Front End Chatter

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's nicest motorcycling podcast, with Simon H & Mufga, punctuated and perforated by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and BikeSocial.co.uk, home of news, views, road tests and Jammie Dodgers.

And on this month's – hang on, it's been a month? – we chatter about:

• the closest, craziest MotoGP season since records began with exploding brakes, exploding forearms, exploding engines, first-time winning teams, bikes and riders, unlikely crashes and testing pit-to-bike radios
• why World Superbike is worth watching this year
• the merits or otherwise of Ewan and Charley's Long Way Up, on Harley Livewires
• does Regina's new M-Endurance chain signal the end of lubing and adjusting?
• is the FIM's criteria for five push-ups really sufficient to determine a human's fitness to ride a MotoGP bike?
• do bike journos adjust test bike suspension to suit their preference?
• do men really ask their partners for 'permission' to buy a new bike?
• the wisdom of repairing a puncture with a proper kit v a self-tapping screw
• how to start racing and which is the best bike or series to choose?
• which is the best hypersportsbike for a bit of pillion action?
• has the rise of social media bike content and the decline of print media brought younger riders into motorcycling?

Plus much more (well, a bit).

Thank you for listening and supporting Front End Chatter; please email your questions, thoughts and queries to:

[email protected]

And catch FEC on the socials at

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

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.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E121, Britain's most aromatic motorcycling podcast, presented by the fragrant Simon Hargreaves and the perfumed Martin Fitz-Gibbons – and supported as ever by the mellifluous niff emanating from the guys and gals of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and the aromatic scent wafting from www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the interweb.

And on this edition of FEC we natter about:

• details of the proposed Isle of Wight Diamond Races – Britain's first new road race in modern times – and ask how likely it is to happen, who's paying for it, and what do the islanders have to say – plus, a detailed look at the layout and quality of the circuit itself
• action from MotoGP from Jerez #2, including the wisdom of racing with broken bones
• action from WSB at, er, Jerez again
• more electrical issues and who can solve them
• is there such a thing as a good, cheap, sporty V-twin?
• does comfort matter on a naked bike?
• have sportsbikes got too radical and would a Superleggera outsell a GS if it was the same price?
• what does 'best bike of 2020' actually mean?

...and loads more!

Please send your emails of thoughts, musings, questions and offers of free Fazer 1000s to [email protected]

Thank you very much for continuing to grace our chattering with your ears, please continue to support Bennetts with your dollars, BikeSocial with your eyes and MCN and RiDE and Practical Sportsbikes with your dollars and your eyes.

You can get us on the socials:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

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:

[email protected]

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

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the occasionally number one motorcycling podcast in Iceland and, now, Singapore. This is episode 118 in a series we can confidently state contains at least 118 episodes recorded from the orals of Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, a pair of motorcycle journalists who've both forgotten more than they ever knew anyway.

Eternal thanks to that font (sans serif) www.bikesocial.co.uk – all your two-wheeled infotainment emanating from one convenient portal (and YouTube) – and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts who not only insure your motorcycle but also add all kinds of benefits and bonuses; discounts, offers and competitions. Quite the array of offers should you so be inclined, as indeed you should.

Anyway, to matters in hand: in this episode of FEC we have: • more speculation on the MotoGP merry-go-round of who's signed for who and who's not signed for anyone and who might be getting the Herr Flick • disgraced Norton ex-boss Stuart Onions is required to pay back £14m of other people's money he no longer has • Yamaha release details of the Ténéré 700 Rally, which may or may not be the best-looking bike of 2020 • Ducati launch the Superleggera in an exclusive ride at Mugello, and it's really fast and really expensive and sounds nice, aye Plus! • our favourite rides of all time • the perils of using a phone as a sat nav • keep the GSX-R750 or get an SV650X or a Tiger? • why tracing fuelling faults is the worst job in the world • why aren't photo-reactive visors more common? • the problem with carbon fibre wheels ...and much more including Simon's sandwich recipe and Martin's biking spirit guide revealed. Thanks for watching with your ears, and you'll hear from us again soon! @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Halló og velkomin to Front End Chatter E117, briefly the most popular automotive podcast in the whole of Iceland (a country renowned for its exquisite and most excellent taste) and also, briefly, the second-most popular automotive podcast in the UK (er, yes, them too).

