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

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

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

Plus

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

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

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

[email protected]

And get us on the socials at:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Ta-raa.