Hello everyone and welcome to THE 2025 FECSTIVAL – live from the beautiful Buccleuch Arms Hotel in stunning, sun-drenched (cough, ish, ahem) Moffat, Scotlandshire!

After a couple of fantastic (truth), incident-free (truth-ish) and bone-dry (truth-adjacent) days riding through the very best of the Scottish Borders and the Galloway Forest, Front End Chatter – Britain’s best biking podcast – has retired to the bar for a small sweet sherry, a roaring radiator, and 43 minutes of inspired, improvised, impromptu biking banter and deep-drivel discussions including:

• Marc Marquez’s ninth (or is it seventh?) world championship, if his comeback really is the greatest return ever witnessed across the near-infinite history of sporting achievement, and whether MotoGP’s new owners are trying to control our collective thoughts
• Witnessing hostility towards Chinese-branded bikes thaw in real time, the reasons we’re starting to be interested (b£¥ond the obviou$), and how soon before the first one is part of a FEC tour
• Nominations for the greatest, must-ride, can’t-miss riding roads in all of mainland continental Europe, especially if the definition of ‘mainland continental Europe’ now includes the UK and a bit of America…
• Could electric bikes be the future of trackdays? Simon & Mufga's mixed fortunes with electric bikes on track. And could Front End Chatter’s future lie in someone’s fuel tank?
• Radical suggestions for reorganising bike ergonomics and controls, featuring foot clutch, backwards-action left-hand throttle and bum brake
• The perfect bike for when you're retiring to live in Japan

Thank you FECers one and all - and to Paul, Jo and Anthea at MCi Tours - for joining us at the 2025 FECstival, either live and in person or via time-travelling earholes. And, of course, sincerest gratitudes as ever to Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurers, for continuing to enhance, advance and romance Front End Chatter – don’t forget to get a quote direct from Bennetts the next time your motorcycle insurance is up for renewal, then be sure to buy your policy direct so you can enjoy more than 100 offers, discounts and exclusive opportunities all thanks to a year’s free BikeSocial membership!

Ciao for now – and maybe see you at Motorcycle Live in November…

Aye, wotcha, marnin', welcome to Front End Chatter, wiv him, Simon Fitz-Martin, and him Hargreaves Gibbons, a reet pair of motorcycle journalists speaking into a wizardy recording device for the 216th time of asking, except nobody is. You get what you deserve.  Massive thanks to Bennetts, Britain's Best bike insurers, and bikesocial.co.uk, for their support of this podcast, and seemingly limitless reserves of patience and understanding at this most trying of times (and we really are trying).  And on this week's FEC (which week is that exactly?) we have:  • why Triumph's 2025 Speed Triple RS has got us so excited we're figuratively and, in Simon's case literally, standing to attention  • why Kawasaki's Ninja 1100SX SE Tourer is a genuine contender for 'Sports Tourer of 2025" as if that's an actual thing, which it isn't, really • why Yamaha's Tracer 7 GT is a genuine contender for "Sports Tourer of 2025 under 1000cc" as if that's also an actual thing, which it also isn't, also really • why BMW's R1300 RT is more like a sports tourer, with a longer tank range and as long as you don't do more than 400 miles in a day • how journalists have tested the patience of manufacturers (how many fingers have you got?) • why CFMoto's 450 MT is about to take over the world All this and not much more, come on, it was gone 9pm when we finished and I needed a lie down with a stiff one, it might not be the most physically demanding job but I don't remember that last time a plumber had to compromise his principles quite as often. Dahling.  Right, enough, go away, but not before you've summoned your thoughts, musings, queries, questions and hilarious stories of motorcycling mishaps and mayhem and committed them to an email to:  [email protected] We remain your effervescent amis Simon H Mufga Ride yer bike. You know it makes very little sense. 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and it’s episode 215 of the long-running motorcycling podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – and immense thanks as always to the ever-supportive Bennetts, Britain’s best-by-miles bike insurer, and the magnificent bikesocial.co.uk, the website with all your info on the latest new bikes, used bikes, classic bikes, news, reviews and product tests.

Right, on with the show – and, today, we’re in for a reborn, reinvented, reimagined, reincarnated treat... because:

• Suzuki’s GSX-R1000R is back, baby, for 2026 – and we have all the details, hot off the emails from Hamamatsu: power, weight, colours and tech. You can read about it elsewhere – but you can only hear about it, er, here

• KTM are back, baby – details of production starting again in Austria; the what, the when, and the how many

• BSA’s Bantam is back, baby – yes, after only half a century, the owners of BSA, Mahindra, decide to resurrect the name for their new 334cc single roadster, as a direct rival to Honda’s GB350S • and of course the FECsack is back, baby – more musings, ponderings and queries from you lot to us lot about that lot

Thanks for listening, please email your own compositions and questions and congratulations to Mufga on his new job to:

