Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 99, the Nearly-But-Not-Quite episode brought to your ears in cahoots with the best biking website on the, er, web – bikesocial.co.uk – and the best biking insurers in the, er, universe, Bennetts.

And for your delectation:

• remarkable Mark Marquez marks his all-time record-equalling 58th pole position at Brno by qualifying with the biggest margin in the modern MotoGP era...
• ...although technically and mathematically, there’s still a chance Hafizh Syahrin could still take the title...
• ...but anyway, MotoGP is boring now because the same guy keeps winning all the time so we’re all going to watch WSB instead...
• ...or maybe we should watch BSB, with Scotch Redding still leading the championship after Thruxton, but by less, from Josh Brookes, not that it matters because, basically, Showdown...
• ...although we only needed to watch the last lap at the Suzuka 8hr because for 7hrs 57mins some bikes went round the track until Jonny Rea fell off and then won in the restaurant.

PLUS!

• an audio review of Moto Guzzi’s V85 TT ridden for 1000 miles in 35°C

AND! Your emails, including...

• Triumphs are still reliable
• with a few new bikes now coming with an SP (or R) version with uprated suspension, would it be worth buying the standard-suspended model instead and spending the difference getting it uprated by an aftermarket suspension specialist?
• how far does Mufga need to shove the drugs up his... oh, you had to be there, really...
• which used naked bike to upgrade from an Aprilia Shiver 750: Ducati Streetfighter 848, Monster 1200, Aprilia Tuono V4 or Triumph Street Triple RS? Or Speed Triple, even?
• would you rather have a perfect bike from a shitty dealer, or a bike with a few teething troubles from a really good dealer?
• is a late-1990s GSX-R SRAD750 or 600 still a good sportsbike today? Or is there something better from the same era?
• DO NOT MOCK THE MIGHTY DEAUVILLE... please
• ...and much, much more. No, really, even more.

Thanks for listening!

• Please come to FEC#100, live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th
• email your thoughts, questions and comments to FEC100@frontendchatter.com
• or why not record us a FEC#100 message? Just a simple “Please stop, again!” would suffice...
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your motorcycling news, stories, fun and frolicking about
• go get your insurance from Bennetts
• book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park
• follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc
• and hello to Mr and Mrs Preston

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 98, the One Less Than Jorge episode, verbalised and spuffed into noughts and ones with the roadside assistance of bikesocial.co.uk and their insuring overlords Bennetts, the bike insurance guys and gals.

And it’s a short and sweet episode this week, as we clear the FECsack in preparation for FEC100 (live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th), including:

• Mufga gets tugged by the Fuzz
• Why milking snail mucin for facials is a real thing
• WSB from the corkscrewy Laguna Se-ca, and the revelation pit lanes the world over are, entirely not in fact, named after Brad Pitt
• BSB from Snettingham Parks and the revelation Scotch Reading-not-from-Reading can’t half pedal a bike round a circuit he’s not seen before, but when is a jump start not a jump start
• would you beat Marquez on a road bike, first time out, down your favourite road?
• would WSB be livened-up by forcing winning riders to change teams?
• when is an oil flag not an oil flag?
• airbags – are they pointless out in the random environment on the road, away from predictable race track crashes? Or are they genuinely useful in certain road crashes?
• why is MotoGP’s video pass 30% more expensive in the UK than, say, France?
• should corporate greed be regulated?
• what’s a good, all-weather, non-dissolving London commuter bike for £3k?
• more from happy, hassle-free Triumph owners (but not Mufga)
• ...and a bit more.

Thanks for listening!

• email your thoughts, questions and comments to FEC100@frontendchatter.com
  • or why not record us a FEC100 message? Just a simple “Please stop!” would suffice...
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your motorcycling news, stories, fun and frolicking about
• go get your insurance from Bennetts
• book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park
• follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc

Apologies for the late arrival of FEC#97 – delayed by unexpected items in the bagging area – but now it’s here, let’s tuck in! Brought to you as always by the furiously febrile funkateers at bikesocial.co.uk and the bike-insuring bike insurers Bennetts, this week’s regurgitation of previously held opinions includes:

• MotoGP (remember that?) round-up from Assen and Sachsenring, including neck braces, tankslappers, youngsters v old ’uns, should JL99 and/or VR46 retire, who’ll take ZR5’s place at KTM, and who’ll replace MCN race reporter now he’s taken the gig as PR blerk for Petronas Yamaha?
• with Rea overturning Dave Bautista’s lead in WSB, does he still think his ZX-10R is “like taking a knife to a gunfight”?
• MotoE’s first race – pointless comedy, the future, or both?

 PLUS! Listeners’ emails, including:

• do leathers and other items of bike kit have a safety lifespan, and what’s best to clean them?
• living proof back protectors are worth wearing all the time...
• why are the roads in the Fens so bad?
• has Scott Redding done enough to justify a ride in WSB next year... but will it actually pay more than he’s already getting in BSB?
• has BTSport’s coverage of MotoGP been successful?
• Chinese 125 retros: stylish or not? And why don’t the big manufacturers build such stripped-back bikes?
• ...and should we make an ethical choice not to buy bikes from China, given their human rights record?

...and introducing our new bike-buying advice section, VFECR800 Corner, including:

• what’s the best big £3k sporty bike for a big sporty bloke, upgrading from a ZX-6R?
• what’s the best £4k second bike alongside a Daytona 675 for two-up weekend touring?
• what’s the best bike to replace a Husqvarna 701 Supermoto and a Triumph Tiger 800?
• what’s the best bike to deliver top-endy, rev-happy thrashable thrills instead of single-gear flexibility?
• What’s the best cheap track-day bike to suit a 6-footer for a £2k?

Thanks for listening!

• email your thoughts, questions and comments to anything@frontendchatter.com
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your biking fix
• get your insurance from Bennetts
• AND! book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park – places still available!

 ...and follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E96, the world’s most favouritist biking podcast, supported as ever by bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

Rambling gossip this month includes:

• MotoGP from Catalunya and why Lorenzo wasn’t the bad guy
• conquering the Rudland Rigg on a Triumph Scrambler 1200
• new bike news featuring...

1) Ducati’s Streetfighter V4, with added wings

2) KTM’s 790 Adventure R Rally with added springs

3) Triumph Rocket III TFC with added torques

• ...which is an awful lot of extreme/exclusivity/exotica all in one go, but should anyone really care, do they actually make any money for the manufacturers or are they just exercises in PR and brand awareness?
• are bikers getting more gammony?
• does size matter (we’re talking engines here)?
• why don’t more bikes have an overdrive top gear, and is it more fuel efficient to use big throttle in top gear of part throttle in lower gears?
• are Triumphs more unreliable than other manufacturers, and why doesn’t the press talk about it?
• you want a desirable, fun, impractical road bike – should you buy a Ducati 1098S or an MV Agusta F3 800... or something else altogether?
• BMW R18 concept bike – thumbs up or thumbs up bums?
• why focussing on less-tall bikers is size-ist; a lot of tall riders have problems too...
• more on the merits or otherwise of air-bag vests – do they work, and does risk compensation actually make you more likely to have an accident when wearing one?

Thanks for listening, please:

a) tell your friends, relatives, work-mates and even people you don’t really like about Front End Chatter

b) visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your FEC fix and biking info

c) try Bennetts for your biking and travel insurance

d) email your thoughts, ideas, questions and rants to anything@frontendchatter.com

e) come to the FECtacular FEC100 episode live from Cadwell Park on August 13th (alongside a Bennetts track day)

f) find Simon and Martin on the social mediums here:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter and the 95th outing for Britain’s most stubbornly random motorcycling podcast, suspended as ever between the 48mm upsidedowners of bikesocial.co.uk – the world of motorcycling in a webby nutshell – and the fully adjustable monoshock of Bennetts, the bike insurance experts.

And what a weird podcast we have this week, as two – well, one – of Britain’s funniest, smartest, sassiest and damn amazing moto journalists – that’s him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, with me, Simon Hargreaves –  discuss subjects as widely disparate as:

• how MotoGP from Mugello (remember that?) was won by a man who used to race an EXUP

• who did what at the wettest TT ever, including how Peter Hickman used an S1000RR engine he didn’t use, why it was a hybrid bike but not a hybrid engine, and why Harrison, not Dunlop, won the Dunlop Senior, on Metzelers, not Dunlops
• why John McGuinness might want to check the details of his Norton pension plan
• why FEC probably holds the lap record for the North Coast 500
• the practical and psychological merits of air-bag suits
• is it a risk buying a new bike in the first year of production?
• does wearing hi-viz make you a fluoracist?
• why oh why isn’t there a magazine website with videos and stories and everything (like, er, bikesocial.co.uk, maybe)?
• are any skills learned off road transferrable to road riding?
• is the polite biker nod a dying habit, and should you wave at other riders anyway?
• are racers made on the roads they grow up riding on?

Thank you so much or listening, we really appreciate it – and please email your thoughts, ideas, questions and stories of helmet paint scheme inspired accusations to anything@frontendchatter.com

Follow @Bennetts on Twitter and Insta and Facebook

Follow @Mufga and @SimonHBikes on Twitter/Insta etc

Laters taters.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 94, and the clue’s in the name: for the 94th time, two hoary old motorcycle journalists stand around and make front noises into a pair of microphones for your auralisation – fertilised and fermented by bikescocial.co.uk (the world of motorcycling on a website) and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. Good old Bennetts.

And this week we have, for your listening infuriation:

• gossip and stats from Le Mans MotoGP, including Marquez showing Lorenzo how to stay upright, and Quartararo showing Marquez how to be faster by not crashing
• who’ll top the TT timesheets this year?
• Mud, sweat and beers with two days and 350 miles in Wales, following a rally-style route map on road and off on a Scrambler 1200XE
• News and first impressions from the launch of long-awaited, entry-level Yamaha’s Ténéré 700 and hilarious, expensive XSR700 XTribute
• How young is too young to ride a bike? And what’s the best route into riding for youngsters?
• Why aren’t there more Ducatis racing at the TT?
• What’s the best big naked bike for touring?
• How to avoid the buffering wheel of death on the online MotoGP feed
• Is it an unwritten rule of bikes that you need to go fast, and does that put people off?
• And much, much more...
  
  Many thanks for listening to FEC and please come to Cadwell Park on 13th August where, alongside a Bennetts track day, we’ll be recording FEC E100 – LIVE! Wow. Are we?
  
  Please send your thoughts, jokes, contentions and opinions to:

 anything@frontendchatter.com

And catch Simon and Martin on the social medias
@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Thanks again for listening! X

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter, E93 in the long-running series of two men talking bobbins about bikes, and if you're looking for someone to blame try bikesocial.co.uk, the bike magazine on the web, or Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, because they're in it as much as we are. 

This week on FEC we have: 
• rambling thoughts on Jerez MotoGP, including Suzi Quartararo's hot laps, Zarco's loose lips, how this is the joint closest MotoGP championship since 2009, and a resurfaced Silverstone

• the experience of Yamaha's Off Road Experience

• what off-road bike should you get for you wife, except it's really for you?

• are bike vloggers the new bike journalists? 

• is there something in the water in Lincolnshire to create so many great racers, and does it match whatever they put in the water in Catalan?

• and much much more.... 

Thanks for listening to Front End Chatter, download it from bikesocial.co.uk, get your insurance from Bennetts, buy RiDE magazine, we love you, come to Cadwell for FEC 100 #LiVE, and email your thoughts and questions to

anything@frontendchatter.com

Look out, it’s Front End Chatter E92, the biking podcast enabled, empowered, energised and veritably triggered by the cosmonauts at bikesocial.co.uk and bods at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, without whom this would all still happen but much less often.

And this week we have:

• Why being a MotoGP legend is bad for your health (especially if you’re a Brit)
• who’s actually likely to win the MotoGP title the next time Marquez doesn’t?
• what happened at the unfeasibly warm Bennetts British Superbike season opener at Silverstone
• why we won’t be watching the 2020 Dakar Rally from Saudi Arabia
• ideas to replace a Honda Blackbird with a £4500 sporty all-rounder
• why fixed spring rates are a great unspoken compromise of biking
• is the cost of insurance is putting off new riders?
• should you wait and get a used Svartpilen 701 or Iannone your KTM 990 SM?
• if you could spend two weeks touring in the UK, where would you go?
• ...and lots lots more. It’s a vintage FEC-sack.

Thank you to you, to BikeSocial.co.uk, to Bennetts, and see you at Cadwell Park on August 13th.

Please email thoughts, questions and comments to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E91, the nearly-but-not-quite episode, supported, enabled and triggered by www.bikesocial.co.uk – or is it just bikesocial.co.uk? – and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And what a bounteous springtime episode we have, containing gossip such as:

• COTA – or is it GOTA? – with Marquez beating himself while Rins wins on a Suzuki and Rossi is runner-up again again again (he’s going for another record: Pedrosa’s “Most Perennial Runner-Up” Award)

• A half-naked Lorenzo adds to his list of embarrassing advert

• World Superbike’s Dave Bautista demonstrates it’s easier to adapt from a V4 MotoGP bike to a V4 WSB bike than from a V-twin WSB bike to a V4 WSB bike...

• Brief chats about Husqvarana’s Svartpilen 701 – a KTM 690 Duke in a frock or chainsaw on wheels? – Yamaha’s Tracer/Ténéré 700 GT and BMW’s new R1250R...

• Custom-moulded ear-plugs v foam plugs?

• How Fairy Liquid solves visor misting

• How to approach your first road race

• Why aren’t more bike journalists nicked riding like idiots on foreign launches?

• Why riding more makes you enjoy riding more

• Is Yamaha’s Niken the perfect camera bike for filming cycle racing?

• Why seat height isn’t actually a good measure of the height of the seat...

• ...and so much less. I mean more. More. Much more.

Thanks for listening, please keep emailing your thoughts, ideas and questions to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Also remember to download this podcast from www.bikesocial.co.uk, and nip out and buy RiDE magazine!

You can catch Simon and Martin on the Twitters:

@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter E90, Britain’s most least favourite biking podcast, veritably triggered by www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world’s biking on the web, and Bennetts, the bike and travel insurance specialists.

And this fortnight we have, for you aural delectation, spoken words on:

RACING

• MotoGP is back, at Qatar where Miller’s seat comes off, Mav goes backwards, Rossi goes forwards, Marquez and Dovizioso repeat last season’s last lap, and Ducati plot a spoiler
• why MotoE isn’t coming to a short circuit near you soon
• Dave Bautista keeps on winning in WSB, but it’s not Ducati’s fault...
• ... so no pressure in BSB then, Scott...

BIKES

• first ride on Moto Guzzi’s new V85 TT ‘classic enduro’

PLUS!

• do business biking miles count as much as personal biking miles?
• more hi-viz pros and cons
• trail braking explained properly
• the great seat height debate, and how to make bikes fit more people more of the time
• more ideas on getting kids into bikes – and were 125s better in the 1990s?
• which brands offer the best value for money?
• why are there no wheelies in bike magazines any more?

... plus much more rubbish, nonsense and stuff.

Thanks for listening!

• email your thoughts, questions and comments to anything@frontendchatter.com
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk,
• get your insurance from Bennetts,
• book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park,
• follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc

Hello and welcome to Episode 89 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s most insured motorcycling podcast delivered fresh to your ears by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons – enabled by the humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

This week we’re chattering about:

• Andrea Iannone’s smelly secretions
• Jonathon Rea’s Book Of Excuses
• first ride of KTM’s new 790 Adventure and Adventure R
• how practical and fun is Enfield’s Interceptor?
• which bike can renew the sense of fun in your biking
• is £200 for a one-piece leather race suit on Ebay worth buying?
• should we feel guilty about NOT riding our bikes much?
• what’s the best non-sportsbike for track days?
• does Fairy Liquid work as an anti-misting visor coating?
• how to find the right people with whom to tour Europe
• ...and much much more...

 Thank you once more for listening to out nonsense, and contributing with your thoughts, queries and opinions: email

 anything@frontendchatter.com

Please add August 13th to your diary, when Front End Chatter will be recorded LIVE! at a BIkeSocial Bennetts track day at Cadwell Park! More info at www.superbikeschool.co.uk

Simon H and Martin are on Twitter:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

...and you can also fund us on various other social media platforms...

Hellooo and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most homoerotic motorcycling podcast, supported and empowered by www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And for your aural delectation this week we have gossip on:

• Andrew Iannone’s jawline
• Maverick Marquez and his pants
• Dave Bautista’s Rea-beating form at Phillip Island
• the perfect Franken-racer
• unfeasible plum-o-meters in the BSB paddock
• why is bike gear so expensive?
• what bike did Nev buy? And is a BMW R1250RS better than a Z1000SX?
• how do we know when not ride a bike but take the car instead?
• tips for touring in Alaska
• why there are no exotic small-bore race replicas and how to get more young riders on bikes
• and much, much more (but definitely no chat about motorcycle magazines; well, a bit...)
  
• ...plus! Super-really-very-exciting news of the 100th episode FECstravaganza at... <drum roll> Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, Tuesday August 13th; a Bennetts/BikeSocial/California Superbike track day – and at which we’ll be recording FEC’s centenary episode in front of an eager audience of grass and air. You’re welcome to sign up to the track day, or just come along and have a listen... more details of the 100th episode FECstravaganza in the next FEC!

Meanwhile, thanks for listening and supporting what we do, keep the emails coming to anything @frontendchatter.com – don’t listen to Mufga, you write what you want to write – and catch us both on Twitter: @SimonHbikes & @Mufga, and on Insta/FB/the usual.

Love and rockets

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 87 #Remy Gardner... it’s only just occurred to me, but what kind of name is Remy? Is he named after a cognac or something? Anyway, welcome, one and all, to surreal bantz supported, enabled and triggered by the meaty skinbags at www.bikesocial.co.uk – the best resource for all things motorcycling on the interwebs – and under the munificent auspices of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

This week we have:

• why Suzuki Hayabusa mirrors remind Simon of Rosa Klebb’s shoes
  • a timely review of the 2002 Assen MotoGP, back in the days when races could be won by a two-stroke or a four-stroke, and when one four-stroke in particular appeared to be so much faster than the others it was like cheating...
• ...and how a last lap manoeuvre foreshadowed a more notorious coming-together 13 years later...
• a mini-review of the new Honda CBR650R and CB650R and is it a ‘new’ CBR600F? And how does the CB compare to a KTM 790 Duke?
• ...and why does no-one makes a Dakar replica?
• effective anti-rain visor solutions
• why do we wear the kit we wear?
• more on police/scooter tactics
• an inverse game of ‘what bike should I buy?’, with ‘what bike have I bought?’
• have some bike magazines may have lost their sense of humour, and is there a correlation with the demise of sportsbikes?
• ...and much more natter chatter...

...and if you’re interested in attending a FECstravaganza in August in Lincolnshire, let us know!

Many many thanks for listening, please continue to download FEC from www.bikesocial.co.uk.

Email your thoughts, queries, questions, observations and comments to:

anything@frontendchatter

....and catch us on Twitter

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Happy New... oh, is too late for that?

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most enduring motorcycling podcast (much to chagrin of Les343) presented by me, Simon Hargreaves and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and supported by the humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance people.

And this month, FEC sinks its teeth into:

• the Greatest Grand Prix Of All Time, aka the 1990 Australian 500cc Grand Prix, feat. Sir Mick of Doohan, Lord Wayne de Rainey, Baron von Gardner and the Marquis of Schwantz going at it hammer, tongs and forceps
  • the 125cc side-spectacle of Hans Spaan aiming a punch at Fausto Gresini and Loris Capirossi winning his first world title
• the year of 2019 in review, as FEC jumps into the Chatter Tardis and zooms 12 months into the future – including the best bike of 2019, the Brit GP from Donington, and some shocking new Suzuki news – yes, you read that right
• a deep dive into the FECsack with contributions on topics as varied as
• buying used instead of a new bike on PCP,
• the mechanics of trail braking and why it’s a good (and bad) idea,
• how tightly controlled the Triumph 765-powered Moto2 series will be,
• the reliability of KTM electrics,
• how odd is it that Marc Marquez’ dad is STILL hanging around his pit box,
• bike community garages in the US,
• a FEC track day in August,
• how to make MotoE more of a spectacle by using an accountant from Bromley,
  • why is insurance so bloomin’ expensive?

Thanks for listening, please keep emailing your thoughts, ideas and questions to:

anything@frontendchatter.com

Also remember to download this podcast from www.bikesocial.co.uk, and nip out and buy RiDE magazine!

You can catch Simon and Martin on the Twitters:
@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to a festive Front End Chatter, delivered with a ho-ho-ho by the Santa Claus of motorcycling websites, www.bikesocial.co.uk, in association with Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

In episode 85 of FEC Martin and Simon turn back time to August 1993 and re-live the fags, mags and bags of a classic British Grand Prix at Donington Park when:

• Doohan played skittles with Schwantz and Barros
• Yamaha’s Luca Cadalora followed team orders – Suzuki team orders
• Foggy needed a reserve tap
• Mackenzie needed no invitation

Also in this week’s FEC:

• Guy Martin’s Irish driving licence
• Triumph’s Scrambler 1200 XC and XE ridden and crashed
• more on police scooter crash tactics
• how to accidentally spend £18k on a winter bike, and how to protect it
• more advice on PCP v credit cards
• why there’s life in magazines yet!
  
  Simon, Mufga and all at www.BikeSocial.co.uk would like to wish all you FECers a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year, and look forward to filling your ears in 2019.
  
  

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 84, presented for your ears in association with the multi-purposed humanoids of www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts.

And this week, Simon H and Mufga present, for your consideration:

• Moto2 testing from Jerez, and the lap record-shattering debut of Triumph’s 765 engine, plus the emerging sibling rivalry of Marquez and Rossi brothers (ish)
• MotoGP testing gossip from Jerez, including Nakagami’s pace (who?) and the size of Johann Zarco’s... task
• Lewis Hamilton testing gossip from Jerez, including how slow, or not, he is, or isn’t, on a WSB-spec Pata Yamaha R1
• the rights, and wrongs, of police officers hitting scooter-riding criminals with their cars (contentious, this), and what has all this got to do with the Met Office?
• and, speaking of teenager hoolies, a few details from the launch of Kawasaki’s Z125 and Ninja 125

Plus a selection of your amazing emails, including:

• should I sell my Ducati SportClassic to buy a new Moto Guzzi TT85?
• is PCP better value than buying a bike on a credit card and bouncing it between 0% cards for the life of the repayment?
• is a lightly tuned R1200GS likely to be as chippy as a new R1250GS?
  • will JLo and Marquez pinch points off each other in 2019, making a Dovi world title more likely?
• which will be the best naked hyperbike if they end up with a racing class at World Superbike?
• what makes the Kawasaki ZX-10R the winningiest World Superbike?

Thanks for listening, please email your thoughts, musings, questions and anything else you want to us yammer about to:

anything@frontendchatter.com (record is 180 characters, so far)

or do the Twitter/Instagram thing:

@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

And please remember to nominate, via email or the Twitter, your favourite MotoGP race from Dorna’s archive for FEC to review. If that’s actually what you want us to do.

Welcome to Front End Chatter E83, and what a perfectly formed audio package it is too – supported and sustained as forever and always by the magnificent humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and their Bennetts-ian, bike insuring benefactors.

And wow! Scoop! Front End Chatter has a world exclusive interview with none other than the youngest man-child ever to win a grand prix – fresh from his Valencia Moto3 victory, we present Mr Can Öncü, fresh from his crib, literally.

But apart from that, this week we waffle interminably on the following:

• winners and losers from the final round of MotoGP from a predictably, or not, sopping-wet Valencia...
• ...and happy bunnies and sad hedgehogs from MotoGP testing at a largely dry Valencia
• will Triumph enter a factory team in Moto2 at some point, like, 2020, maybe to coincide with the launch of a Daytona 765 road bike?
• hits and misses from that 2018 Motorcycle Live they had then
• Triumph’s new Street Twin and Street Scrambler, ridden at the launch in Portugal (in case it’s unclear)
• comparing the sound of BMW’s R1250 flat twin v the R1200 engine, and what it can tell us about the development of the new engine
• Renthal’s chain expert gives his opinion on dealing with burst O-ring seals down a ropey phone line
• what’s the best road sport tyres for a Daytona 675 for less than £200?
• what bikes can you buy now that will only increase in value, effectively giving you free biking? And is it worth buying a bike as an investment when you’re 50, anyway?
• why does no-one make a great touring naked bike, in the mould of BMW’s Rockster?
• what’s the best small-capacity bike that commute, do a bit of two-up and cope with a more generously-proportioned rider for less than £1000?...
  • ...and, in contrast, should a man, who isn’t the bass player in the Foo Fighters but could be, sell his already exotic bike collection and then buy something truly, fabulously, exceptional? It’s a tough one.

