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 [email protected] with whatever thoughts stray across your mind

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