[email protected] – and we’ll do our best to read them out.   Thank ee again, and see you on the backside, baby!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's crumbliest, flakiest motorcycling podcast, brought to you by the hapless hackery of Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, nattering endlessly on and on and on anon. We are, as always, scrutineered and scrutinised by Bennetts, Britain's Best Bike Insurer, and bikesocial.co.uk (don't need the www, but try telling legacy media that).  And this month (as it turns out) on FEC, we witter about: • Suzuki's new GSX-S8T and TT (cue schoolboy giggling)  • CCM going bust • Dainese in debt • global bike sales doing well, but not so much in Europe or North America, a pretty awful in the UK • why automatic gearboxes are the opposite of a guitar solo Plus much more, well, a bit... Thank you for lending us your ears, and please keep you thoughts, musings, machinations and queries to: [email protected] Love ya! 

Hello dearest ear-owners and welcome to Front End Chatter, source of the most significant soundwaves in British motorcycling since the feral howl of a raging Norton rotary haunted the quiet coastal village of Kirk Michael, or since the words "Go on then, I'll 'ave it" slipped breathlessly from the lips of a Derbyshire-born property developer attending the auction of a defunct motorcycle factory.

In this aural delight of an episode, Simon and Mufga regale themselves with a recap of the spectacularly special Highland Fling tours (so good they did them twice), along with:

• Loadsa goss about Triumph's Tiger Sport 800 and BMW's R1300GS Adventure having covered 3000 miles apiece • Why MotoGP might be getting interesting again, and why the TT continues to fascinate every corner of the country for more than a century • The forced-induction fabulousness that was the Bennetts Supercharged Showdown, where 50-plus Kawasaki H2 owners took over an empty runway • Simon gets a taste of Ducati's £16,000 Streetfighter V2S • Martin gets a taste of Voge's £6,000(ish) DS625X • The latest facts, news, rumours and baseless speculation regarding Bajaj's takeover of KTM, and what it might mean for the future • FECsack correspondence covering classic sports-tourers for young riders, the dubious bargains of Facebook Marketplace, how media gets hold of the bikes they test, bikes with undeserved reputations, the best British five-day biking tour, and more…

Thank you, one and all, for continuing to allow us to tickle your tympanic membranes - and enormously gigantical appreciations to Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers. Be sure to get a quote direct from Bennetts the next time you need motorcycle insurance, and be even more sure to check out bikesocial.co.uk for all the best bike news and product reviews on the interwebs.

Continue to catch him and the other one on the socials (@simonhbikes & @mufga or something like that), and let us know where to take future FEC tours on [email protected]

Until next time!

Awrite hens and laddies, and welcome to a very special episode of Front End Chatter presented, ingested and recorded LIVE at the Highland Fling tour(s) in bonnie, sunny (no, really) Scotland!

With not a lot to discuss in the world of motorcycling at the moment - other than the uncertain future of one of Europe's biggest bike manufacturers, plus a raft of new flagship models revealed by another of Europe's biggest bike manufacturers - our fabulous FECers have boldly stepped into our creative breach.

Episode #212 is a Live FECsack extravaganza, with a wealth of wicked wonderings wittered by Highland Fling tourists spaken in the vague direction of Simon McHargreaves and Martin McFitz-Gibbons, including but not limited to…

• Does the rise of Chinese bikes mean certain doom for European brands?
• What effect will US tariffs have on motorcycling?
• Can KTM repair its reputation - and who would we pick to run it going forwards?
• What substance, material or concept should power motorcyclings's future?
• If you could only ride one road for the rest of your life, which would it be?
• And what would you ride it on?
• What's all the fuss about two-strokes?
• What would be the least-enjoyable bike to ride the Highland Fling on?
• Risk - what is it, why do we take it, and how much do we try to avoid it? 
• What would be the best bike for Mufga and Si to ride two-up to Gdańsk?

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous questions!

Speaking of thanks, our recognition, acknowledgement and gratitudes are, as always, directed to Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers, and BikeSocial.co.uk, home to all the very best motorcycling news and reviews.

Plus our enormous, heartfelt appreciation to Paul at MCi Tours - mcitours.com - for all his graft in taking charge of the grown-up logistics that enabled the FEC Highland Fling tours to happen. Thank you, Papa Smurf, sorry you couldn't make it, and see you in September!

Right, that's it, we're outta here, dinner's calling. Regular service resumes soon(ish) so please keep your emails coming in to [email protected]

Guid cheerio the nou!

