Front End Chatter

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter, E93 in the long-running series of two men talking bobbins about bikes, and if you're looking for someone to blame try bikesocial.co.uk, the bike magazine on the web, or Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, because they're in it as much as we are.

This week on FEC we have: • rambling thoughts on Jerez MotoGP, including Suzi Quartararo's hot laps, Zarco's loose lips, how this is the joint closest MotoGP championship since 2009, and a resurfaced Silverstone

• the experience of Yamaha's Off Road Experience

• what off-road bike should you get for you wife, except it's really for you?

• are bike vloggers the new bike journalists? • is there something in the water in Lincolnshire to create so many great racers, and does it match whatever they put in the water in Catalan? • and much much more.... Thanks for listening to Front End Chatter, download it from bikesocial.co.uk, get your insurance from Bennetts, buy RiDE magazine, we love you, come to Cadwell for FEC 100 #LiVE, and email your thoughts and questions to [email protected]

Look out, it's Front End Chatter E92, the biking podcast enabled, empowered, energised and veritably triggered by the cosmonauts at bikesocial.co.uk and bods at Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, without whom this would all still happen but much less often.

And this week we have:

• Why being a MotoGP legend is bad for your health (especially if you're a Brit)
• who's actually likely to win the MotoGP title the next time Marquez doesn't?
• what happened at the unfeasibly warm Bennetts British Superbike season opener at Silverstone
• why we won't be watching the 2020 Dakar Rally from Saudi Arabia
• ideas to replace a Honda Blackbird with a £4500 sporty all-rounder
• why fixed spring rates are a great unspoken compromise of biking
• is the cost of insurance is putting off new riders?
• should you wait and get a used Svartpilen 701 or Iannone your KTM 990 SM?
• if you could spend two weeks touring in the UK, where would you go?
• ...and lots lots more. It's a vintage FEC-sack.

Thank you to you, to BikeSocial.co.uk, to Bennetts, and see you at Cadwell Park on August 13th.

Please email thoughts, questions and comments to:

[email protected]

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E91, the nearly-but-not-quite episode, supported, enabled and triggered by www.bikesocial.co.uk – or is it just bikesocial.co.uk? – and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And what a bounteous springtime episode we have, containing gossip such as: • COTA – or is it GOTA? – with Marquez beating himself while Rins wins on a Suzuki and Rossi is runner-up again again again (he's going for another record: Pedrosa's "Most Perennial Runner-Up" Award)

• A half-naked Lorenzo adds to his list of embarrassing advert

• World Superbike's Dave Bautista demonstrates it's easier to adapt from a V4 MotoGP bike to a V4 WSB bike than from a V-twin WSB bike to a V4 WSB bike...

• Brief chats about Husqvarana's Svartpilen 701 – a KTM 690 Duke in a frock or chainsaw on wheels? – Yamaha's Tracer/Ténéré 700 GT and BMW's new R1250R...

• Custom-moulded ear-plugs v foam plugs?

• How Fairy Liquid solves visor misting

• How to approach your first road race

• Why aren't more bike journalists nicked riding like idiots on foreign launches?

• Why riding more makes you enjoy riding more

• Is Yamaha's Niken the perfect camera bike for filming cycle racing?

• Why seat height isn't actually a good measure of the height of the seat...

• ...and so much less. I mean more. More. Much more. Thanks for listening, please keep emailing your thoughts, ideas and questions to:

[email protected] Also remember to download this podcast from www.bikesocial.co.uk, and nip out and buy RiDE magazine! You can catch Simon and Martin on the Twitters:

@SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello, good morning and welcome to Front End Chatter E90, Britain's most least favourite biking podcast, veritably triggered by www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world's biking on the web, and Bennetts, the bike and travel insurance specialists. And this fortnight we have, for you aural delectation, spoken words on: RACING

• MotoGP is back, at Qatar where Miller's seat comes off, Mav goes backwards, Rossi goes forwards, Marquez and Dovizioso repeat last season's last lap, and Ducati plot a spoiler
• why MotoE isn't coming to a short circuit near you soon
• Dave Bautista keeps on winning in WSB, but it's not Ducati's fault...
• ... so no pressure in BSB then, Scott...

BIKES

• first ride on Moto Guzzi's new V85 TT 'classic enduro'

PLUS!