Many, many thanks for all your emails; please keep ’em coming to:

literallyanything@frontendchatter.com

And catch Simon and Mufga on the Twitters at

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Until we meet again!

Hello lovely people and welcome to our humble musings on the world of two wheels, otherwise known as Front End Chatter. 

FEC is supported by www.bikesocial@co.uk, your 24-hr convenience store for biking information, and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts. 

Here we are again with a marathon podcast to make up for lost time, and we have:

• a teeny bit of Moto GP gossip, including why Lorenzo should not be henceforth be known as 'Sicknote'

• all (most) new 2019 bikes fresh from the Eicma show they have now, including some detail on BMW's R1250 GS v R1200 GS, as seen on www.bikesocial@co.uk and Ducati's Multistrada 1260 Enduro

• listeners' emails, on subjects as varied as new Chinese v used Japanese 125s, which new bike to buy if you don't want to lose too much money, are Royal Enfield's new twins better than an old Bonneville... and much more. 

Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading (feel free to subscribe on iTunes or your Android pod app, but if you download from www.bikesocial@co.uk we'd be very grateful!), and please email us on anything@frontendchatter.com

Thanks!

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Oh my lordy lord, here’s Front End Chatter E81, hot on the heels of E80 and ploughing an ill-informed furrow through the field of motorcycling podcasts, supported and upheld as ever by the munificence of www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance people.

And this time out we have topics as varied as:

• Jonathan ‘Nice’ Rea’s fourth consecutive World Superbike title – and which previous WSB champs congratulated him...

• Ana Carrasco and her maiden – literally – WSSP300-on-a-400 world title

• Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed at the first corner of the Aragon MotoGP race by sheer will power alone

• New bikes from Royal Enfield, yes, that’s Royal Enfield, with Simon riding the Interceptor and Continental GT at the launch...

• ...and even more new bikes, from the Intermots they have now – including, er, well, not all that much, really – apart from Suzuki’s GSX-S1000-in-a-frock Katana and Indian’s FTR1200 flat-tracker, Moto Guzzi’s V85 TT, Kawasaki’s 125s, Triumph’s Street Scrambler & Street Twin, and Yamaha’s Tracer 700GT...

• FEC listeners’ emails including:

– making engines ‘emulate’ other engines

– what to do in the Isle Of Man instead of riding motorcycles

– should Gore-Tex be waterproof after two hours in heavy rain?

– are paddock/pit-bikes any good?

– is feeling for grip affected by suspension set-up?

– is a cheap track bike a bad idea?

– best winter hack for £1500

– do we wear different kit for different trips, and should we get upset about riders choosing not to wear appropriate protective clothing?

And much, much more. Please enjoy, like and susbscribe (if you download from iTunes, but we’d much rather you went to www.bikesocial.co.uk) – and please email your questions and comments to

anything@frontendchatter.com

Get Simon and/or Martin on all the socials mediums:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Ta-raa pet!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E80, brought to you from the girded loins at www.bikesocial.co.uk and supported by bike insurance humanoids at Bennetts.

This week, chatter topics for your aural entertainment are:

• Romano Fenasti – the hot-headed ex-Moto2 rider is definitely cracked, but should he be sacked or backed following his Misano misdemeanour?
  • Mufga’s been riding BMW’s new, enlarged, Shiftcam (careful!) R1250GS...
• ... and Simon’s had a go on Yamaha’s Niken with some BikeSocialists (and a FECer; hi Dan)...
• ... and they’re not the only ones; other FECers who’ve tried the Niken let us know what they think,
• plus loads more of your emails, including

     Harley out-selling Triumph, Ducati and Suzuki in Europe last year, is MotoE going to be any good, why V4s don’t sound like inline fours, is it possible to ‘see’ grip, best mods for Aprilia’s RSV-R, advice for smaller riders... and lots more.

Thanks, as always, for listening, please bookmark www.bikesocial.co.uk and get your insurance from Bennetts, and follow us on Twitter @Mufga and @SimonHbikes

Hello and welcome to Never mind all that usual bobbins, we've got an actual interview with actual Marc Márquez!

In episode 79 of Britain's best biking podcast – supported, sustained and stimulated by Bike Social (that's www.bikesocial.co.uk) as well Bennetts, the record-breaking, crash-saving, championship-leading prodigy of the bike insurance grid:

• Fallout from the washout at Silverstone. What happened (or, rather, what didn't), why it happened, how it happened, who's to blame, who's not, who thinks they should have raced, who decided to cancel, who thinks they shouldn't have cancelled, is anyone going to accept responsibility, and can we cover all this without getting threatened with legal action?
• You can't stop the rock – but you can stop all motorsports activity at Rockingham. Britain's newest race circuit is about to become Britain's newest former race circuit – we explain why it's shutting, when it's all over, whether we'll miss it, and what it's going to become instead.
• And the main event: a solid gold interview with Marc Márquez himself, live and in person (and courtesy of Shoei), talking his place in history, his regrets, his outrageous riding technique, his future, whether winning or having fun is more important, saving the front, the best rider of all time, his favourite rider, and how many crash helmets he gets through each year given all his trips to the tarmac.
  
  

We hope you enjoy it – and please email us your questions, comments, feedback and more on anything@frontendchatter.com

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, 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

Had enough of cold turkey? Fear not, here’s your fix of Front End Chatter Episode 69, served in a very small tin foil hat with a side-order of www.bikesocial.co.uk in association with Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And, following on from the last episode’s fab interview with Julian Ryder, this time it’s business as usual as we read through a veritable mountain of your occasionally lengthy emails, on topics as varied as:

• Does the motorcycle industry do enough to attract young riders?

• Does uploading fancy software and a few items from the accessories catalogue justify adding a few grand on the price of a new bike and calling it a premium model?

• Is motorcycling becoming too tribal?

• Will we be seeing more examples of forced induction on new models?
  
  • How British Superbike is also brilliant if you live in the US

• Why does no-one build a modular, adjustable motorbike?

• Where is the Husqvarna Vitpilen?

• Why riding a bike a great cure for illness.

• PLUS loads of other nattering and chattering...

Many thanks for your continued ears, please tell everyone you know to download the podcast and please email you thoughts, considerations and questions to:

anything@ frontendchatter.com

You can get us on the Twitter:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hope you had a great Christmas and look forward to a splendidly two-wheeled (or three) New Year!

Hello everybody and welcome to Front End Chatter, the biking podcast powered and empowered by the super-swell folk at Bike Social - that's www.bikesocial.co.uk.

In episode 68 Simon and Martin welcome a FECing guest for the first time in a long time. And not any guest, but the one and only Julian Ryder (@MotoGPJules) - journalist, broadcaster, author, antiques dealer and former WSB, 500GP and MotoGP commentator.

Fresh from putting the finishing touches to the official MotoGP Season Review 2017 (a proper book, with "not too many cockups", on sale now at Amazon), Jules talks all about one of the best racing seasons in recent memory, whether things really were better in the good old days, the greatest racers of all time, tribal fans, the MotoGP riders' rider of 2017, why each of the top names performed the way they did this year, how he'd fix World Superbikes (and whether it's important to fix), and which racing series Jules's dulcet tones might (or might not) be gracing next.

Thank you once again for allowing FEC into your ears and brain. If you enjoy it, please tell your friends, colleagues, co-worked and fellow riders to find us on www.frontendchatter.com or, better still, on www.bikesocial.co.uk.

You can also find us on Twitter - @SimonHbikes and @Mufga - and we eagerly await any and all of your emailed correspondence at anything@frontendchatter.com

Cheers until next time!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter 67, the Shakey’s Racing Age episode, ably supported by our friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk who are in turn supported by bike insurance bods Bennetts.

This week we natter about the small matter of a race in Valencia, some racing in Wales that actually looks like it might happen, some more gossip about the Motorcycle Live bike show they had last week (including how manufacturers cheat on seat heights), and answer a veritable raft of your emails on subjects as wide ranging as what bike you should buy.

Thanks again for your continued ears, and please spread the word of the words we speak.

You can find on Twitter – @SimonHbikes & @Mufga – and you can download this on iTunes or from www.frontendchatter.com – but we’d much rather you listened at www.bikesocial.co.uk, not least because you can lose yourself for hours browsing the library of all sorts of archived biking stuff.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E66, supported by our good friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – and who better to insure your gleaming new, 2018 motorcycle?

Because this week’s podcast is stuffed full of new bike news, gossip and opinion (admittedly, more of the latter pair than the former), fresh from the Milan bike show. In no particular order, we natter about:

• Kawasaki’s 200bhp sport-touring mega-bike, the ZZR1400. Sorry! We mean the new H2 SX/SE
• Ducati’s V4 Panigale, and whether it’s better-looking than the 1299
• Yamaha’s Niken and whether it’s actually a motorcycle
• plus chatter about Yamaha Tracer 900s, Kawasaki Z900RS and Café, Honda’s Africa Twin Adventure and CB1000R, BMW’s F850GS, Triumph’s Tigers, Ducati’s Multistrada 1260 and KTM’s 790 Duke...
• ...and seeing as how few of us can afford any of them, should we be interested?

Plus we have a brief natter about the forthcoming final MotoGP showdown at Valencia, and answer a few of emails (but not all – more to come!).

Thanks again for listening, and please email your thoughts, questions and comments to us here: anything@frontendchatter.com

Or catch us on Twitter:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to the long-awaited (well, about a month) Front End Chatter Episode 65 – supported as ever by our magnificent colleagues, pals and beneFECtors at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

This week FEC bangs on about subjects as wide and varied as:

• how does three-time World Superbike champ Jonathan Rea’s win-race ratio match to Carl Fogarty’s, and how to fix World Superbike (again)
• did the three-way Showdown final British Superbike round at Brands and the subsequent love-in make us want to watch it next year?
• ...and compare all that to an epic MotoGP race at Motegi

PLUS! words of gossip about what we know about 2018’s new bikes (or do we?) including

• the 2018 supercharged, sports touring Kawasaki H2R GT...
• ...and their Z900RS, and how close it’ll be to the existing Z900
• Honda’s NSC ‘New Sports Cafe’...
• ...and if the motor is based on the CB650F inline four
• Honda’s new Goldwing with its funny front end...
• KTM’s 790-800cc Duke parallel twin which probably won’t have bungees pulling the pistons back to TDC
• Yamaha’s MT-07-based T7 budget adventure bike
• Triumph’s, er, well, definitely not a 765 Daytona, say Triumph...
• Harley-Davidson’s new Softail range of, er, big V-twins including the rather splendid Fat Bob

PLUS! listeners’ questions, including:

• what supermoto as a second bike
• the law around on-bike dash-cams – and can plod nick you using your own sat nav’s ‘snail-trail’ as evidence?
• are smaller bikes less likely to get you in trouble?
• can you buy a decent used bike for the price of a new iPhone?

Thank you for listening and putting up with us – and please email any biking questions (or any questions you like) or comments to

anything@frontendchatter.com

or get us on Twitter
@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

And don’t forget to check out www.bikesocial.co.uk and get your bike insurance with Bennetts.

Hello and welcome to a special, John McGuinness Front End Chatter Episode 64, supported by our good friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk, supported by Bennetts, the bike insurer par excellence, bar none.

And what a treat this week – apart from the usual nattering about subjects as random as:

• tech details from the launch of Ducati’s 210bhp V4 Stradale engine, which is coming to a chassis that may or may not but probably will look remarkably similar to a 1299 Panigale this November
• Rossi’s broken leg bones, Cal’s severed tendon, the ramifications for the MotoGP title, and who Valentino gets to sign the plaster cast...
• why Silverstone’s MotoGP was so poorly attended (conspiracy theory alert)
• how lovely BMW’s R nineT Racer is, and why don’t other manufacturers make bikes that, simply, look beautiful?
• will the news Welsh police are actively encouraging dash-cam users to upload footage as evidence for traffic offences make you ride any differently?
• how to learn how to pronounce Ikea, Abba and Öhlins on a Magic Motor Experience tour on a Yamaha XT660R, in Sweden...

