Hello hello hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s rambliest biking podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons and me, Simon Hargreaves – enabled, legitimised and somewhat vindicated by Bikesocial.co.uk – the world’s largest repository, depository and not the one beginning with ‘s’-itory of all modern new and used motorcycle info – and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And on E105 we have:

• Motorcycle Live round-up – what we thought of Honda’s Blade, Kawasaki’s Z H2, Ducati’s Streetfighter, Triumph’s Rocket and Suzuki’s V-Big Strom, and what we didn’t think of Aprilia’s RS660, Husqvarna’s Denis and BMW’s R1800 concept because they weren’t there...
• goodbye to Jorge Lorenzo, a ‘complicated’ champion
• goodbye to Karel Abraham, with a ‘complicated’ exit
• hello to Alex, brother of Marc. Can’t see that ending well

Plus a super-massive FEC-sack including...

• what is it with Ducati and cam belts?
• is Aprilia’s CapoNord an alternative to Ducati’s Multistrada 1200?
• leathers v textiles for commuting, and the best options for wearing over office clothes
• is your bike a shrinker or a grower?
• what happened to normal-sized tail units?

...and much, much, too much more.

Thank you for listening, and thank you for joining in with the conversation by emailing your thoughts, questions, considerations and jokes to:

[email protected] Please visit bikesocial.co.uk for your two-wheeled info, check out Bennetts’ YouTube channel for some cool bike vids (still Africa Twin, ahem), and get your bike and travel insurance from the mighty Bennetts themselves. And don’t forget to check out their offers!

@SimonHBikes @Mufga