Hello and welcome (and a special hello and welcome to Adam Danger, who reads this 'sometimes')... to Episode 211 of Front End Chatter, the motorbicycling podcast prefrontally-lobotomised by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, two motorcycle journalists who've been doing since their own, personal Day Ones.  We are, as always and hopefully forever, in debt to and grateful for the patronage of Bennetts, Britain's Best Bike Insurers – FACT – and bikesocial.co.uk, the bestest and brightest biking website and YouTube channel, amen.  And on the pod this time around the sun, we have:  • news of BMW's R1300 R  • how to make BMW's £25k R1300 GSA better for £9.99 (with thanks to Neil at NJW Moto YouTube) • Yamaha's half fuel, half battery hybrid MT-09 • KTM in more trouble • Triumph's smashing super smart updated Trident and Tiger Sport 660s  Plus emails and missives from you, dear FEC listener, including a spectacular rant from Martin – bit of a collector's item. Thank you very much for listening, look forward to seeing some of you on the forthcoming FEC Highland Flings (have I mentioned we're going ON HOLIDAY!)... ..oh, and please send your emails, questions, queries, thoughts, ponderings, which bike should you buy next to:  [email protected] Chars!

Hello you lovely FECers you, and welcome to Episode 210 of the long-running, will-it-never-end, Front End Chatter podcast for motorcycles and motorcyclists, spoken out loud by Simian Hardgleaves and Marsupial Fatz-Domino.  We are, as ever, indebted and beholden unto Lord Bennetts, Britannia's Best Bike Insurers and may his whaling fleet never run out of blubber, and bikesocial.co.uk, the hostess with the mostess, you know, you know... the one that goes up to 11.  And on this month's episode we have, among many other things:  • a bit of gen on Honda's Hornet 1000 and SP, including how much a piston costs and how many years' warranty you get • who Ixion was, what he has to do with Canon Basil H Davies, and why his 1279 miles in 1905 on a Triumph came to be repeated in 2025... • a game of 'If bikes were family members...' • you know what, it's so long ago I've already forgotten but it's jam-packed with yummy goodness, trust me, I should know.  Get him and he on the socials:  @Mugfa @SimonHBikes (or something like that) And please email your missives and massives to [email protected] Does anyone actually ever read this? 

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and it's episode 209 of the 209 episode-long motorcycling podcast presented, and I use the word in its loosest sense, by Martina Fitz-Gibbons and Simone Hargreaves, a pair of transitioning motorcycle journalists whose personal pronouns are 'it'. Fronty End Prongs is supported and comported by Bennetts, Britain's biggest and best bike insurers, and without whom you would all be pretty bloody sorry, I can tell you, so make the most of their offers and support their support of motorcycling ya ingrates. And also BikeSocial.co.uk, the hub of motorcycling's metaphorical Akront rim, with their Youtube channel and website and lots of bike-related content to tuck into. So on this episode of FEC we chatter about:  • the latest news from the ailing KTM factory • bad news from the Nürburgring • last-minute booking news if you're thinking about coming to ride with us in Scotland in May on the FEC Highland Fling 2 tour • a ride on Ducati's Multistrada V2 S and exactly how Ducati is it?  • Honda's new NT1100 and what have they done to it?  • Honda's new Hornet and wow, how good is it?  • Honda's last-ever CB1300 and can I have one please?  • why a 270° parallel twin is rarely an exciting engine • how to describe engine configurations • and many more musing and amusings from the FEC Sack of your thoughts, queries, ruminations on a theme Thank you for listening and supporting us with your ears, and please email your own thoughts and musings to: [email protected] Thanks again FECers!  @Simonhbikes @Mufga

FEC208

 Hello moi luverly FECers and this, believe it or not, is Front End Chatter episode 208 in a long-running series with him, believe it or not, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, believe it or not, Simon Hargreaves.

Believe it or not, you should get your bike insurance from Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurers and supporters of Front End Chatter since 1894, with massive range of savings and offers on all sorts of kit and caboodle, plus lots of cool policy add-ons like 90 days EU cover and common mods (like road legal exhausts) covered – as standard!

And you also get free BikeSocial membership (which you can also buy for £60 regardless of your insurer), which gives you access to all the above offers and savings, plus VIP experiences, cheap track days; the list goes on. And don’t forget to visit bikesocial.co.uk and their Youtube channel for all your biking media consumption needs. 

And – last few rooms remaining on the FEC Highland Fling 2 – yes, ride Scotland’s greatest hits this May with Simon and Martin, enjoying the best of the NC500, the best of the West Coast, and a romp through the Cairngorms, all while staying at the Aultguish Inn and partaking of libation in the evening. The dates for Fling 2 are arrival Thursday May 6th, departure Sunday May 10th. Visit bit.ly/fecfling2 for more info, or email [email protected] or Paul at MCI Tours – [email protected] 

And on that note, what’s actually in the podcast? I’d tell you but, honestly, on this occasion it’s easier to just listen! Email [email protected] with your thoughts and queries and stuff, and get Martin and Simon on some of the social medias: Insta:MufgaSimonhbikes BSky: @sihbikes.bsky.social @mufga.bsky.social