... the jewel in FEC64’s crown is the audio version of BikeSocial’s interview with TT legend John McGuinness, in which he talks about:

• the physical side effects of ‘that’ crash (caution: not for the squeamish!)
• how it’s affected his head
• what caused it and what he really thinks about the 2017 FireBlade
• what happens to his career now
• how important the race fans are to his recovery

Hope you enjoy, please say nice things and spread the word, and please email any and all questions, comments and ideas to anything@frontendchatter.com

Thanks for listening!

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello everybody and welcome to Front End Chatter #63, brought to you by the definitely-not-primates at Bike Social (that's www.bikesocial.co.uk where, as well as all the latest news, views and reviews of all things motorcycling, you'll also find a handy link to the superb insurance services of Bennetts). In this not-especially-numerically-significant episode of Britain's best biking podcast, Simon and Martin chatter about:

• MotoGP from Austria, where someone cleared off for a bit, then there was a bit of a ding-dong and someone won and someone didn't, and there was a last-lap, last-corner, last-gasp move that was actually just a bit silly even though nobody seems to want to say it (except the bloke who won).
• British Superbikes from Cadwell Park, which neither of us watched even though one of us was actually there, and which turned out to be pretty brilliant.
• The new 158bhp BMW road bike that we've both ridden but only one of us can talk about.
• Touratech going insolvent, which is all very curious given almost everyone seems to be riding an adventure bikes these days.
• Plus all of your emails - sent to anything@frontendchatter.com - including whether Triumph's new Street Triple 765 RS lives up to the hype, how to survive a group ride with complete strangers, the interweb going crazy over the GS fork recall and the reality of the situation from an owner, Sprint ST vs a Glasgow winter, whether you can tell if someone's riding style is "outright dangerous" from a photo, and plenty more.

Thank you very much for listening (hopefully through www.bikesocial.co.uk if you'd like to kindly support the folk who kindly support us). We are, as ever, @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitter, and eagerly await your thought, opinions, questions and ponderings arriving on email via anything@frontendchatter.com (yes, literally anything).

Ta-ta for now!

Hello everybody and welcome to Front End Chatter, the semi-regular spoken word salad that refuses to stray into nostalgia (other than to remember when nostalgia was better than it is today). Episode #62 continues to be supported by the wondrous website known as Bike Social (that’s www.bikesocial.co.uk) where you should definitely go to check out all the latest motorcycling news and reviews. And get an insurance quote. Go on.

In this 90-minute natter extravaganza, Simon and Martin discuss:

• MotoGP from Brno, which was either brilliant or boring, where the winner won by a move of either sheer genius or random fortune
• Is it time to wave the chequered flag on flag-to-flag races?
• Guy Martin’s future plans, and whether he’s quitting, retiring, or quitting retiring?
• The new ‘global partnership’ between Triumph and Bajaj – and how many badges can you bodge on a Bajaj?
• Is the London scooter crime spree creating a potential new marketing opportunity?
• The most expensive zeroes and ones in motorcycling

Plus all of your emails covering everything from a little-known but much-loved Australian bike-gang film, recalling recalls and more GS stanchion shenanigans, the exceptional machines of Honda’s golden period, overlooked V-twins, bargain sports-tourers, the value of ABS, a reason to speed, the blame game, and the best bikes we’ve crashed.

Thank you very much once again for listening. If you’d like to chatter back, email us on anything@frontendchatter.com or find us on the Twitters – he is @SimonHbikes and he is @Mufga

And if you’re going to fire up your interwebsitebrowser, don’t forget to point it towards www.bikesocial.co.uk !

Hello everybody and welcome to Front End Chatter – Britain's best biking podcast, powered (and empowered) by the wondrous two-wheeled website known as Bike Social (that's www.bikesocial.co.uk – and you should definitely check them out).

It's episode 61, which as everybody knows is the **must remember to search Google for an obscure name of somebody who once raced a motorcycle with number 61 here** episode. Which, ironically, has very little racing at all, being mostly composed of:

• Chatter about the front end of BMW's R1200GS, and how the previous service campaign – not a recall – to fix the fork stanchions is, erm, ahem, cough, now a recall.
• Martin rides to a village in the German Alps to drink beer in the company of 40,000 bikes, while Simon rides to a café near Whitchurch for the world's largest all-female bikers meeting.
• Aprilia's Shiver 900, and why are "middleweight"s getting so big now?
• Plus roughly one trillion and seventy-two of your finest emails, covering everything from Yamaha Tracer adverts, insurance groups, the best bikes ever to grace the silver screen, Simon gets his helmet out to demonstrate something to Martin, is the new Fireblade changing its tune or is that just the rider, and lots and lots and lots more.

To chatter back to us, email anything@frontendchatter.com or Twit us on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

And, of course, go take a look at Bike Social!

Welcome to Front End Chatter E60, sponsored as always by our good friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk and backed by Bennetts, the bike insurance boys and girls. And what a scandal-laden FEC we have this week:

• despite a truncated MotoGP/racing section we still manage to disrespeculate on Lorenzo’s future at Ducati and compare his debut season so far to Rossi’s disaster in 2011...

• get into the financial fall-out from the shambles formally known as the Circuit Of Wales...

• details of the new Ducati V4 replacement for the Panigale, after the Final Edition – which, it turns out, might not be so final after all, and will be available from September this year and will cost £35,000...

• ...and why the V-twin is the most versatile engine layout ever built

• BMW’s service campaign to check all R1200GSs and GSAs built between late 2013 to date, to make sure the forks aren’t about to fall off – and why we should or shouldn’t be alarmed by it

• and how Honda’s blighted 2017 FireBlade, both base and SP versions, stands up at a Mallory Park track day – a Bennetts Mallory Park track day, no less – against Suzuki’s new GSX-R1000R

All this takes so long we don’t get time to read any emails at all, so apologies – but at least it means we’ll have a another non-racing FEC in a few weeks’ time!

Thanks again for listening, and please email us at anything@frontendchatter.com with questions and comments, or get us on the Twitter:

@SimonHBikes & @Mufga

Welcome to Front End Chatter E59, brought to you in association with our good friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk, sponsored by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

AND! What an episode we have!

Just in time for the Assen MotoGP race this weekend, Front End Chatter recaps the previous round at Catalunya (apologies for the delay, delay, delay and don’t worry, because it was so long ago we keep it brief) – and it’s worth reminding ourselves what a hilarious, thigh-slapping sit-com of a race weekend it was with riders using the wrong track (but still in Spain), other riders falling over things and some riders falling over themselves.

We also cover – unusually – a cracking World Superbike race from Misano and find it a rewarding experience. Which is more than can be said for Ducati’s Charles Davies.

We’ve a bit more race goss, including a possible return to racing for former WSB champ and ex-Yamaha MotoGP star Bens Pies, Iannone moving from Suzuki to Aprilia, why it would be cool to see Jonathan Rea switching from WSB to jump on the MotoGP Suzuki, why tyres ‘spin’ on the rim, the latest British Superbike round from Knockhill, and who is Jake Dixon and is he in the RAF? Plus a bit of natter about Hutchy’s awful Senior TT crash. Yikes.

We also read out a few of your emails, including:

• more disrespeculation about Honda’s FireBlade,
• wrist relief on motorways,
• recommended heated clothing,
• a bit of a rant about why magazine and web new bike ‘tests’ may or may not be all they seem,
• the blurring of distinction between PR and journalism, and
• is riding fast an addiction, and what can you do about it?

We think that’s quite enough controversy for one episode, so if you enjoy FEC please

a) tell your mates,

b) email us with a question or a topic for discussion,

c) insure your bike with Bennetts and

d) buy RiDE magazine. We may be bought and paid for, but at least we’re honest about it.

Thanks, and talk at you again soon!

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

anything@frontendchatter.com

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 58, supported by www.bikesocial.co.uk and sponsored by Bennetts – and a very special, fully employed episode it is too; featuring, as it does:

1) Mugello MotoGP goss including

• Rossi’s motocross crash
• a worrying resemblance to a CGI character from Lord Of The Rings
• a bad case of the shlitz
• fast Ducatis
• how to celebrate a win
• Mattia Pasini’s odd riding controls and his clutchless downshifts
• Triumph’s Moto2 deal

2) TT goss including – in fact almost entirely – semi-informed speculation about the travails of Honda, the 2017 Fireblade, and riders Guy Martin and John McGuinness – with an attempt to understand the connection between their accidents and the road bike (if there are any)

3) Loads of your emails, on wide-ranging subjects from the health of World Superbike and a few ideas on how to make it better, cheap motorway bikes, Husqvarna Nudas, more best-looking non-sportsbikes, and tons of other chattering.

As ever thank you very much for listening, and thank you even more for downloading it from the top folk at Bike Social (that’s still www.bikesocial.co.uk). Please email us on anything@frontendchatter.com or get us on that there Twitter using @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 57, which is really episode 69, powered by the mighty online juggernaut of two-wheeled infotainment that is Bike Social (that's www.bikesocial.co.uk).

This time round Martin and Simon chatter in their front-endy style about: 

• Nicky Hayden: the man, the talent, the achievements, the infectious passion, the generosity, the tears at Estoril, the tears at Valencia, the incredible strength of character, the smile. 

• MotoGP from Le Mans, where General Zarco was propelled by patriotism, Lorenzo was stumped by strine, a small fall by Rossi led to a big fall in his championship standing, and Simon got in a huff and turned his telly off before the end of the race and went to spend some time in his log cabin that Danny Kent still hasn't turned up to finish yet. 

• The red-bike, red-flag, red-fireball fest that was World Superbikes from Imola. 

• John McGuinness's crash at the North West 200, what might have caused it, and whether it might have anything to do with the slightly peculiar throttle response on the 2017 road-going Fireblade. 

• By popular demand (no, really), an excessively comprehensive review of the most promising (if hardly imaginatively named) electric road bikes yet. 

• Your emails, including plenty of air expended about the pros and cons of airbag suits, do MotoGP fans like football, does FEC hate WSB… and finally… and finally?… and finally... a forgotten and (questionably) attractive non-sportsbike from Yamaha. 

As ever thank you very much for listening, and thank you even more for downloading it from the top folk at Bike Social (that’s still www.bikesocial.co.uk). Please email us on anything@frontendchatter.com or get us on that there Twitter using @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and episode 56 brought to you in association with our pals at www.bikesocial.co.uk.

This week, between blackbird interruptions, we look back at the fallout from the spectacular Jerez MotoGP race – which isn’t the same as the Corby Grand Prix – including:

• race weekend perfection from Daniel Pedrosa
• Yamaha’s asymmetrical grip
• the world’s least safe safety car
• a last corner clash that failed to materialise
• the closest championship since 2009
• do the riders, premium athletes to a man, actually pop a can of Red Bull in parc fermé?
• the trials and tribulations of ex-Moto2 rider and sometime World Champ Danny Kent, who’s not from Kent

Plus – a re-evaluation of Ducati’s SuperSport, the merits of A2-licence friendly inline fours or parallel twins, and news of Avon’s new Spirit ST, their ‘hypertouring’ tyre.

Plus – some of your emails, including more of your best-looking non-sportsbikes, is speeding as socially unacceptable as drunk driving, who is General Zarco, what is the Kuiper Belt, is an MOT really necessary, what is defensive riding, how to fix a heavy throttle, and how to spot an idiot bike seller.

Thanks for listening, please support our friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk, and please email us on anything@frontendchatter.com

Welcome to Front End Chatter episode 55, powered by the good people at Bike Social (www.bikesocial.co.uk), where Simon and Martin discuss:

• MotoGP from Texas, where we got the first mouth-watering tease of a proper Marquez v Vinales MotoGP scrap during qualifying, only to have all our hopes and dreams cruelly snatched away during the race in a massive shower of disappointment.
• The great GP lost-and-found phenomenon, including Lorenzo losing his temper and finding it caught on multiple HD cameras (and other great racing tantrums of our time); Loris Baz losing the front and finding himself praised for it (and other great racing non-crashes of our time); and Valentino Rossi losing his piece of racetrack to General Zarco and finding himself handed a 0.3-second penalty (and whether any of this should have ever happened at all).
• British Superbikes from Brands Hatch Indy circuit, where a nice smart young man appeared to come of age (not to be confused with his race number), won two races, shattered a circuit record - and, sorry, who is he again?
• BMW's new HP4 Race - which may or may not have been developed through racing, may or may not be eligible for any racing, and may or may not ever actually be raced by anyone ever - and where it ranks on the Front End Chatter exoticometer.
• Plus all of your emails, including the morality of riding fast on the street, whether magazines encourage law-breaking, the hidden costs of BMW's bargain K1200LT, back-torque talk, the world's best sub-95bhp motorcycle, why radiators are where they are, yet more Honda build quality complaints, the very best-looking bikes of all time ever, plus loads more!