• do business biking miles count as much as personal biking miles?
• more hi-viz pros and cons
• trail braking explained properly
• the great seat height debate, and how to make bikes fit more people more of the time
• more ideas on getting kids into bikes – and were 125s better in the 1990s?
• which brands offer the best value for money?
• why are there no wheelies in bike magazines any more?

... plus much more rubbish, nonsense and stuff.

Thanks for listening!

• email your thoughts, questions and comments to [email protected]
• visit www.bikesocial.co.uk,
• 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

Hello and welcome to Episode 89 of Front End Chatter, Britain's most insured motorcycling podcast delivered fresh to your ears by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons – enabled by the humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and supported by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. This week we're chattering about:

• Andrea Iannone's smelly secretions
• Jonathon Rea's Book Of Excuses
• first ride of KTM's new 790 Adventure and Adventure R
• how practical and fun is Enfield's Interceptor?
• which bike can renew the sense of fun in your biking
• is £200 for a one-piece leather race suit on Ebay worth buying?
• should we feel guilty about NOT riding our bikes much?
• what's the best non-sportsbike for track days?
• does Fairy Liquid work as an anti-misting visor coating?
• how to find the right people with whom to tour Europe
• ...and much much more...

Thank you once more for listening to out nonsense, and contributing with your thoughts, queries and opinions: email

[email protected] Please add August 13th to your diary, when Front End Chatter will be recorded LIVE! at a BIkeSocial Bennetts track day at Cadwell Park! More info at www.superbikeschool.co.uk Simon H and Martin are on Twitter:

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

...and you can also fund us on various other social media platforms...

Hellooo and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most homoerotic motorcycling podcast, supported and empowered by www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists.

And for your aural delectation this week we have gossip on:

• Andrew Iannone's jawline
• Maverick Marquez and his pants
• Dave Bautista's Rea-beating form at Phillip Island
• the perfect Franken-racer
• unfeasible plum-o-meters in the BSB paddock
• why is bike gear so expensive?
• what bike did Nev buy? And is a BMW R1250RS better than a Z1000SX?
• how do we know when not ride a bike but take the car instead?
• tips for touring in Alaska
• why there are no exotic small-bore race replicas and how to get more young riders on bikes
• and much, much more (but definitely no chat about motorcycle magazines; well, a bit...)
• ...plus! Super-really-very-exciting news of the 100th episode FECstravaganza at... Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire, Tuesday August 13th; a Bennetts/BikeSocial/California Superbike track day – and at which we'll be recording FEC's centenary episode in front of an eager audience of grass and air. You're welcome to sign up to the track day, or just come along and have a listen... more details of the 100th episode FECstravaganza in the next FEC!

Meanwhile, thanks for listening and supporting what we do, keep the emails coming to anything @frontendchatter.com – don't listen to Mufga, you write what you want to write – and catch us both on Twitter: @SimonHbikes & @Mufga, and on Insta/FB/the usual. Love and rockets

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 87 #Remy Gardner... it's only just occurred to me, but what kind of name is Remy? Is he named after a cognac or something? Anyway, welcome, one and all, to surreal bantz supported, enabled and triggered by the meaty skinbags at www.bikesocial.co.uk – the best resource for all things motorcycling on the interwebs – and under the munificent auspices of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. This week we have:

• why Suzuki Hayabusa mirrors remind Simon of Rosa Klebb's shoes • a timely review of the 2002 Assen MotoGP, back in the days when races could be won by a two-stroke or a four-stroke, and when one four-stroke in particular appeared to be so much faster than the others it was like cheating...
• ...and how a last lap manoeuvre foreshadowed a more notorious coming-together 13 years later...
• a mini-review of the new Honda CBR650R and CB650R and is it a 'new' CBR600F? And how does the CB compare to a KTM 790 Duke?
• ...and why does no-one makes a Dakar replica?
• effective anti-rain visor solutions
• why do we wear the kit we wear?
• more on police/scooter tactics
• an inverse game of 'what bike should I buy?', with 'what bike have I bought?'
• have some bike magazines may have lost their sense of humour, and is there a correlation with the demise of sportsbikes?
• ...and much more natter chatter...

...and if you're interested in attending a FECstravaganza in August in Lincolnshire, let us know! Many many thanks for listening, please continue to download FEC from www.bikesocial.co.uk. Email your thoughts, queries, questions, observations and comments to:

anything@frontendchatter

....and catch us on Twitter

@SimonHbikes

@Mufga

Happy New... oh, is too late for that? Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most enduring motorcycling podcast (much to chagrin of Les343) presented by me, Simon Hargreaves and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and supported by the humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance people.

And this month, FEC sinks its teeth into:

• the Greatest Grand Prix Of All Time, aka the 1990 Australian 500cc Grand Prix, feat. Sir Mick of Doohan, Lord Wayne de Rainey, Baron von Gardner and the Marquis of Schwantz going at it hammer, tongs and forceps • the 125cc side-spectacle of Hans Spaan aiming a punch at Fausto Gresini and Loris Capirossi winning his first world title
• the year of 2019 in review, as FEC jumps into the Chatter Tardis and zooms 12 months into the future – including the best bike of 2019, the Brit GP from Donington, and some shocking new Suzuki news – yes, you read that right
• a deep dive into the FECsack with contributions on topics as varied as
• buying used instead of a new bike on PCP,
• the mechanics of trail braking and why it's a good (and bad) idea,
• how tightly controlled the Triumph 765-powered Moto2 series will be,
• the reliability of KTM electrics,
• how odd is it that Marc Marquez' dad is STILL hanging around his pit box,
• bike community garages in the US,
• a FEC track day in August,
• how to make MotoE more of a spectacle by using an accountant from Bromley, • why is insurance so bloomin' expensive?

Thanks for listening, please keep emailing your thoughts, ideas and questions to:

[email protected] Also remember to download this podcast from www.bikesocial.co.uk, and nip out and buy RiDE magazine! You can catch Simon and Martin on the Twitters: @SimonHBikes

@Mufga

Hello and welcome to a festive Front End Chatter, delivered with a ho-ho-ho by the Santa Claus of motorcycling websites, www.bikesocial.co.uk, in association with Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. In episode 85 of FEC Martin and Simon turn back time to August 1993 and re-live the fags, mags and bags of a classic British Grand Prix at Donington Park when:

• Doohan played skittles with Schwantz and Barros
• Yamaha's Luca Cadalora followed team orders – Suzuki team orders
• Foggy needed a reserve tap
• Mackenzie needed no invitation

Also in this week's FEC:

• Guy Martin's Irish driving licence
• Triumph's Scrambler 1200 XC and XE ridden and crashed
• more on police scooter crash tactics
• how to accidentally spend £18k on a winter bike, and how to protect it
• more advice on PCP v credit cards
• why there's life in magazines yet! Simon, Mufga and all at www.BikeSocial.co.uk would like to wish all you FECers a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year, and look forward to filling your ears in 2019.

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 84, presented for your ears in association with the multi-purposed humanoids of www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts. And this week, Simon H and Mufga present, for your consideration:

• Moto2 testing from Jerez, and the lap record-shattering debut of Triumph's 765 engine, plus the emerging sibling rivalry of Marquez and Rossi brothers (ish)
• MotoGP testing gossip from Jerez, including Nakagami's pace (who?) and the size of Johann Zarco's... task
• Lewis Hamilton testing gossip from Jerez, including how slow, or not, he is, or isn't, on a WSB-spec Pata Yamaha R1
• the rights, and wrongs, of police officers hitting scooter-riding criminals with their cars (contentious, this), and what has all this got to do with the Met Office?
• and, speaking of teenager hoolies, a few details from the launch of Kawasaki's Z125 and Ninja 125

Plus a selection of your amazing emails, including:

• should I sell my Ducati SportClassic to buy a new Moto Guzzi TT85?
• is PCP better value than buying a bike on a credit card and bouncing it between 0% cards for the life of the repayment?
• is a lightly tuned R1200GS likely to be as chippy as a new R1250GS? • will JLo and Marquez pinch points off each other in 2019, making a Dovi world title more likely?
• which will be the best naked hyperbike if they end up with a racing class at World Superbike?
• what makes the Kawasaki ZX-10R the winningiest World Superbike?

Thanks for listening, please email your thoughts, musings, questions and anything else you want to us yammer about to:

[email protected] (record is 180 characters, so far)

or do the Twitter/Instagram thing: @SimonHbikes @Mufga

And please remember to nominate, via email or the Twitter, your favourite MotoGP race from Dorna's archive for FEC to review. If that's actually what you want us to do.