Great bundles of thanks to the hominids at Bennetts BikeSocial – improve everyone's lives and get your bike insurance from Bennetts and your biking infotainment from www.bikesocial.co.uk (and their YouTube channel). Right, on this week's episode we have chatter about: • The return of racing, with condensed schedules proposed for MotoGP and BSB – and which riders will benefit? • Rider line-ups for 2021 taking shape, with him there and him going there, does that mean he won't go there? • no Motorcycle Live in 2020 – so what new bikes will we see in 2021, and where can we see them? • why do manufacturers make bikes with small fuel tanks? • the four-wheel Honda powered by an Africa Twin engine • how to fit earplugs properly, and are foam plugs better than custom-made plugs? • with touchscreens and electronics, are bikes getting too complicated for their own good? • will voice-activation be a thing for bikes in the future? • ...and much, much more, no, really. Thanks again for supporting us, please leave a review on iTunes, visit bikesocial.co.uk and get your insurance from Bennetts, follow us on Twitters at @SimonHBikes and @Mufga and email your thoughts, musings, questions and insults to: [email protected]

Hello you lucky people you, and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 116 with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, brought to you via Durham with a detour to Castle Barnard. Front End Chatter is supported through thick and thicker by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, internet's home of motorcycling. And in this episode, a still socially distant Martin and Simon rabbit on about: • the return of MotoGP, and whose Alpinestars Jack Miller will be filling at Ducati in 2021... and if they turn out to be Petrucci's, will the Italian then go and do the Dakar instead? • getting back on a bike after post lockdown, and is 'riding rust' actually a thing or is it just riders getting overexcited after a period of inactivity? • what bikes do we think are the best of all time in a FEC's Factor? • should we celebrate 125 episodes of FEC by doing 125 laps of a flat-track oval, or a roundabout? • will Kawasaki's supercharging technology eventually trickle down to smaller bikes in their range, or will it always be flagship technology? • is an R1250GS *really* the ultimate aspirational bike, or is it over-hyped? • will wearing an air-bag suit one day be as normal as putting on a helmet? • is it ever okay to cheer a rider crashing on a race track? ... and much more natter and chatter. Thank you for your continued appreciation, and please keep your emails with questions, answers, thoughts and ideas to: [email protected] Catch us on the Twitters: @SimonHBikes @Mufga ...and see you next time!

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most teeth-sucking motorcycling podcast... but no! That was the previous episode! For FEC115, Simon and Martin have installed a 5G mast at Chatter Manors to deliver you, dear FECers, broadcast quality audio at what I think you'll agree is the minor cost of second-degree skin burns among the local peasant population.

Thanks as ever to our comrades at bikesocial.co.uk – the worldwide web of motorcycling (check out their YouTube channel, it's awesome despite Simon's launch videos) and of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And in this week's worldwide web of waffle we discuss:

• when is lockdown not a lockdown, and why it's important to make our first ride back special
• how MotoGP and WSB plan to keep calm and carry on – and if a race falls down in a season and there's no-one there to see it, does it actually happen?

Plus!

• taking an MT-07 off road, and is it better to have a single all-rounder, or two specialist bikes but each at half the value?
• Fazer 1000 or FZ1 Fazer? And what are the best mods?
• is there any way to keep cool on roasting hot days, and which bikes should be avoided? And do bikes run hotter today then they used to?
• what's our favourite engine configuration and is it the sole reason for falling in love with a bike?
• drop visors – yes or no?
• what modern gadgets are hardest to live without?

...and much more nattering and chattering, as usual.

Thanks for listening, hope it's still helping in this crazy time and hope we all can ease back into riding without causing ourselves or other people any problems. Please keep your emails (and sound files!) coming to us at

[email protected]

with thoughts, advice, queries, questions and observations. Catch us both on the socials at:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

And please visit bikesocial.co.uk for all your biking infotainment (and their YouTube channel!), get your insurance from Bennetts, and get your kicks on the A66 – but easy does it.

Peace and biscuits.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's – nay, the world's – most socially isolated motorcycle podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons... and welcome to Episode 114 – the third in a series in which Martin literally phones it in.

Thanks as ever to our brothers and sisters at bikesocial.co.uk – the worldwide web of motorcycling (check out their YouTube channel!) and of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And in this meandering soufflé of waffle we touch lightly on subjects as varied as:

• what constitutes an 'essential' journey, and is a bike an appropriate vehicle?
• Norton has been bought by TVS of India for £16... sorry, £16 million... so will any of that go to refund deposits, reimburse pensions and repay creditors? And what does it mean for future Norton motorcycles?
• the MotoGP 2020 season guessing game continues with news of cancellations and possible fan-free races financed by an energy drink
• plus! What have the MotoGP stars been getting up to in lockdown, and why they should maybe keep it to themselves

Plus!

• why owning a Firestorm isn't as fun as dreaming of owning one
• should manufacturers be forced to reveal where a bike is assembled on the VIN plate?
• how much influence does the bike press have, and if they covered smaller brands, would it sell more bikes?
• do bikes have a soul?
• is downsizing an admission of defeat?
• more rear brake advice, this time from a MotoGP rider and WSB champ
• the most embarrassing things we've ever done on a bike
• can you go further riding on your own?

...and much more nattering and chattering.

Thanks for listening, hope it's helping in this really crazy time. Please keep your emails (and sound files!) coming in with thoughts, advice, queries, questions and observations. Catch us both on the socials at:

@SimonHbikes @Mufga And please visit bikesocial.co.uk for all your biking infotainment (and their YouTube channel!), get your insurance from Bennetts, and get your kicks on the A66 – just not right now. Even for decking screws. Peace and health.