Thanks for listening, and please:

- Visit our current official home at www.bikesocial.co.uk

- Catch us on Twitter at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

- Send any thinkings, feedback, complaints, abuse and self-serving compliments you like to anything@frontendchatter.com

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E54, brought to you as is our wont, by our friends at www.bikesocial.co.uk. 

Subjects for discussion in E54 include: 

• MotoGP from The Hot Springs Of the River Hondo circuit in Argentina – who won, who fell off, who thought they should've won, how many miles per gallon Cal Crutchlow gets from his RCV, and a whole bunch of nerdy stats including some so nerdy we can't actually work out what they mean

• World Snoozerbike from Aragon where <mumble>

• British Superbike from Donington Park

• plus some bikes we've ridden including a thorough review of KTM's revamped 390 Duke, and a less coherent mention of Honda's new Rebel, CB1100s and CBR and CB650F

• plus your emails, which is easily the best bit, including why no-one makes 750 sportsbikes, why Rea could become the most winningest rider ever in WSB this year, and why swapping a Daytona 955i for a Versys 650 is a good idea.

Thanks for listening, please visit www.bikesocial.co.uk to download FEC (or buy insurance from Bennetts), get hold of Martin and I on Twitter at:

@SimonHbikes and @Mufga

And please keep firing in those emails about anything you want to correct us on, or want us to find out for you, or... whatever you want. Email:
anything@frontendchatter.com

Thanks!

Welcome to Front End Chatter 53b – made possible by www.bikesocial.co.uk; go check them out! – and it’s a special FEC dedicated to answering, or failing to answer, your emails. Topics up for Front End Chattery include:

• what’s happened to the UK sportsbike market?

• do ex-police bikes make good winter hacks?

• why a BMW K1200LT is the best-value used bike out there

• the best set of one-piece leathers for under £600...

• ... and what should be worn under them?

• more headphone chat (that’s quite enough of that – Ed)

• what’s better: being faster or being safer?

• why MotoGP frames are hand-made and production bike frames aren’t

• is a Honda Varadero more comfy than a Pan European, and are they more comfy than a VFR800? And where does a CBF1000 fit in all this? (and what about a BMW K1200LT?) 

•  why there’s a TAT, might one day be a TET, but probably not a TIT or a TWAT

• more Honda heated grips gripes – and turns out it’s not just the Africa Twin that suffers

• more top five favourite bikes, and a few least favourite bikes... including Honda’s 929 Blade and Kawasaki’s 2007 Z750

• how to decode new bike launches, why they’re honest, and why context matters

Thank you very much for continuing to listen to our ramblings and thank you even more for contributing with your emails, thoughts and questions – all are welcome; if anything pops into your head, or if we can help, or you disagree with us, please write and tell us at:

Email:                    anything@frontendchatter.com

Twitter:                  @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Visit our shop:         www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter

FB:                         www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

And don’t forget, click on www.bikesocial.co.uk – then go buy insurance from Bennetts!*

*other insurance brokers are available, but they’re all the same with the lights out and, to be honest, with this one you get to help fund FEC!

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

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

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

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

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

email – anything@frontendchatter.com

Twitter – @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Facebook – Front End Chatter

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

Chatter again soon!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 This episode may contain nuts:

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

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

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

• more news on the Honda Africa Twin heated grip saga

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

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

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

• your five dream bikes

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

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

You can follow us on Twitter:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

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

www.bikesocial.co.uk

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

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

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

Plus!

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

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

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

And there’s more:

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

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

• bike security in London

• the wisdom of modifying modern sportsbikes

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

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

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

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

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

• why photochromic visors are a good idea

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

• Honda’s DCT v quickshifters

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

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

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

You can get us on:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

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

www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

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

Welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 50 – yes, you’re not imagining it, it’s really real, and only a week after Episode 49.

Anyway, with next to no racing to chatter about, we’ve finally got round to answering all your emails (at least, the ones that had a question) – some from as far back as last September; sorry about that.

So, in some particular order, we natter about:

• Sportsbike luggage systems
• What will happen to production racing when there are no more production sportsbikes
• Why sports 600s are dying out
• The best headphones for on bike entertainment
• The perils of Hi-Viz
• An extremely long-winded and rambling piece about girls in bike sport
• Does size matter? (this is a different point)
• Why you only see Ducatis in the Ducati factory car park
• Who’s better – Rossi or Marquez?
• Why Honda’s Deauville is desirable
• The future of electric bikes
• A whole heap of buying advice for several FECers which always seems to end up in the recommendation of a Ducati Multistrada or a BMW R1200GS
• ...and much, much – some would say too much – more

Thanks for enduring this one – it’s a monster – and look forward to some exciting news regarding Front End Chatter in the near future.

Email:            anything@frontendchatter.com

Tweet:           @SimonHbikes

                     @Mufga

Webshop:       www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter

Facebook:       www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter/

Welcome to FEC49, finally – at least in the sense it’s been a long time coming, not in the conclusive sense. And, despite no actual racing to talk about, we find enough to fill half a podcast:

• Why MotoGP team launches are fake news – and, worse, they even have fake soundtracks

• Why testing is a pointless guide to the outcome of the season, but it’s worth taking notice of because it’s some motorbikes going round a track

• Crazy new World Superbike rules

• How BSB should fill a Supersport-sized gap with naked bikes and Moto2

• Who will be the busiest Aussie racer in 2017

• Why this year’s TT will be the best ever

• What that crazy Guy Martin has been saying about his TT comeback and why modern bikes are rubbish

PLUS! We have a few mini-reviews of some 2017 bikes, including:

• Kawasaki’s Z1000SX and why it’s better than before but has odd steering
• Ducati’s 950 Multistrada and why comparisons are odious
• Ducati’s sportier-for-2017 Monster 1200 S
• Suzuki’s perfectly nice but slightly ordinary GSX-S750
• Ducati’s properly off-road Desert Sled Scrambler

Thank you for bearing with us always, please keep emails coming, and we’ll read them out in FEC50...

...WHICH WE’RE RECORDING NEXT WEEK, WE PROMISE!

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

anything@frontendchatter.com

www.frontendchatter.com

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E48, which you'll be pleased to hear has no racing at all apart from a brief discussion about the merits of being called Danny Kent but not actually coming from Kent, unlike Danny Webb who does come from Kent. 

Anyway, this one's all about 2017's new bikes you *can* buy, and 2016's bikes you can't any longer.

Thanks for listening, hope you like it, and see you at Motorcycle Live at the NEC. 

Email: anything@frontendchatter.com
Twitter: @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Hello and welcome back to Front End Chatter E47 - it's been a while, so we've come back with an episode purely about racing – who's won what, why, how, and what will happen next year – and we introduce a new word to the English language: disrespeculation. 

Thanks for bearing with us – more episodes will follow soon, about 2017 new bikes, and reading your emails and answering your questions. 

Email: anything@frontendchatter.com
Twitter: @SimonHbikes and @Mufga
FB: www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter/

Welcome to Part Two of FEC's Summer Special, featuring your emails and assorted chatter about: 

• the pros and cons of riding at night

• the ethics of washing bikes and bikinis

• the truth about new tyres

• how best to listen to music while riding

• is the future electric?

• have electronics spoiled racing?

• is Ducati's new Supersport a Monster in drag with the wrong engine?

• what's the best adventure bike for a tall Hamburger?

• why buying a Crossrunner is a good, good, good thing

• why sportsbikes might not be the best idea for people with little self-control

• what's the best bike to strap to the back of a motorhome?

And as if that isn't enough, you can hire Simon to come and play bass at your party/wedding/festival etc.

Once again, we thank you for listening!

Hello, and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's original... most original... oh, whatever. It's a podcast mostly about bikes, with added swearing.

This is the Front End Chatter Summer Special Part One, which is only special by virtue of being a) shorter than usual and b) accompanied almost instantly(ish) by Part Two. So this half is the usual racing chatter, including gossip from the Austrian Red Bull Ring Pull MotoGP round, followed by mini-reviews of a couple of bikes we've ridden recently, and Part Two will be along in a while with a sackful of readers'... no, listeners'... emails. Of which there are many, and for which we thank you. We read all of them, even if we don't read them all out. It would take a long time and there aren't enough seconds in, well, a second, basically.

Thanks for your patience in waiting for the least consistent podcast in all creation, and please get in touch via anything@frontendchatter.com or @SimonHbikes or @Mufga

Welcome to Front End Chatter E45 featuring not much racing, shock, partly because there hasn’t been much since E44 but mostly because we didn’t actually watch what there was. Which, as it turns out, was a wet Assen MotoGP (always a pleasure, never a chore). So we talk about a race we didn’t see, plus wings they aren’t going to use for a safety concern (or issue) they may or may not have. It’s just like actually being there, only with your eyes closed and with fingers in your ears.

We also find time to chunter about:

• BMW’s 2017 F700 and F800GS with thrilling new Euro 4 compliance
• Ducati’s 939 SuperSport sporty sportsbike that fills the gaping hole in their range for a non-entry level, non-track day road sporty sportsbike
• Yamaha’s MT-07-based 700 Tracer that has the same performance as a 1992 TDM850 but at a fraction of the price
• Triumph’s rumoured 765cc Street Triple roady sportsbike-ish
• The recently opened David Silver Honda Collection based near Ipswich, for fans of vintage Hondas
• The very excellent Champions Flat Track School, run by our mate Boastie, which introduces noobs to the noble art of going slideways
  
  Plus! Some of your emails, including more on BMW ESA suspension replacement/service info, the absence of Irish bike MOTs, why the bloke at the back of a group ride always ends up speeding, and more!
  
  Thanks for listening, keep writing in, spread the word among your friends, and visit us on Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga) or Facebook.

And you can purchase Front End Chatter merch here:

www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter

Welcome to Front End Chatter #44, in which Mufga and SiH talk about a couple of MotoGP races that happened ages ago – and including the tragic loss of Moto2’s Luis Salom at Catalunya, the slightly unedifying fallout, the race itself with torpedoes and last lap thrills, and a very necessary handshake to cap it all off. 

We also natter about TT racing – and in our excitement over the difference between letting a MotoGP bike race in the Superbike class but chucking out a rider for coated cam buckets in another, completely neglect to offer condolences to the family and friends of lost riders Dwight Beare, Ian Bell, Paul Shoesmith, Andrew Soar and Dean Martin. Which we do here.

Mufga and Si also discover the joys of Bluetooth headsets, muck about in Wales on BMW’s GS Challenge, ride KTM’s 1290 GT (for the next issue of Bike magazine) and chunter about BMW’s R1200 GSA v KTM’s Super Adventure v Triumph’s new Explorer v Ducati’s new Multistrada Enduro (check it out in a forthcoming issue of Ride magazine). No spoilers. Ok, maybe just a couple.

After all that, we run out of time to read out your emails so they’ll be in the next episode of FEC, out sometime next week. Blimey.

Love and rockets, email us on anything@frontendchatter.com, Tweet us on @SimonHbikes or @Mufga, check out Facebook, and buy T-shirts and stuff from somewhere. Follow the link on www.frontendchatter.com

Welcome to Front End Chatter E43, brought to you in association with the enjoy-while-it-lasts British summer. In this episode, Simon and Mufga chatter about: 

• results and matter arising from Jerez and Le Mans MotoGP including Brad Binder's hooky software issues in Moto3, Rossi's lauded flag to flag win, Lorenzo's flag-to-flag win that no-one cares about, synchronised crashing, more wings and things, being beaten up by a tangerine, and even more about who goes where, and who's talking about who's going where, in 2017. And why. And are you Team BTSport or Team MCN/MotoMatters? 

