Front End Chatter

Episode 25 of Front End Chatter, Britain's best and most superlative biking podcast, returns from a lengthy absinthe to discuss the first stirrings of a MotoGP season from testing at Sepang, Malaysia, and whether anything can be inferred from said performances other than some bikes and riders will definitely be on the grid at the start of the season, and some will be faster than others (the chances of a dead heat involving the entire field in every race are slim). Episode 25 also features the FEC Pointless MotoGP PR podium, a celebration of banal soundbites and talking nonsense, in which Alvaro Bautista is showing great pre-season form...

Front End Chatter also nearly breaks a Yamaha press embargo on the new VMAX Cartoon... sorry, Carbon... and notices Suzuki's best-value bike, the GSX1250 FA, now comes with full luggage in its £7999 price, which is great until remembering the standard bike (without the luggage) was on sale for £6865 six months ago. FEC#25 also worries about biking getting older (it's a proper Saga) and wonders where the new blood is coming from (if there is any), why kids don't ride mopeds, whether Triumph should put a Tiger 800 motor in Street Triple chassis and slap a half fairing on it, the pros and cons of riding in winter, and marvel at the eccentric life of Maurice Seddon, the man who cooked his supper in his panniers and 'invented' heated clothing for bikers. Hope you like it; please subscribe and tell everyone you know to do likewise. See you after the London bike show :-) @Mufga @SimonHbikes

Episode 24 of Front End Chatter does not, sadly, contain Kiefer Sutherland defending the world from a series of increasingly improbable terrorists. Instead, Simon and Martin discuss:

- The two-week, 5000-mile Dakar Rally compressed into 10 minutes

- A pre-pre-season preview, as MotoGP prepares to start testing, World Superbikes prepares to start racing, and the internet prepares to start using the c-word about Casey Stoner

- Why the 2015 Isle of Man TT has turned into the world's fastest group test (and why a Kawasaki H2R might appear after all...)

- Why things are looking up if you're in the business of selling motorcycles

- The Frankenbikes we would build given an imaginary angle grinder and welder

- The events to get in your 2015 diary, from London to Barcelona to Coventry

And finally, to find out if reports of Superbike magazine's death have been greatly exaggerated, we speak to editor John Hogan (@JohnatSuperBike) about the title's past, present and future.

Thank you very much for listening to Britain's best biking podcast. If you enjoy it, subscribe for free on iTunes, and check out all of our previous episodes (which would take more than a day of non-stop listening to get through). You can also play or download every episode free from www.frontendchatter.com

Talk to us either on Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga) or send us an email about anything you like to [email protected]

The first Front End Chatter of 2015 covers such diverse subjects as:

- Simon enters a race through a village on his FireBlade, only to find out that's it's not really a race.

- The first (and last) Front End Chatter 2014 Manufacturer Countdown, pop-pickers.

- Listeners' problems solved (or at least answered), from trials clubs to tourism advice.

- Does racing sell road bikes?

- Do tall-rounders make sportsbikes look silly?

Plus, Front End Chatter's off-road correspondent JP (@Jonpe23) returns to discuss the ins, outs and upside-downs of the Dakar Rally, including:

- Who nearly didn't even make the start line this year.

- What the words "mousse", "liason" and "fesh-fesh" mean.

- Why you don't necessarily want to finish first (but to finish first, first you have to finish...)

- Was the Dakar better when it actually went to Dakar?

Thanks very much for listening. As ever, please subscribe (for free) on iTunes or elsewhere, check out our previous 20-odd episodes (for free), and spread the word by telling friends (and strangers) about Britain's best biking podcast.

You can also shape future episodes by emailing comments, suggestions, questions and observations to [email protected] or by getting us on Twitter on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga.

This year's final episode of Britain's best biking podcast comes to you from the jungle... no, Andorra... no, Benidorm. And Sicily.

In this hour-and-a-bit, Ant and Dec - sorry, Simon and Martin - cover:

- Is Britain officially in love with Foggy once again (the stats suggest so), or did he just surf a wave of cult nostalgia (the stats suggest so...)?

- Marquez moves out of his parents' house, cries, then proves he's the greatest rider on the planet even in the off-season. Plus, a review of his new biography.

- Reports from the launches of the new BMW R1200R (a simple bike that's incredibly high-tech), Kawasaki Versys 650 (the small bike trying to be a big bike) and Versys 1000 (the adventure bike that wasn't really an adventure bike and definitely isn't an adventure bike any more).

- Front End Chatter discovers what it's like to ride a Kawasaki H2.

- Plus your emails answered, some light bickering, and much more.

If you enjoy this (for free), you can subscribe to Front End Chatter (for free), check out our past episodes (for free), tell a friend (for free) or shout about us online (for free).

