nowadays, spoken with words by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves and supported, enabled and legitimised by our fwends at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists (and yes, they will insure a Tuono!), and Bike Social, the bike club that gives you access to discounts, track days, events and competitions – as well as running the most up-to-date and informative biking website and YouTube channel, at www.bikesocial.co.uk

And on this episode we have: 
• how Suzuki's Hayabusa is still the go-to bike for old-school performance
• how Suzuki's revamped 2021 GSX-S1000 is much, much better than the previous version
• why WSB might be worth watching
• how Norton are still getting it wrong
• does Harley-Davidson's history of 'breakout' models bode ill for the Pan America?
• are UK bikers more conformist these days?
• do riders from different countries ride differently?

All this and much much more!

Thanks for listening, and please keep your thoughts, queries, arguments and ideas coming to anything@frontendchatter.com

Get Mufga and Simon on the socials
@Mufga
@SimonHbikes 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 140 – in which Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves (supported and nurtured by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of biking on the web) natter at length about:

• the Dutch TT at Assen and very much about the future of one Maverick Vinales – and where *is* his head at?
• BMW’s new R1300GS and why it might not be what everyone thinks it might be
• news of Mufga’s SV650 renovation
• which sporty middleweight twin for the larger gent and costing around £8000
• which regular commuter middleweight
• what’s the best way to park a bike upright that isn’t a paddock stand?
• when do you tell a mechanically incompetent friend not to touch his bike?
• ...and much, much more...

Thanks for listening, please tell your friends and spread the FEC word, thanks again to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk – and:

Send your thoughts, musings, arguments and questions to:
anything@frontendchatter.com
And get Simon and Mufga here on the socials: 
@SimonHBikes
@Mufga

Hello and welcome to episode 139 of Front End Chatter, the marvellous motorcycling podcast supported and, indeed, buoyed by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web.

And on FEC this week we have:

• young Fabio’s habit of getting his boobs out, and the propriety of doing it on the last laps of a MotoGP race

• plans to livestream the 2022 TT, plus more racing in 2023
• where we stand on Ana Carrasco’s balls
• Simon’s latest headphone revelations

Plus!

• more on where to your feet when you’re riding
• if you haven’t got a bike, are you still a biker?
• what would you do and where would you ride if you knew you had limited time left?
• are electric bikes *really* green or is it just a great big hypocrisy?

And much, much more!

Thanks for listening, please support Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk with your patronage, email your thoughts, questions and musings to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

And catch us on Twitter and Insta

@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello and benvenuto to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most tardy motorcycling podcast with Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. And why not. And, lest we forget, grazie to our wonderfully benevolent benefactors Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, from who you can secure not only, some say, the most competitive insurance premiums in the business, but who also are the only bike insurers who plough so much back into motorcycling – where do you want your cash to go? Into the pockets of fat cat shareholders using retired racers as a PR stunt for an existing bike insurance broker? Or actually back into motorcycling and, full disclosure, into our pockets?

Right, on Episode 138 of FEC we natter about:

• MotoGP from Mugello, in which the racing was overshadowed by the death of Moto3 talent Jason Dupasquier in qualifying. But the racing went ahead anyway: should it? Plus why can't Marc Marquez and Alex Rins stay upright? 
• we also natter about Yamaha’s R7 (we wuz rite)
• why southern Italy is a cool place to ride a bike
• why a 2021 Tracer 9 GT is a good bike to ride it on
• why a 2021 BMW S1000 XR maybe isn't
• and Simon's completely unbiased opinion of Bridgestone's new Battlax T32 sport touring tyres (cheque to the usual please Mr Stone)

Plus!

• do we still have to deduct a Covid year of not riding from a helmet's life? 
• should we give Harley's Pan Am a chance?
• if adventure bikes are the bikes for all occasions, and we don't like scooters, what doe we think of Honda's X-ADV? 
• should a first-time A2-licence bike owner go for a project bike or a new/used bike - and what's the best pillion A2 bike? 

All this and much more! Is this the longest FEC ever? 

Many thanks again to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk, please remember to like and subscribe and leave a review on iTunes, please send your questions, queries and thoughts to anything@frontendchatter.com
And please follow/get in touch on Twitter and Insta
@Mufga
@SimonHBikes

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 137 in the long-running series of 137 so far, in which Simon H and Mufga, a pair of motorcycling outfluencers, talk about motorbikes and motorcycling – and are supported in their endeavour by the mighty Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the wonderful world of widing on the web.