• Chaz Davies' WSB double for Ducati in Imola and a great weekend's racing at Oulton Park in BSB

• a world first podcast review of TomTom's new Rider 410 sat nav, plus a bit of Garmin Navigator Street

• loads more emails and questions covering topics as diverse (I nearly said 'perverse') as Circuit Of Wales, fantasy British MotoGP tracks, burying bodies, dropping other bodies on their heads, crashing a Desmosedici into a pig, best MotoGP books, Marquez' strategy for crashing, riding in fear, riding faster in groups, and what could possibly go wrong with 30,000-mile BMW ESA suspension? 

Thanks for your time, please subscribe on iTunes, tell your friends and tell them to tell their friends about FEC, write emails to motorcycle manufacturers explaining how important FEC is in your buying decisions, check FEC out on Facebook, follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on Twitter, buy stuff from our shop (www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter) and all that other stuff. 

We are genuinely flattered, humbled and grateful for your wonderful emails, Tweets and downloads. 

I dunno, you wait ages for an episode of Front End Chatter, and then two come along at once. 

Welcome to FEC#42, which is (almost) solely devoted to reading your emails and answering your questions on subjects as wide-ranging as:

• riding the B500 in The Black Forest Gateaux, a nice road in Croatia, and what's the best off-road bike for a father and son (like we'd know)

• why a 2 x British world champ is doing a bit of half-naked Turkish oil wrestling on TV but isn't coming across as a nob

• choosing between a BMW R1200RT and a Suzuki GSX1250FA

• whether a Honda VFR400 handles better than a Ducati 748 - or a modern sportsbike 

• on-bike tracking systems for £13

• how the risk of riding a bike could put you off riding altogether

• what bike manufacturers get from racing

• why F1 cars blow up more than MotoGP bikes 

Plus, a bit more natter about Circuit Of Wales wrangles and other bits and bobs. Please don't make me listen to it again just to fill this bit out. 

Thanks for downloading, please leave a review on iTunes and/or subscribe, and join in with Front End Chatter on Facebook, or on Twitter: @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

You can also visit www.frontendchatter.com, follow the links and purchase T-shirts, key-rings, mugs and mouse mats. 

We're back! After a prolonged absence, which we find is the best kind, Front End Chatter returns with post-Argentina MotoGP gossip – and, let's face it, it had the lot: tyres, crashes, more tyres, boo-ing, early silly season, and some highly ill-informed nonsense about reverse-spinning cranks. 

Plus, Martin (him) and Simon (me) natter about some new bikes we've ridden, and where you can read about them. Ish. 

Thanks for listening, and thanks for remembering we exist. The next episode will be along shortly. 

x

Episode 40 of Front End Chatter, the Finger On The Pulse episode, comes not so much hot as slightly tepid with gossip from MotoGP testing (at Sepang, Malaysia, not Phillip Island). Fortunately, the big issues are still the same: will Casey race in 2016? Will the new Michelin tyres and retro-spec ECU mix results up this season? Will Lorenzo win the title by mid-season? When will someone first say ‘silly season’? 

There’s also plenty of FEC-ing tittle-tattle about:

• Guy Martin’s no-show at the TT this year
• Triumph’s new Tiger 1050 Sport
• 6000 houses created at the Circuit Of Wales site. Sorry, we meant ‘6000 jobs’
• why splitting WSB races over two days might be a good idea
• why manufacturers don’t make more of their Dakar race success
• reviving the Transatlantic race series – good idea or not? And are any American racers good enough? Or Brits, come to that
• are anti-theft bike tracking systems a good idea or a bit ‘after the fact’?
• does a near-miss take the shine off biking?
• is it okay to still like being a biker, but go off actually riding bikes?
• choosing between a Suzuki Bandit 1250 (too old school?), Kawasaki Versys 650 (too tame?) or a Yamaha Tracer (too expensive) for hustling mountain roads, touring and commuting. Or just pick a Yamaha FZ1 Fazer.
  • what are the best tyres for a Yamaha XJ6?
• choosing the fabulous FEC theme tune. 

Please email questions, comments and/or abuse to: anything@frontendchatter.com

Twitter us at: @SimonHbikes & @Mufga

Facebook: www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCgeS_FcXLqwZgirmG2OCW0w

Please visit support FEC and visit our shop for T-shirts and mugs: www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter

Subscribe on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/front-end-chatter/id827471484

We're also on Android podcast apps.
 
Thanks for listening! Keep watching for new episodes (and sorry they're so sporadic etc).

Simon & Martin

HelloAndWelcomeToEpisode39OfBritain'sFavouriteBikingPodcast! And breathe...

In the first FEC of 2016, Simon and Martin discuss:

- The Dakar Rally, who's winning, who isn't, and who's paying any attention?

- All the new rules for MotoGP, whether we can predict anything before anything has happened, and whether that feller who said he doesn't want to race again will, in fact, race again.

- What's going on with WSB's barely comprehensible new format, and whether it will detract from what otherwise has the potential to be a pretty great year.

- Who in the BSB paddock recently failed a drugs test, who will be making a welcome return to the BSB paddock, and who in the BSB paddock has just made a pretty dramatic career change.

- Plus loads and loads (and loads) of your emails frantically read, mumbled, debated and, in a few cases, answered.

It's a busy one...

Email us: anything@frontendchatter.com
Twitter: @SimonHbikes and @Mufga
Facebook: www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCgeS_FcXLqwZgirmG2OCW0w
FEC shop: www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/front-end-chatter/id827471484

Front End Chatter E38 looks back at 2015: the best bikes, the best races, the best racers, the biggest losers, and Martin and Simon's personal fave moments – plus the absence of British world champs on BBC Sports Personality Of The Year and FEC's New Year Resolutions.

Have a merry Christmas, you FECers!

Thanks for listening, and please get on touch on email: 
anything@frontendchatter.com 
or Twitter: 
@Mufga
@SimonHbikes 

...and try our Youtube channel!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgeS_FcXLqwZgirmG2OCW0w/videos

Welcome to Front End Chatter E37 in which, now the dust has settled, Martin and Simon discuss the ramifications of that race from the point of view of someone who was in the grandstands at Valencia, and someone who had the benefit of replays on the TV (*SPOILER ALERT* hardcore Rossi fans probably shouldn't listen to this). Oh, and there's something about the NEW BRITISH WORLD CHAMPION... but we sort of forgot to mention it at the start...

There's also a load of chat about 2016's most interesting new bikes (plus a couple of less interesting ones) with the usual disagreement (and one notable agreement), plus emails and exhortations to buy magazines and merchandising.

Thanks for listening, and please get on touch on
anything@frontendchatter.com
@Mufga

@SimonHbikes 

And if we don't speak again before Christmas (which is entirely possible), have a cracker!

Welcome to Front End Chatter, Episode 36 – the Scoop/Meltdown episode – in which Martin and Simon reveal details of Triumph's 2016 range of Bonnevilles, Thruxtons and Street Twin – what they are, why they are, why they've taken so long and why there's no Scrambler. 

The second half of the podcast is all about who said what to whom at Phillip Island, and who subsequently rode into who at Sepang, and why Keith Huewen had better cut down on his meals for a few days and get used to the taste of Arai. 

It doesn't seem like much, but at least it feels much longer when you listen to it.

Thanks very much for downloading, spread the word, and

Visit our shop

www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter

Subscribe on iTunes

itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/front-end-chatter/id827471484?mt=2

Twitter us at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Check out our Facebook page
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And try FEC visual treats on YouTube
www.youtube.com/channel/UCgeS_FcXLqwZgirmG2OCW0w

Welcome to Front End Chatter E35, which contains details of Kawasaki's forking-great 2016 ZX-10R, BMW's gravity-defying G310 concept bike (and why, if it really does break the laws of physics and hover, it also breaks the law in Britain), the ramifications of the technology-sharing pact between Honda, BMW and Yamaha, and the usual wild MotoGP speculation and gossip. 

Thanks for listening, and please get in touch:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

anything@frontendchatter.com

And visit https://www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter to get stuff. 

Front End Chatter E34 – the Less Than Honest Episode – in which:

• Martin and Simon get their riding assessed and ride very sensibly – almost as if their livelihoods depend on it (which they do) 

• VW are caught cheating on US emissions tests, but are bike manufacturers doing the same? 

• details of Ducati's 2016 models are accidentally revealed online, by the same US emissions board who 'outed' VW (who own Audi, who own... Ducati)

• Suter release a Grand Prix replica two-stroke, with an engine based on a late 1990s V4 500 motor but which mysteriously turns out to be 576cc

• more MotoGP gossip in which Simon professes a sneaky change of heart and can't remember which rider it was caught on TV swapping his mouthguard for a false tooth

• plus chat suggested by a selection of listeners' emails, including why are so many parallel twins about now, why Front End Chatter merchandise costs so much, why some bikers seem to hate that fashion and culture they have now, and the origins of Yamaha's speedblock paint design by someone who was there.

Thank you very much for listening, please subscribe on iTunes or Android, and leave a review. You can find us here:

@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

www.frontendchatter.com

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/front-end-chatter/id827471484?mt=2

www.tshirtstudio.com/marketplace/front-end-chatter

www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

Back to scotch rumours of its (not our) demise, Front End Chatter E33 sees a lucid Martin and hungover Simon cover a wide range of two-wheeled gossip including:

• Jonathan Rea’s record-breaking World Superbike title, and whether Danny Kent winning the Moto3 title might be seen as a bigger deal

• new bike chat about the 2016 Kawasaki ZX-10R, Honda’s Africa Twin, KTM's parallel twin, Yamaha's XSR700 and Ducati’s Monster 1200 R (and whether it is really is their most powerful naked bike ever, or if they’ve forgotten they also build the Diavel)

• the dubious merit of a short ad film featuring a new Triumph and the 'pseudo hipster saviour of motorcycling', Mr David Beckham
  
  
• the current state of the MotoGP championship, plus a review of Hitting The Apex, a film that definitely isn't about colonoscopy
  
  
• listeners' emails including the fine line between deliberately causing an accident on track, and just making a mistake
  
  
• and details of where you can purchase Front End Chatter's range of T-shirts, mugs and key rings. 
  
  Blimey. Thank you for listening, and spread the FEC word!
  
  
  

Coming to you fresh out of last week and looking all the way into next year, Front End Chatter #32 covers:

- Speculation, rumour, gossip, semi-educated guesses and, in a few cases, actual established facts about the new motorcycles we can expect to see in 2016 (and 2017).

- Whether BMW's new hi-tech flashing brake light gizmo is really such a bright idea.

- MotoGP recap from Sachsenring, the battle for championship points still to fight, and the battle for focus Martin found himself fighting during the race.

- Plenty of talk ahead of British Superbikes' crazy £50,000 scheme at Brands Hatch, including what it all has to do with Hulk Hogan.

- Plus all your Tweets, emails, faxes and telegrams including two-strokes, racing at Daytona in the 1970s, racing at the TT in your 50s, the future of the 300cc sports class, and plenty more.

Be a part of Britain's best motorcycle podcast by emailing your thoughts, opinions, feelings or questions to anything@frontendchatter.com. We're also on Facebook (www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter); Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga) and iTunes (bit.ly/iTunes) - where you can subscribe or download old episodes FOR FREE. And, of course, good old-fashioned www.frontendchatter.com.

No animals were harmed during the making of this podcast. Apart from one dog.

Britain's original motorcycle podcast is back once again with a hundred minutes of talk, discussion, argument, ill-informed rumour, shameful name-dropping and awful impressions covering:

– Everything that happened at the Isle of Man TT races, including asking the question NOBODY IS EVER ALLOWED TO ASK!

– All the last corner antics from the Assen round of MotoGP, including Rossi vs Marquez and Niklas Ajo vs his knees.

– Whether getting the ’80s and ’90s GP band back together in Spain is a race we'd want to see in Britain – and whether it's really a race at all.

– All the excitement surrounding Honda's absolutely staggering RC213VhyphenS. It's Márquez's race bike on the road! Well, apart from the engine. And the frame. And the suspension, brakes, wheels, tyres, petrol tank…

– What it's like to take on 241 other BMW owners at the UK round of the BMW GS Trophy qualifying event. And, indeed, exactly what any of that actually means.

– Plus all your questions and emails answered, or at least read out loud.

Thank you, as always, for downloading us, subscribing to us on iTunes, liking our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter), following us on Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga), and telling everyone you know who rides a bike about the veritable audio feast that is Front End Chatter.