Send us an email about anything ([email protected]) and find us on Twitter (@Mufga and @SimonHbikes).

Thank you very much, and we'll be back in 2015.

Happy Christmas.

Welcome to Front End Chatter episode 21 v2.0 (apparently the dog ate episode 21 v1.0). This week Martin and Simon visit Motorcycle Live and wave a microphone at Kawasaki’s H2R, use the word ‘artisan’ twice, dissect Carl Fogarty MBE’s stellar performance on a reality TV show and whether drinking a puréed kangaroo testicle really is tougher than winning four World Superbike titles, discuss air-bag protection, lament the passing of the thrust curve, and Simon reveals how talking out loud while you’re riding, recording it and putting on YouTube is problematic. But only to him.

Thank you very much for listening, please spread the word, subscribe, and come and read other Chattersome nonsense at:

@Mufga

@SimonHbikes

*if you’re only interested in the Carl Fogarty bit – and who can blame you? – it starts around 42m 30s.

Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and original) biking podcast celebrates its vigintennial anniversary by remembering about the good old days. Actually, it doesn't. Instead, it gets totally lost in the seemingly bottomless pool of brand new bikes and their impenetrable acronyms. Opinion and analysis abounds, including attempting (or not) to answer:

- Might Kawasaki's new H2 be a tiny weeny bit of a porker?- Will Honda's road-going RC213V really happen?- Is Yamaha's new R1 deceptively good looking?- Just what does A&S, AOS-II and CFRTP mean, and is it all a LOB?- Was any baking paper used in designing the MT-09 T-Racer (sorry, Tracer)?- What does Ducati's Scrambler have to do with a polar bear having a shave?If you enjoy any of this nonsense please subscribe and/or tell your friends about Front End Chatter. You can download it through iTunes, from any Androidy thing or direct from www.frontendchatter.com.

Feedback or topic suggestions actively welcomed by email ([email protected]) and Twitter (@SimonHbikes and @Mufga).

Thanks very much.

Front End Chatter, Britain's best (and original) biking podcast, returns for an hour of fun and games (literally) including:

- What Ducati's latest high-tech acronym actually does- What Yamaha's latest high-tech acronyms might do- Whether the 2015 BMW S1000RR is any good to ride (Simon's back from the launch, not that he mentions it much)- The frantic debut of Hipster Bingo- The remarkable true story of how a man who once set his own beard on fire drinking cocktails is at the centre of fresh chaos surrounding one of the most famous bikes in film history

Plus all the usual talk about racing, your emails and plenty more too.

Download Front End Chatter via www.frontendchatter.com, search for us on iTunes, or find us through any other Androidy apps. We're even still on SoundCloud. If you enjoy FEC please subscribe, tell your friends, check out old episodes, and email feedback to [email protected]

Oh, and Twit us on @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Thanks!

Britain's best and... hang on, have to stop you there. Anyway, this week's/month's/insert-random-time-interval's episode of Front End Chatter is all about new bikes – Kawasaki's supercharged H2R, BMW's S1000RR and R1200RS, Suzuki's GSX-S1000F and Ducati's Hipster, sorry, Scrambler – and a newly-crowned MotoGP Wold Champ, which is like a World Champ only from Lincolnshire, not Spain. There's some other stuff too. We hope you enjoy it, and please spread the word, subscribe via iTunes or an Android thing, leave a review, or Tweet us at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga (or get Simon on FB, but not Martin).

Front End Chatter, the UK's finest biking podcast, goes all supercharged this week, in honour of Kawasaki's much rumoured, substantially teased and probably very exciting new sportsbike, the H2 (although it turns out your level of excitement depends on your promiscuity, gullibility and general willingness to indulge in fantasy). We also talk about the other noteworthy 2015 bikes likely to debut at the forthcoming Intermot bike show in Cologne, why sportsbikes may or may not be making a comeback, a bit of MotoGP chat, why Donington is nicer than Silverstone (apart from the toilets), and take a serious moment to discuss the ethics of watching bike crash videos on Youtube.

From physics to metaphysics, only in Britain's favourite biking podcast.

Please download, subscribe, share as widely as possible, leave us some feedback, email us at [email protected], or Tweet us on @Mufga or @SimonHbikes. Thanks!

Welcome to Front End Chatter episode 16, brought to you live, in the sense we're breathing, from Silverstone MotoGP – or is it? There's a lot of chatter about the race itself, and plenty of ill-informed gossip surrounding the event, and... well, let's just call it a wide-ranging conversation that takes in men in public toilets, why sportsbikes appear to be in decline, which one you should buy anyway, crashing on a protest ride, Aussie police, no new bike news, stolen racing trophies, how manufacturers treat customers better these days, and lending idiot wannabe journalists demo bikes. It all sounds better than it really is. But thanks for listening anyway! x