In this episode we have:

• MotoGP from Portugal, wherein did Marc Marquez return to the fray and managed to score more points in one race than Valentino Rossi has in the first three. And although his body may be weak, it took but a few minutes to discover the Marquez spirit is still strong.
• a brief summation of a first ride on KTM’s new 1290 Super Adventure S
• a few impressions from the first big trips on Suzuki’s 2021 Hayabusa
• and Mufga’s final road test (maybe for a while, maybe not) on Aprilia’s Tuono 660
• how hot is too hot to ride a bike?
• best tourer for a six-footer with a sportsbike background?
• why a Kawasaki KLX230 might the answer to reliving your biking youth (if you could buy it in the UK)
• best sporty all-round tyres for a custom-built Suzuki SV650…
• …should used scrubs from racing be used on the road?

…all this and much, of so much, more!

Thanking you muchly for listening; please keep your thoughts, observations and questions coming in to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

And you get us on the socials, here:
@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Aye! Till the next time, whenever it is.

Hello and welcome to Episode 136 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most chocolatey motorcycling podcast. 

Thank you to Bennetts, the suspenders to our stockings, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the internet's repository of all that is wise and current about motorcycling. A

And in this episode Simon and Martin rattle on about: 

• MotoGP is back! Two races from Qatar, a veritable oasis of human rights, and a few lefts, in the desert – where, true to current MotoGP form, there is literally and metaphorically no form book. 
• Suzuki's Hayabusa gets ragged up a runway fo some speed figures, and reveals the result of its engine changes
• Triumph unveil the TE-1 – their electric Speed Triple [it's not a triple - Ed] and even cynics are taking an interest [will the first test be written by Sir Alan Cathode? Hahhaahha – Ed]
• and a deep dive into the FEC sack, with wide ranging questions such as:
• which Scrambler is the best?
• are there any bike models in which the bike with the smaller engine is better than its bigger brother?
• are illegally ridden electric mountain bikes putting kids off 'proper' motorbikes? 
• advice on new bikes and rubbish tyres
...and much, much more. 

Thanks again to the patron saints of FEC – Bennetts and BikeSocial – and please keep you thoughts, questions, queries and musings coming to: 
anything@frontendchatter.com
And get Simon: 
@SimonHBikes
And Martin:
@Mufga

Laters!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the world’s most self-deprecating motorcycling podcast in which, for the 135th time, Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons talk two wheels into a microphone. FEC is supported by Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the web’s central repository of all the news, new bike reviews, product tests and touring info worth a read.

And on this week’s FEC we have:

• the season hasn’t even begun yet, but MotoGP testing from Qatar has already produced a long list of winners and losers, and raised more questions than it answered:
• will Dovi race an Aprilia this season?
• when will Marc Marquez return?
• who will be Yamaha’s top rider?
• will this be Rossi’s last season?

Plus we have gossip about:

• a potential return for the R7 name, but not as we know it
• when buying a crash helmet, do you get better protection the more you spend?
• is a KTM SUperDuke GT a better sports tourer than a Kawasaki Z1000SX or a new Yamaha Tracer 9 GT?
• where should we put our feet, part II
• what’s Moto Guzzi’s next step?
• is a 2021 FireBlade really a better road bike than a 2011 model?
• what’s the best bike for a motorcycling Rip Van Winkle?

All this and more! Get it while it’s hot!

Thanks for listening and please continue to fire in your emails with thoughts, musings, meanderings and mutterings to:

anything@frontendhcatter.com

And catch Simon and Mufga on the socials:

@Mufga
@SimonHBikes

Hello and welcome to Episode 134 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most scatterbrained motorcycling podcast featuring the musical talents of Martin 'Maverick Not Vinales' Fitz-Gibbons and Simon 'Iceberg Lettuce' Hargreaves. Apparently it's the seventh anniversary of Front End Chatter. Happy birthday to us.  

We are enabled and besotted with Bennetts, the Bike Insurance specialists – yes, ask them nicely and they'll do their best to help, as proven by Mufga – and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the web. 

And on this week's episode we chatter about: 

• which bikes from the 1990s Performance Bikes archives did *exactly* 134.0mph?
• Harley-Davidson's Pan Am adventure bike and what we can glean from the – let's not be coy – frankly amazing spec. Is it too good to be true? And is it ugly or good-looking? 
• the return of Buell, which probably isn't actually
• Keanu Reeves' virtual sex
• Suzuki's Hayabusa, with an explanation by Suzuki as to why it makes less power – and does it matter? 
• will the battery-swapping tie-up between Honda, Yamaha, KTM and Piaggio make any difference to the acceptance of electric bikes?
• what's the best road to the West Coast of Scotland?
• what bike from the last ten years will go to be collectable in the next ten? 

All this and much, much more. Thanks for listening and continuing to support the podcast with your magnificent ears, we really do appreciate it. Please keep your thoughts, queries, questions and musings coming to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

...and please download from www.bikesocial.co.uk if you can. 

Find Simon and Martin on the socials: 
@SimonHBikes
@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most pancake-powered biking podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, Britain’s most pancaked motorcycle journalists. And Front End Chatter is, as ever, made from the plain flour and two eggs of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world’s most comprehensive motorcycling website.