Front End Chatter, Britain's best motorcycle podcast, celebrates its 30th episode with a Q&A special. This time we've passed the handlebars over to you, dear listener(s), as Simon and Martin spend a full hour finding, inventing, and in some cases, actually knowing, answers to your questions. Topics include:

- Why many riders find life gets in the way of riding, often for years at a time

- Are bikes getting taller? And does size (of a bike's seat height) really matter?

- Is the Ducati Scrambler "completely wanky"? (Not our words...)

- 10 (or so) great roads to ride in Europe (and one in Wales...)

- The invention of the British SuperCeleb championship, where Hollywood (the culture) meets Hollywood (the baker) at Hollywood (the corner)

- Are the DVLA being sneaky buggers, or are some people just not paying enough attention?

- Plus an ex-pat makes us all feel better by bursting a few bubbles about the reality of riding in Australia

Thank you for downloading and, hopefully, listening. All questions, comments, replies and general communication is welcomed to anything@frontendchatter.com

You can find us on Twitter at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

Subscribe to Front End Chatter for free on iTunes (bit.ly/FECiTunes) or find us direct at www.frontendchatter.com

After six weeks of sponsored silence, Britain's least-consistent motorcycle podcast is back. In episode 29, Simon and Martin discuss:

- Why watching MotoGP racing is a bit like watching two walruses fighting, or a Shakepearean play, or something.

- Will Valentino win the title, will Ducati win a race, and will Melandri win a point?

- The North West 200 race that was won by a movie star.

- The new Honda Africa Twin, and whether it would have been much, much better or much, much worse if it was more like a Varadero.

- Why Royal Enfield have bought Harris (not Rolf), and whether there are any warnings to be learned from Hero investing in EBR

- The passing of Geoff Dukeobe (sorry, Duke OBE) and whether TT spectators in the 1950s got better value from slower racing.

Thank you very much for listening. If you like, or at least tolerate this, check out all our other podcasts at www.frontendchatter.com or search for Front End Chatter on iTunes - and subscribe! Email anything@frontendchatter.com with questions, comments and anything else, or find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter) and Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga).

Welcome to Front End Chatter episode 28, in which Martin and Simon:

• discuss the drama of the 2015 season-opening MotoGP race from Qatar

• preview (just) the upcoming 2015 season-opening British Superbike race from Donington

• interview BSB Series Director Stuart Higgs in the back of a van and talk about what’s in store this year, why BSB is a success, whether the rules on electronics and the Showdown are a good thing or a bad thing, and what he regrets most after seven years in charge

• ruminate on Dani Pedrosa’s poorly wrist and Casey Stoner’s unlikely MotoGP comeback

• and read out listener’s emails on subjects such as Marco Melandri’s performance, why the law is an ass, the current status of Front End Chatter’s T-shirts and what we think of the current BT Sport MotoGP line-up.

Hope you enjoy it; please send in your questions (verbal or written), subscribe via iTunes or Android, like our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter) and talk to us on Twitter

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Front End Chatter, Britain's best motorcycle podcast, considers joining The 27 Club and contains:

- A 30-minute preview of the 2015 MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3 seasons with respected journalist and racer Mat Oxley (@matoxley), including: whether Ducati really has turned a corner in turning corners; whether Jorge Lorenzo will fit into his leathers; why Moto2 isn't as exciting as it was; and why the young Spanish rider who could dominate Moto3 is slightly less Spanish than MFG thinks.

- All the two-wheeled excuses that have got in the way of us making podcasts recently, including: BMW F800GS, Ducati Multistrada 1200, Suzuki GSX-R750, Honda NSR250RSP MC28, Triumph T595, Ducati Monster 1200S, BMW R1200R, Triumph Street Triple Rx and the Ducati Scrambler.

- Your questions and, in few cases, some answers to them, including: whether you're a twat if you film yourself crashing while attempting a wheelie, and whether that makes you enough of a twat to deserve a suspended prison sentence; what new riding kit to buy if you leave your old riding kit on a train and blame it on a podcast; and what one single motorcycle you'd pick to ride for the rest of your life.

- A surging (and unexpected) response to a casual request for Young People to get in touch, and the revelation that they may in fact be a lot like People.

Thank you, once again, for listening. You can email Front End Chatter about anything motorcycle-related on anything@frontendchatter.com, get in touch with Simon and Martin on Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga), and now visit FEC's shiny new Facebook page at www.facebook.com/FrontEndChatter

You can download (or stream) every episode of FEC for free at www.frontendchatter.com and/or subscribe to us (also for free) on iTunes or, indeed, any Android podcatchy software. Now #goFECyourself

Episode #26 of Front End Chatter includes:

- Britain's best motorcycle podcast celebrates its one-year anniversary by being ignored at the London Motorcycle Show. And Martin finally fulfils a four-year promise.

- World Superbikes recap from Phillip Island, including the record-breaking (not in a good way) return of Troy Bayliss, why the podiums resembled the setup to a rubbish old pub joke, and the frank confessions and bruised buttocks revealed by social media.

- More intrigue from MotoGP pre-season testing, where Ducati appear to have successfully turned a corner (for once), Melandri appears to need a montage, and scooters appear to be influencing race bike design.

- Simon discovers how much MotoGP riders earn, where in the world they take it home to, and what the sponsors who fund the whole shebang do aside from taking up space on the side of 200mph race bikes.

- Getting righteously indignant at the politics behind the Donington/Silverstone/CircuitOfWales fiasco, then even more righteously indignanter still at proper politics when it turns out the political party that seemed to be the nice guys really don't like motorcycles at all, and really don't want you riding them either.

Plus plenty more. Well, a bit more. Regardless, thank you so very much for listening. If you enjoy it, you can check out our first year of FECing on www.frontendchatter.com; subscribe for free on iTunes; send us an email to anything@frontendchatter.com; and Twit us on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga.

PS - If you spot the not-as-deliberate-as-we-wish-it-was mistake, email us on loadofcobblers@frontendchatter.com

Episode 25 of Front End Chatter, Britain's best and most superlative biking podcast, returns from a lengthy absinthe to discuss the first stirrings of a MotoGP season from testing at Sepang, Malaysia, and whether anything can be inferred from said performances other than some bikes and riders will definitely be on the grid at the start of the season, and some will be faster than others (the chances of a dead heat involving the entire field in every race are slim). Episode 25 also features the FEC Pointless MotoGP PR podium, a celebration of banal soundbites and talking nonsense, in which Alvaro Bautista is showing great pre-season form...

Front End Chatter also nearly breaks a Yamaha press embargo on the new VMAX Cartoon... sorry, Carbon... and notices Suzuki's best-value bike, the GSX1250 FA, now comes with full luggage in its £7999 price, which is great until remembering the standard bike (without the luggage) was on sale for £6865 six months ago. FEC#25 also worries about biking getting older (it's a proper Saga) and wonders where the new blood is coming from (if there is any), why kids don't ride mopeds, whether Triumph should put a Tiger 800 motor in Street Triple chassis and slap a half fairing on it, the pros and cons of riding in winter, and marvel at the eccentric life of Maurice Seddon, the man who cooked his supper in his panniers and 'invented' heated clothing for bikers. 

Hope you like it; please subscribe and tell everyone you know to do likewise. 

See you after the London bike show :-)

@Mufga
@SimonHbikes 

Episode 24 of Front End Chatter does not, sadly, contain Kiefer Sutherland defending the world from a series of increasingly improbable terrorists. Instead, Simon and Martin discuss:

- The two-week, 5000-mile Dakar Rally compressed into 10 minutes

- A pre-pre-season preview, as MotoGP prepares to start testing, World Superbikes prepares to start racing, and the internet prepares to start using the c-word about Casey Stoner

- Why the 2015 Isle of Man TT has turned into the world's fastest group test (and why a Kawasaki H2R might appear after all...)

- Why things are looking up if you're in the business of selling motorcycles

- The Frankenbikes we would build given an imaginary angle grinder and welder

- The events to get in your 2015 diary, from London to Barcelona to Coventry

And finally, to find out if reports of Superbike magazine's death have been greatly exaggerated, we speak to editor John Hogan (@JohnatSuperBike) about the title's past, present and future.

Thank you very much for listening to Britain's best biking podcast. If you enjoy it, subscribe for free on iTunes, and check out all of our previous episodes (which would take more than a day of non-stop listening to get through). You can also play or download every episode free from www.frontendchatter.com

Talk to us either on Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga) or send us an email about anything you like to anything@frontendchatter.com

The first Front End Chatter of 2015 covers such diverse subjects as:

- Simon enters a race through a village on his FireBlade, only to find out that's it's not really a race.

- The first (and last) Front End Chatter 2014 Manufacturer Countdown, pop-pickers.

- Listeners' problems solved (or at least answered), from trials clubs to tourism advice.

- Does racing sell road bikes?

- Do tall-rounders make sportsbikes look silly?

Plus, Front End Chatter's off-road correspondent JP (@Jonpe23) returns to discuss the ins, outs and upside-downs of the Dakar Rally, including:

- Who nearly didn't even make the start line this year.

- What the words "mousse", "liason" and "fesh-fesh" mean.

- Why you don't necessarily want to finish first (but to finish first, first you have to finish...)

- Was the Dakar better when it actually went to Dakar?

Thanks very much for listening. As ever, please subscribe (for free) on iTunes or elsewhere, check out our previous 20-odd episodes (for free), and spread the word by telling friends (and strangers) about Britain's best biking podcast.

You can also shape future episodes by emailing comments, suggestions, questions and observations to anything@frontendchatter.com or by getting us on Twitter on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga.

This year's final episode of Britain's best biking podcast comes to you from the jungle... no, Andorra... no, Benidorm. And Sicily.

In this hour-and-a-bit, Ant and Dec - sorry, Simon and Martin - cover:

- Is Britain officially in love with Foggy once again (the stats suggest so), or did he just surf a wave of cult nostalgia (the stats suggest so...)? 

- Marquez moves out of his parents' house, cries, then proves he's the greatest rider on the planet even in the off-season. Plus, a review of his new biography.

- Reports from the launches of the new BMW R1200R (a simple bike that's incredibly high-tech), Kawasaki Versys 650 (the small bike trying to be a big bike) and Versys 1000 (the adventure bike that wasn't really an adventure bike and definitely isn't an adventure bike any more).

- Front End Chatter discovers what it's like to ride a Kawasaki H2.

- Plus your emails answered, some light bickering, and much more.

If you enjoy this (for free), you can subscribe to Front End Chatter (for free), check out our past episodes (for free), tell a friend (for free) or shout about us online (for free).

Send us an email about anything (anything@frontendchatter.com) and find us on Twitter (@Mufga and @SimonHbikes).

Thank you very much, and we'll be back in 2015.

Happy Christmas.

Welcome to Front End Chatter episode 21 v2.0 (apparently the dog ate episode 21 v1.0). This week Martin and Simon visit Motorcycle Live and wave a microphone at Kawasaki’s H2R, use the word ‘artisan’ twice, dissect Carl Fogarty MBE’s stellar performance on a reality TV show and whether drinking a puréed kangaroo testicle really is tougher than winning four World Superbike titles, discuss air-bag protection, lament the passing of the thrust curve, and Simon reveals how talking out loud while you’re riding, recording it and putting on YouTube is problematic. But only to him.

Thank you very much for listening, please spread the word, subscribe, and come and read other Chattersome nonsense at:

@Mufga

@SimonHbikes 

*if you’re only interested in the Carl Fogarty bit – and who can blame you? – it starts around 42m 30s.

Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and original) biking podcast celebrates its vigintennial anniversary by remembering about the good old days. Actually, it doesn't. Instead, it gets totally lost in the seemingly bottomless pool of brand new bikes and their impenetrable acronyms. Opinion and analysis abounds, including attempting (or not) to answer:

- Might Kawasaki's new H2 be a tiny weeny bit of a porker?
- Will Honda's road-going RC213V really happen?
- Is Yamaha's new R1 deceptively good looking?
- Just what does A&S, AOS-II and CFRTP mean, and is it all a LOB?
- Was any baking paper used in designing the MT-09 T-Racer (sorry, Tracer)?
- What does Ducati's Scrambler have to do with a polar bear having a shave?

