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

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

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

...plus loads more...

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

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

anything@frontendchatter.com

And get us the Twitters and Instas:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

x

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

And in episode 119, Martin and Simon chatter about:

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

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

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga