Front End Chatter

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 103, suspended like a great chattering hammock from the stout tree trunks at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And what a rambling podcast we have this week, only tangentially about motorbikes but also talking in topics such as:

• MotoGP from Aragon, with how the winning bike was second slowest, how Bradley Smith beat a factory Honda and what happens to all the "New World Champion" T-shirts that are made for riders who don't end up winning them
• Jonathan Rea's fifth WSB title proves a knife can win in a gunfight if the guy with the gun shoots himself in the foot – or unless he's actually shot in the foot by a CEO with a Photoshopped head, then takes the money and runs onto a Fireblade
• news of Honda's 2020 Africa Twin, including how it's different from last year's bike up to and down to lower seat height, more power, fancier gadgets and electric springs – and how much it'll all cost
• plus gossip about the 2020 Triumph Street Triple, Kawasaki's supercharged naked, BMW's new S1000XR, F850GT and 850R, remote-controlled KTMs
• whether Ewan and Charlie's ride across South America on Harley-Davidson Livewires is the most fascinating thing ever or a total irrelevance and, really, who cares? Answers on the back of a TV script please
• plus loads more nonsense about how to do 200mph on the cheap more motorcycling Room 101 topics (and a few disagreements!) what can replace a KTM 990 SuperDuke? what's the best litre sportsbike replacement for a 2010 S1000RR? how to chainsaw braches on a fallen tree and why a Husqvarna won't run on mineral two-stroke...

...and much, much more of the same. Thank you for listening, 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 the Bennetts YouTube channel for some cool bike vids, and get your bike and travel insurance from the mighty Bennetts themselves. That is both amazing and great.

@SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode... oh, look, who's counting? It's not like we're keeping score. Anyway – here are Simon and Martin, Making Britain's Biking Podcasts Great Again, with special thanks and appreciation to bikesocial.co.uk, the one-stop shop (except, er, it's free) for all your bang-up-to-date biking news, views and reviews (not sure that works). And of course thanks also the Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, for their continued loveliness and support. Hugs. And on FEC102 (stop it!) we have: • how motorcyclists get in the way • slightly tardy but nonetheless entertaining flashback to the Misano MotoGP in which Marquez and Rossi renew an old on-track friendship and Jorge Lorenzo falls out of friendship with Honda (recorded literally milliseconds before General Zarco got dumped by KTM) • a new Harley ridden by Martin in that America they have now • have you ever lost the passion for bikes or riding? • what's the worst bike of the last 10 years? • should we record another FEC LIVE at the NEC bike show? • is there any other racing besides road racing, and why speedway is a good night out • is poor marketing to blame for the drop in numbers of young riders? • are seats less comfy than they used to be? • which matters more: smiles-per-gallon or engine size? • what's the best bit of Scotland to ride? ...all this and more! Thanks for listening, and longtime love to everyone who helps us make FEC the FECnomena it is.

Hello and welcome to the podcast they said would never happen – 'they' being 'us' – yes, it's Front End Chatter E101 – the one hundred and one-est motorcycling podgasm in the world. And thanks as ever to the munificent and mellifluous melodians of motorcycling, Bikesocial.co.uk, and the brains behind the beauty, Bennetts the bike insurance specialists. In E101 we have: • our biking Room 101s (as suggested by Mian Cowell but whom I suspect we forgot to credit!) including: – Steppenwolf – Polite vests – riding certificates – the good old days – PR – track tyre pressure obsession – moaning about other riders' kit • plus! all the fact -free opinions from Silverstone MotoGP (which, yes, seems like a long time ago but was only last weekend ffs) • opinion about new bikes, including Triumph's Daytona 765, Honda's 1100 Africa Twin, and Triumph's Tiger 900... and a radical guess at Suzuki's 2020 range... • plus #2 – emails on topics as diverse as: • helmet HUDs • heated visors • how a KTM 1290 and 1050 have the same gearing apart from top gear • best sub-500cc second bike for a short all-year commute • why learning to ride in your 30s might save biking • what are wire crash barriers all about? • best underwear for hot weather and long distances All this and much more, so give FEC a go! Thanks again to Bennetts and Bikesocial.co.uk, thanks to you for listening (please continue to spread the words!), thanks to all race commentators everywhere for giving us free plugs, and get FEC on Twitter @SimonHbikes and @Mufga.

Hello and welcome to....

THE FECTACULAR!

Yes, this is the century, the big one-zero-zero, the 100-not-out, the five-score... and widely rumoured to be the last ever Front End Chatter podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves, loins girded by the veritable cod-piece of motorcycling on the web, bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And in this very special live-in-front-of-an-audience-in-the-canteen-at-Cadwell-Parkingtons (although we sound like we're actually in the toilet; do we look like sound engineers?) we have:

• MotoGP from Red Bull Ring Pull in Austria in which Mark Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso swapped paint atoms until on of them won, and Johann Zarco agreed to a split at the end of the season with KTM – because obviously it won't go any further south before then, will it?
• Yamaha's Ténéré 700 and KTM 70 Adventure R on the MCN250 test route (but at a track day, we're kinda preaching to the unconvertible)
• the best upgrade from a GSR750 for a bit more comfort and more miles
• what categories of bike are missing from the modern range, and what's biking's next big 'thing'?
• are brake lever protectors or bark busters best for clipping car mirrors during filtering?
• what's a Moto Morini Milano, and is it like a Triumph Hinckley or KTM Mattighofen?
• what's our biggest biking disappointment?
• is the future of the TT safe? And was it safe in 1998?
• ...and much, much, a bit, more!

Thanks to everyone who came along to Cadwell to make the FECtacular truly special, and contributed to a small moment of something.

And if you've downloaded Front End Chatter in the last five years, thank you.

Thanks also to bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts for their enduring good humour and tolerance of a pair of chattering idiots, and please download Front End Chatter via

bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts

We're on Twitter at @Mufga and @SimonHbikes, and occasionally elsewhere...

See your ears for FEC101 soon... or will we? Yeah, go on then.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 99, the Nearly-But-Not-Quite episode brought to your ears in cahoots with the best biking website on the, er, web – bikesocial.co.uk – and the best biking insurers in the, er, universe, Bennetts.

And for your delectation:

• remarkable Mark Marquez marks his all-time record-equalling 58th pole position at Brno by qualifying with the biggest margin in the modern MotoGP era...
• ...although technically and mathematically, there's still a chance Hafizh Syahrin could still take the title...
• ...but anyway, MotoGP is boring now because the same guy keeps winning all the time so we're all going to watch WSB instead...
• ...or maybe we should watch BSB, with Scotch Redding still leading the championship after Thruxton, but by less, from Josh Brookes, not that it matters because, basically, Showdown...
• ...although we only needed to watch the last lap at the Suzuka 8hr because for 7hrs 57mins some bikes went round the track until Jonny Rea fell off and then won in the restaurant.

PLUS!

• an audio review of Moto Guzzi's V85 TT ridden for 1000 miles in 35°C

AND! Your emails, including...

• Triumphs are still reliable
• with a few new bikes now coming with an SP (or R) version with uprated suspension, would it be worth buying the standard-suspended model instead and spending the difference getting it uprated by an aftermarket suspension specialist?
• how far does Mufga need to shove the drugs up his... oh, you had to be there, really...
• which used naked bike to upgrade from an Aprilia Shiver 750: Ducati Streetfighter 848, Monster 1200, Aprilia Tuono V4 or Triumph Street Triple RS? Or Speed Triple, even?
• would you rather have a perfect bike from a shitty dealer, or a bike with a few teething troubles from a really good dealer?
• is a late-1990s GSX-R SRAD750 or 600 still a good sportsbike today? Or is there something better from the same era?
• DO NOT MOCK THE MIGHTY DEAUVILLE... please
• ...and much, much more. No, really, even more.

Thanks for listening!

• Please come to FEC#100, live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th
• email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected]
• or why not record us a FEC#100 message? Just a simple "Please stop, again!" would suffice...
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your motorcycling news, stories, fun and frolicking about
• go get your insurance from Bennetts
• book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park
• follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc
• and hello to Mr and Mrs Preston

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 98, the One Less Than Jorge episode, verbalised and spuffed into noughts and ones with the roadside assistance of bikesocial.co.uk and their insuring overlords Bennetts, the bike insurance guys and gals.

And it's a short and sweet episode this week, as we clear the FECsack in preparation for FEC100 (live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th), including:

• Mufga gets tugged by the Fuzz
• Why milking snail mucin for facials is a real thing
• WSB from the corkscrewy Laguna Se-ca, and the revelation pit lanes the world over are, entirely not in fact, named after Brad Pitt
• BSB from Snettingham Parks and the revelation Scotch Reading-not-from-Reading can't half pedal a bike round a circuit he's not seen before, but when is a jump start not a jump start
• would you beat Marquez on a road bike, first time out, down your favourite road?
• would WSB be livened-up by forcing winning riders to change teams?
• when is an oil flag not an oil flag?
• airbags – are they pointless out in the random environment on the road, away from predictable race track crashes? Or are they genuinely useful in certain road crashes?
• why is MotoGP's video pass 30% more expensive in the UK than, say, France?
• should corporate greed be regulated?
• what's a good, all-weather, non-dissolving London commuter bike for £3k?
• more from happy, hassle-free Triumph owners (but not Mufga)
• ...and a bit more.

Thanks for listening!

• email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected] • or why not record us a FEC100 message? Just a simple "Please stop!" would suffice...
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your motorcycling news, stories, fun and frolicking about
• go get your insurance from Bennetts
• book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park
• follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc

Apologies for the late arrival of FEC#97 – delayed by unexpected items in the bagging area – but now it's here, let's tuck in! Brought to you as always by the furiously febrile funkateers at bikesocial.co.uk and the bike-insuring bike insurers Bennetts, this week's regurgitation of previously held opinions includes:

• MotoGP (remember that?) round-up from Assen and Sachsenring, including neck braces, tankslappers, youngsters v old 'uns, should JL99 and/or VR46 retire, who'll take ZR5's place at KTM, and who'll replace MCN race reporter now he's taken the gig as PR blerk for Petronas Yamaha?
• with Rea overturning Dave Bautista's lead in WSB, does he still think his ZX-10R is "like taking a knife to a gunfight"?
• MotoE's first race – pointless comedy, the future, or both?

PLUS! Listeners' emails, including:

• do leathers and other items of bike kit have a safety lifespan, and what's best to clean them?
• living proof back protectors are worth wearing all the time...
• why are the roads in the Fens so bad?
• has Scott Redding done enough to justify a ride in WSB next year... but will it actually pay more than he's already getting in BSB?
• has BTSport's coverage of MotoGP been successful?
• Chinese 125 retros: stylish or not? And why don't the big manufacturers build such stripped-back bikes?
• ...and should we make an ethical choice not to buy bikes from China, given their human rights record?

...and introducing our new bike-buying advice section, VFECR800 Corner, including:

• what's the best big £3k sporty bike for a big sporty bloke, upgrading from a ZX-6R?
• what's the best £4k second bike alongside a Daytona 675 for two-up weekend touring?
• what's the best bike to replace a Husqvarna 701 Supermoto and a Triumph Tiger 800?
• what's the best bike to deliver top-endy, rev-happy thrashable thrills instead of single-gear flexibility?
• What's the best cheap track-day bike to suit a 6-footer for a £2k?

Thanks for listening!

• email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected]
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your biking fix
• get your insurance from Bennetts
• AND! book yourself on the FECtacular/FECstival on 13th August at Cadwell Park – places still available!

...and follow @SimonHbikes and @Mufga on the Twitters, Instas etc

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E96, the world's most favouritist biking podcast, supported as ever by bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

Rambling gossip this month includes:

• MotoGP from Catalunya and why Lorenzo wasn't the bad guy
• conquering the Rudland Rigg on a Triumph Scrambler 1200
• new bike news featuring...

1) Ducati's Streetfighter V4, with added wings

2) KTM's 790 Adventure R Rally with added springs

3) Triumph Rocket III TFC with added torques

• ...which is an awful lot of extreme/exclusivity/exotica all in one go, but should anyone really care, do they actually make any money for the manufacturers or are they just exercises in PR and brand awareness?
• are bikers getting more gammony?
• does size matter (we're talking engines here)?
• why don't more bikes have an overdrive top gear, and is it more fuel efficient to use big throttle in top gear of part throttle in lower gears?
• are Triumphs more unreliable than other manufacturers, and why doesn't the press talk about it?
• you want a desirable, fun, impractical road bike – should you buy a Ducati 1098S or an MV Agusta F3 800... or something else altogether?
• BMW R18 concept bike – thumbs up or thumbs up bums?
• why focussing on less-tall bikers is size-ist; a lot of tall riders have problems too...
• more on the merits or otherwise of air-bag vests – do they work, and does risk compensation actually make you more likely to have an accident when wearing one?

Thanks for listening, please:

a) tell your friends, relatives, work-mates and even people you don't really like about Front End Chatter

b) visit www.bikesocial.co.uk for your FEC fix and biking info

c) try Bennetts for your biking and travel insurance

d) email your thoughts, ideas, questions and rants to [email protected]

e) come to the FECtacular FEC100 episode live from Cadwell Park on August 13th (alongside a Bennetts track day)

f) find Simon and Martin on the social mediums here:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter and the 95th outing for Britain's most stubbornly random motorcycling podcast, suspended as ever between the 48mm upsidedowners of bikesocial.co.uk – the world of motorcycling in a webby nutshell – and the fully adjustable monoshock of Bennetts, the bike insurance experts. And what a weird podcast we have this week, as two – well, one – of Britain's funniest, smartest, sassiest and damn amazing moto journalists – that's him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, with me, Simon Hargreaves – discuss subjects as widely disparate as: • how MotoGP from Mugello (remember that?) was won by a man who used to race an EXUP

• who did what at the wettest TT ever, including how Peter Hickman used an S1000RR engine he didn't use, why it was a hybrid bike but not a hybrid engine, and why Harrison, not Dunlop, won the Dunlop Senior, on Metzelers, not Dunlops
• why John McGuinness might want to check the details of his Norton pension plan
• why FEC probably holds the lap record for the North Coast 500
• the practical and psychological merits of air-bag suits
• is it a risk buying a new bike in the first year of production?
• does wearing hi-viz make you a fluoracist?
• why oh why isn't there a magazine website with videos and stories and everything (like, er, bikesocial.co.uk, maybe)?
• are any skills learned off road transferrable to road riding?
• is the polite biker nod a dying habit, and should you wave at other riders anyway?
• are racers made on the roads they grow up riding on?

Thank you so much or listening, we really appreciate it – and please email your thoughts, ideas, questions and stories of helmet paint scheme inspired accusations to [email protected]

Follow @Bennetts on Twitter and Insta and Facebook

Follow @Mufga and @SimonHBikes on Twitter/Insta etc Laters taters.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 94, and the clue's in the name: for the 94th time, two hoary old motorcycle journalists stand around and make front noises into a pair of microphones for your auralisation – fertilised and fermented by bikescocial.co.uk (the world of motorcycling on a website) and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. Good old Bennetts.

And this week we have, for your listening infuriation:

• gossip and stats from Le Mans MotoGP, including Marquez showing Lorenzo how to stay upright, and Quartararo showing Marquez how to be faster by not crashing
• who'll top the TT timesheets this year?
• Mud, sweat and beers with two days and 350 miles in Wales, following a rally-style route map on road and off on a Scrambler 1200XE
• News and first impressions from the launch of long-awaited, entry-level Yamaha's Ténéré 700 and hilarious, expensive XSR700 XTribute
• How young is too young to ride a bike? And what's the best route into riding for youngsters?
• Why aren't there more Ducatis racing at the TT?
• What's the best big naked bike for touring?
• How to avoid the buffering wheel of death on the online MotoGP feed
• Is it an unwritten rule of bikes that you need to go fast, and does that put people off?
• And much, much more... Many thanks for listening to FEC and please come to Cadwell Park on 13th August where, alongside a Bennetts track day, we'll be recording FEC E100 – LIVE! Wow. Are we? Please send your thoughts, jokes, contentions and opinions to:

[email protected] And catch Simon and Martin on the social medias @SimonHBikes

@Mufga Thanks again for listening! X