And on this episode of Front End Chatter we have:

• how do you like your pancakes?
• full details of Suzuki’s 2021 Hayabusa, including some thinking behind that headline power deficit over the old bike…
• Martin’s new bike – what’s he got and why’s he got it?
• how cool would an adventure bike rally-cross race at the Isle of Man be?
• how will a proposed naked superbike class effect the prospects of up-and-coming young riders on an international stage?
• wouldn’t it be cool if Triumph lay on a Speed Triple one-make series to promote the new bike?
• the pros and cons of the Rekluse auto clutch system
• fuelling and throttle snatch – why, oh why does it exist?
• why is fuel injection less efficient than carbs?

… all this and much more chattering!

Thanks for listening and supporting the pod, and please keep your emails and questions coming to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

And catch us on the socials:

@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and episode 132 of the long funning ramily drama in which ranty old seadog Simon Hargreaves (played by Oliver Reed, in his final screen role), rattling around alone in the east wing of Chatter Manors, is faced with moral bankruptcy and can only be saved by the intervention of the saintly Martin Fitz-Gibbons (played by Peter O’Toole in his final screen role). Together they form an unlikely alliance with Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists (played by Alan Bennett, in his final screen role) and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of biking on the web (played by Meryl Strepsil, in her final screen role).

And there are some motorbikes in all this, in case you’re new round here.

And in this episode, Simon and Martin chatter about:

• a new Suzuki Hayabusa they know nothing about, but which you, by now, do – was we right or was we right?
• Triumph’s new and rather impressively spec’d Speed Trip
• KTM’s updated but also impressive 1290 Super Adventure with rude tyres
• Are BMW really not going to bike shows any more?

And in the FEC sack, we have topics as varied as:

• how to secure your helmet to your bike when going walkabout
• how to ride over potholes and bumps (at speed)
• what do electric bikes have to achieve to find widespread acceptance?
• what makes a bike exceed expectations?
• what’s the Five Nations Tour?
• when is a Vyrus not a virus?

...and much, much more...

Thank you for downloading and listening, and sending your thoughts, ideas and questions to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

And thanks to Bennetts and BikeSocial for continued support!

Get Simon and Martin on the socials at:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E131, Britain’s favourite and longest serving motorcycling podcast, possibly either or, who’s counting? What’s for sure is we’re indebted and abetted by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, the marvellous motorcycling website.

And on FEC this week, Simon and Martin chatter about:

• Triumph’s new Speed Triple 1200 RS – how big will it be really, is it bored and/or stroked, and will Triumph go after hyper-naked revs and power, or keep the Speed Trip a raunchy but slightly more useful super-naked?
• when is a spy shot not a spy shot?
• guesswork around Aprilia’s new RSV4 and Tuono, for whom the passenger has always been a "barely tolerated guest" according to Aprilia – and wouldn’t it be nice if they made a CapoNord V4?

We also dive in the FEC sack and ponder delights such as:

• when is it too cold to get your pegs down and why motorcycling shouldn't be a faith-based activity
• where should we put our feet when we're riding?
• how racing isn't necessarily a mandatory next step on from track days
• what's the adventure bike equivalent of a ZZR1400 for £6-£7k? 
• and much, much more! A bit.

Thank you very much for listening, thanks to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk for putting up with us, and please keep your thoughts, musings, queries and fact correcting coming to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Catch us on the Instas and Twitters:

@SimonHbikes 

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E130, and the first FEC of 2021; a brand new year, and hopefully things will get better – but some things stay the same and there’s not much chance of FEC improving any time soon.

Thanks as always to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and www.bikesocial.co.uk, home of all that’s good and virtuous in motorcycling.

And on FEC this week, Simon and Martin chatter about:

• Davide Brivio’s shock exit from Suzuki MotoGP team boss to F1... and who we’d choose to replace him
• John McPint MBE has won an MBE from the Queenie, but who else has and who hasn’t?
• when motorcycle manufacturers get market research wrong
• hello to Aprilia’s new Tuono 660...
• ...and goodbye; we mourn the passing of true racing and engineering pioneer, Peter Williams

We also dive in the FEC sack and answer some timeless wonderings:

• what was that about preload and ride height again?
• winter hacks – it’s a love/hate thing
• magazines are for old riders; YouTube is for young ’uns: discuss
• are the Isle Of Wight Diamond Races going to happen in 2021?
• all this and much more!

Thank you very much for listening, thanks to Bennetts and www.bikesocial.co.uk for putting up with us, and please keep your thoughts, musings, queries and fact correcting coming to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Catch us on the Instas and Twitters:

@SimonHbikes (but to be honest it’s more paracord hobbies and current affairs than bikes; I like to think it’s context)

@Mufga (he’s funnier than me)

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