If you enjoy any of this nonsense please subscribe and/or tell your friends about Front End Chatter. You can download it through iTunes, from any Androidy thing or direct from www.frontendchatter.com.

Feedback or topic suggestions actively welcomed by email (anything@frontendchatter.com) and Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga).

Thanks very much.

Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and original) biking podcast, returns for an hour of fun and games (literally) including:

- What Ducati's latest high-tech acronym actually does
- What Yamaha's latest high-tech acronyms might do
- Whether the 2015 BMW S1000RR is any good to ride (Simon's back from the launch, not that he mentions it much)
- The frantic debut of Hipster Bingo
- The remarkable true story of how a man who once set his own beard on fire drinking cocktails is at the centre of fresh chaos surrounding one of the most famous bikes in film history

Plus all the usual talk about racing, your emails and plenty more too.

Download Front End Chatter via www.frontendchatter.com, search for us on iTunes, or find us through any other Androidy apps. We're even still on SoundCloud. If you enjoy FEC please subscribe, tell your friends, check out old episodes, and email feedback to anything@frontendchatter.com

Oh, and Twit us on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Thanks!

Britain's best and... hang on, have to stop you there. Anyway, this week's/month's/insert-random-time-interval's episode of Front End Chatter is all about new bikes – Kawasaki's supercharged H2R, BMW's S1000RR and R1200RS, Suzuki's GSX-S1000F and Ducati's Hipster, sorry, Scrambler – and a newly-crowned MotoGP Wold Champ, which is like a World Champ only from Lincolnshire, not Spain. There's some other stuff too. We hope you enjoy it, and please spread the word, subscribe via iTunes or an Android thing, leave a review, or Tweet us at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga (or get Simon on FB, but not Martin). 

Front End Chatter, the UK's finest biking podcast, goes all supercharged this week, in honour of Kawasaki's much rumoured, substantially teased and probably very exciting new sportsbike, the H2 (although it turns out your level of excitement depends on your promiscuity, gullibility and general willingness to indulge in fantasy). We also talk about the other noteworthy 2015 bikes likely to debut at the forthcoming Intermot bike show in Cologne, why sportsbikes may or may not be making a comeback, a bit of MotoGP chat, why Donington is nicer than Silverstone (apart from the toilets), and take a serious moment to discuss the ethics of watching bike crash videos on Youtube.

From physics to metaphysics, only in Britain's favourite biking podcast.

Please download, subscribe, share as widely as possible, leave us some feedback, email us at anythingyoulike@frontendchatter.com, or Tweet us on @Mufga or @SimonHbikes. Thanks!

Welcome to Front End Chatter episode 16, brought to you live, in the sense we're breathing, from Silverstone MotoGP – or is it?

There's a lot of chatter about the race itself, and plenty of ill-informed gossip surrounding the event, and... well, let's just call it a wide-ranging conversation that takes in men in public toilets, why sportsbikes appear to be in decline, which one you should buy anyway, crashing on a protest ride, Aussie police, no new bike news, stolen racing trophies, how manufacturers treat customers better these days, and lending idiot wannabe journalists demo bikes. It all sounds better than it really is.

But thanks for listening anyway! x

Front End Chatter hits the big one-five chattering about Marc Marquez crashing (or not), new bike news including Suzuki's big naked, Yamaha's semi-naked and BMW's wish-it-was-completely-obscured, why Welsh taxpayers may end up paying Silverstone (not in Wales) to host a Grand Prix in 2015, and lots more ill-informed chit-chat about this and that on two wheels (guaranteed to drive anyone who knows anything about bikes to distraction). We hope you like it, but have sympathy with those who don't.

If you like quantity over quality, then the longest-ever episode of Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and only) biking podcast is for you.

Simon and Martin return with nearly 90 minutes of words, covering:

- Cal Crutchlow's last-minute change of heart. And employer
- Live (though not live by the time you listen to it) commentary from the Thruxton round of British Superbikes
- A new cruiser we both like the look of, and one we definitely don't
- Why a great value bargain new offer might not be so great or bargainous after all
- Why the radical anarchists of motorcycling might not be so radically anarchic after all
- Whether two clutches are better than one
- The super-advanced production bike nobody (except Simon) is paying attention to
- The retro custom bikes everybody (except Martin) is paying attention to

And all while trying (and failing) not to be distracted by the telly.

If you've been affected by any of the issues raised in this program, Twit us at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga or email us on anything@frontendchatter.com

Front End Chatter is available on iTunes, Soundcloud and all manner of Android podcast catching widgets. Thanks for listening.

After two months of radio (or, indeed, not-radio) silence, Britain's best (and only) biking podcast is back with episode 13. But what happened to episode 12, you ask? You'll have to listen to find out...

Front End Chatter #13 also covers:

- Who's going (or staying) where in MotoGP, and should they?
- The hectic year of the world's foremost freelance racer (who may or may not be French)
- Why top-name racers don't appear at the Suzuka 8-hour (because they do?)
- Unsubstantiated speculation about a new Yamaha R1, including who will care most (a racer) and who won't (anybody buying a new bike in Britain, going by the sales figures) even if it turns out to be real after all
- A radical solution for all the deserted supermoto tracks gathering dust (and aren't they supposed to do that?)
- Everything we lost from Episode 12, which originally took two hours but can be crammed into five minutes
- The debut (and possibly finale) of Front End Chatter's Realityometer game

Sorry for the delay and we hope the wait was worthwhile. If it is, or isn't, please email us at anything@frontendchatter.com

Find us on The Twitter on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Thanks, and tell a friend. Or just spam your email address book.

Front End Chatter episode 11 is here and contains, for your aural pleasure, Simon and Martin chattering about the following:
• The Isle of Man TT – who's winning, who isn't, BMW's first win for 75 years (or is it?), when's a Norton not a Norton, when a TT racer should call it a day (or not) & Twitter incontinence ('he's Twat his pants!')
• Marc Marquez' autobiography (Chapter One: Womb With A View, Chapter Two: My Time With The Midwife, Chapter Three: Going Home From The Hospital etc)
• Ducati's new Monster 821
• Our predictions for new bikes in 2015 
• How to behave on garage forecourts
• and lots of musings on life, two-wheels, and forgetting to print off people's names

Many thanks for downloading, and hope you enjoy the chatter. 

Contact us on Twitter:

@Mufga
@SimonHbikes

or email:

frontendchatter@frontendchatter.com

The tenth episode of Britain's best (and only) biking podcast is bursting with astounding revelations, such as:

- Marc Márquez isn't the fastest rider in MotoGP

- Bike racing isn't the same as football

- One city has more bikes than the whole of Europe

- Two genuinely interesting electric bikes are launched in the same week

- Ducati make lots of money by selling very expensive sportsbikes

And some other stuff too.

Twit a twit on @Mufga or @SimonHbikes, or email anything@frontendchatter.com

Subscribe to Front End Chatter on iTunes, download us on Soundcloud, or find us through any old bit of podcasting software you like.

Enjoy, tell a friend, and thank you very much.

After a two-week hiatus (that's a posh word for slacking off), Britain's best (and still only) biking podcast is back to cover all the goings on, in, over and under the two-wheeled world.

There's talk about whether MotoGP's getting dull now Marquez has won every race (it isn't); how long Marquez can win every race for (not long... probably); and whether we should all be watching World Superbikes instead (we aren't, but why not?)

Then there's stuff about a bike with a small-capacity engine (Yamaha's MT-125), a bike with a big-capacity engine (BMW's S1000R) and a bike with a zero-capacity engine (BMW's C evolution).

All that plus Martin busts an MOT myth, and Simon talks about his helmet.

If any of this makes you want to say something, you're welcome to say it to anything@frontendchatter.com, @Mufga and @SimonHbikes

Oh, and thank you.

The eighth episode of Britain's best (and only) biking podcast spreads its wings wider than ever, with irreverent (who said irrelevant?) discussion of road bikes' past (Kawasaki's KR-1, which Simon has just ridden), present (Suzuki's GSX1250FA, which Martin has just ridden) and future (electric bikes, and does anybody want to ride them?).

There's also the usual racing rambling, including our attempt to work out a religious building based heirarchy for circuits around the world. And Front End Chatter welcomes its first studio guest, www.dirtbikesportnews.com editor Jonathan Pearson. Fresh from winning at Britain's toughest enduro, he explains how to use other riders as grip...

As ever, emails are welcomed to anything@frontendchatter.com, simon@frontendchatter.com or martin@frontendchatter.com.

Twit us on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga.

Subscribe to Front End Chatter on iTunes, or find us on Soundcloud.

Welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and only) biking podcast. In this week's shambles of an episode, the gun-slinging Magnificent Seventh, Martin and Simon chatter about last weekend's stunning (or not) MotoGP race from Texas, interviewing TT racers (or not), putting the entire Japanese motorcycle industry to rights (or not), a new, road legal, two-stroke V4 (or not), why Honda's new CB650F isn't very good (or not; neither of us have ridden it).

Hope you like it; please leave a review.

Thanks!

Contact us at: anything@frontendchatter.com

In the sixth episode of Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and still only) biking podcast, Simon and Martin look back at the fact-filled career of Colin Edwards, preview this weekend's racing action in both Texas and Aragon, explore Simon's mid-biking-life crisis at the Yamaha Off-Road Experience, and discuss the stark differences between BMW's new R1200RT (which Simon has ridden, but didn't realise) and Honda's not-so-new VFR800 (which neither of us have ridden). Plus, our tribute to Massimo Tamburini and why his legacy deserves to be far greater than two gorgeous bikes, even if they weren't quite so lovely to ride...

As ever emails are welcomed to simon@frontendchatter.com, martin@frontendchatter.com or anything@frontendchatter.com

Twit us on @SimonHbikes or @Mufga

Thanks again, and moo.

In the fifth episode of Front End Chatter - still Britain's best (and only) biking podcast - Simon and Martin discuss the opening MotoGP race from Qatar, new bike news, riding a pair of new V-twins in the shape of Ducati's Diavel and Erik Buell's new EBR 1190RX sportsbike, plus some other stuff including a review of James Toseland's new album. 

We hope you like it, despite a passing jet about halfway through.

If you're a Twitterist, we're on @Mufga and @SimonHbikes. Emails to martin@frontendchatter.com, simon@frontendchatter.com, or absolutely anything you can think up @frontendchatter.com

After the naive first episode, a difficult number two, the critically panned and self-indulgent third episode, Front End Chatter, the UK's best (and only) biking podcast, returns after a week away with a stream-lined, sleek, punchy fourth episode: FEC the 4th.

I can't remember what we talk about because I had a late night last night. But there's some stuff. 

Hope you like it! Please email us at frontendchatter@frontendchatter.com or get us on Twitter: @Mufga or @SimonH_on_bikes

In the critically panned third episode of Front End Chatter (the UK’s best, and only, biking podcast), motorcycle journalists Simon and Martin road test Yamaha’s new MT-07 and talk about Ducati’s new Diavel. Plus, there’s gossip about ludicrous last-minute MotoGP rule changes, the re-opening of Mallory Park and bike manufacturer’s sales figures.

FEC E03 also features a special Guess-The-Engine competition (with the chance to win a Front End Chatter mug. Or two) and a musical interlude during which a cocktail of high-calorie refreshments will be available in the foyer. 

Podcast also available on iTunes and at www.frontendchatter.com

All emails to frontendchatter@gmail.com

Twitter: @SimonH_on_bikes or @Mufga 

Thank you!

In the difficult second episode of Britain's best (and only) biking podcast, Martin and Simon discuss the World Superbike racing from Phillip Island and interview Voltcom Crescent Suzuki boss Paul Denning, discuss MotoGP test times and 'a bit of politics' from Sepang, Simon gets hot under the collar about BMW's S1000F (whether it exists or not) and gets a completely noncommittal answer from BMW themselves. Plus Yamaha’s new Super Ténéré, what Martin and Simon really think about BMW’s R1200GS, Martin’s knees and Simon’s empty stomach.

In the very first episode of Britain's best (and only) biking podcast, we discuss the new Yamaha MT-07 (which we haven't actually ridden yet) as well as the Ducati Monster 1200S and MV Agusta Dragster (which we have); analyse BT Sport's new MotoGP presenter line-up while trying to work out what it takes to watch it on TV; look at supercharging, including who's likely to do it, who's already doing it and who did it ten years ago; and Simon explains why he's bought a 1996 Honda FireBlade.