Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the UK's most flammable motorcycling podcast with him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons. This is episode 186, a gentleman's agreement of an episode, in which we thank Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurance experts, and BikeSocial.co.uk, all your two-wheeled needs and nerds catered for on the web and on YouTube – before once more diving into a couple of hours of chatter. And on this episode we bring you a FEC first – our inaugural (but not last) new bike launch – yes, Front End Chatter was privileged to be invited to the first ride of Triumph's 2024 Tiger 900 range in Spain – the new Tiger 900 GT Pro and Rally Pro, on road and off. The fact the bike's a corker is entirely coincidental, and we can confidently state the launch gift of a dose of Covid didn't sway our opinion even it it ruined Xmas at Chatter Manors. In this episode we also sling a leg over Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GX which at a slightly compromised launch that didn't let us really get under the skin of the bike and left us with more questions than answers – which gives us an excuse to put more miles on the bike later in the year, and which is no bad thing. Also in this episode, Mufga and a crew of ne'er-do-wells win a historic trophy by riding a pair of Zero electric bikes through thick, but mostly thin, the length and breadth of Britain. Thank you very much for listening, please email your thoughts and musings and questions to [email protected], and get us on the socials (when we're feeling up to it) at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga. Have a splendid Christmas and see/hear you/us in 2024.

Hello and welcome to FEC185, the new-bikes-for-2024 special version of Front End Chatter, Britain's fave motorcycling podcast with him Martin Fitz-Gibbons and him Simon Hargreaves.

But WAIT! Before you move on, thinking "Oh, I've already endured that pair of idiots nattering about the new bikes for 2024 in their EICMA Show review on the Bennetts BikeSocial YouTube channel they have these days,"... (to watch it, go to www.bit.ly/feconfilm)

...well – yes, that's what you're getting here; the audio version of the video, but one you can take on your travels while you're raking up fallen leaves on the lawn, walking the dog (or dogs if you have two of them), spannering in the garage (not heard it called that before) or even dogging on the treadmill in your local gymnasium. Jogging. I meant jogging.

But there's more! Because we're also revealing details of something far more important than the tired old toot the manufacturers are trying to foist on you in 2024. Because, dear FECers, we have details of not one, but TWO FEC Tours in 2024 – both flawlessly organised, as always, in conjunction with Paul from MCI Tours.

For the first tour, and to celebrate the 10th birthday of Front End Chatter (aka A Decade Of Drivel), FEC Tours is going international with a 10-day FECstravaganza – riding for two days across France down to the Pyrenees, spending three days exploring the sensational mountain passes, then another two days across to the fabulous Picos range in northern Spain before heading back to Santander and the leisurely cruise back to Plymouth – with a live podcast recording on the boat.*

*subject to sailing conditions and Brittany Ferries playing ball, which we're sure they will.

Viva FECspaña promises to be a spectacular motorcycling holiday and the trip of lifetime. The dates are: Sunday 2nd June (depart Portsmouth) to Tuesday 11th June (return Plymouth). Find more details here:

www.bit.ly/fecspain

The second tour is a little more modest in scope and commitment, as we FEC Up The Borders. Long overlooked by passing tourists, the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway are regions of stunning riding and gorgeous scenery. FEC has (literally) taken over the Buccleuch Arms Hotel in Moffat, a legendary motorcycling establishment dedicated to serving the needs of hungry motorcyclists. We have an extensive ride-in and ride-out either side of two days exploring both areas including Britain's second-longest B-road, the birthplace of Steve Hislop (plus riding some the roads he surely cut his teeth on), a suite of border passes steeped in tribal history and legend, and the desolate splendour of the Galloway National Park. It's some of our fave riding in the UK.

The dates for FEC Up The Borders are: ride-in on Tuesday 30th July, ride-out on Friday 2nd July. More info here:

www.bit.ly/fecborders

STOP PRESS – the FEC Up The Borders Tour is almost sold out already, so get your enquiry in pronto to secure a place!

Only after putting up with all that – hope you enjoy the FEC Guide To 2024's New Bikes (well, the ones we're really interested in!).

Thank you for listening/watching, if you appreciate what we do please get your insurance from Bennetts and become a BikeSocial Member, email your thoughts and questions to [email protected] (normal service will be resumed next episode) and catch us on the socials: @Mufga (wry commentary and nerdy tech stuff) @SimonHbikes (drunken passive/aggressive shit-posting and paracord/bass guitars) Aye.

Hello and welcome to Episode 184 of Front End Chatter, Britain's Bestest Biking Bodcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – with thanks as ever to our patient and perfect partners Bennetts, the bike insurance specialisms, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the most informative and entertaining motorcycling website on the, er web. Is it still called the web? Anyway, check out the offers, discounts and competitions available should you choose to become a BikeSocial Member (free to Bennetts customers, £60 a year if not) – seriously, if you're planning on spending a few quid this year on tyres, kit and accessories, chances are the shop you'll buy them from has a discount offer with Bennetts – so sign up, ya fool! Right, on with the show and today it's a bit of a FEC-sack Special because we're getting a bit behind with your emailed questions and queries – so it's all you today: • whose leathers are on the wall of a hotel near the Nürburgring? • great biking reassessments, such as Harley are technically advanced and Honda do think they can change gear better than you after all: with mandatory DCT and, now, Honda's Eclutch – another auto transmission. Honda really don't like manual gearboxes, do they? • plus, Martin recalls having to reassess adventure bikes after it became clear they were taking over the world • how to regain a biking mojo • how will BMW's front collision warning cope with 'progressive' riding in traffic? • best bike for long range commuting? • is the SWC300 any good? • do we grow out of modifying bikes? And much much more... Thanks for listening, please spread the word, please ring-fence a couple of dates in your diary – we have a FEC tour of Spain coming up in early June 2024, and a FEC tour of the Borders in late July 2024! YOU HAVE TO BE THERE! It's such a good time. Also – keep your emails coming in to: [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most foresighted motorcycling podcast and, as regular listeners, you don't need to be Nostradamus to know what we're going to say next. So no surprise it's a massive thank you to Bennetts, Britain's best motorcycle insurers, who continue to amaze and astound with a litany, nay, cornucopia of offers, competitions and nice things – one of which is bikesocial.co.uk with all the biking news, new bikes, consumer features and BSB info fit to eat. And check out Bennetts' YouTube channel coz it's amazing. And become a Bennetts BikeSocial Member and get access to all the above, for a paltry £60 a year – and it's free if you're insured with Bennetts. Right, after all that, onto the pod. And it's a Knobbly News kinda week, what with BMW's R1300 GS getting the full nerd-out in-depth detail – what's the motor/frame/suspension/styling, and how's it different, why's it different and will we like it? Plus Honda have nibbled at the Africa Twin and ruined the Adventure Sport by not importing a manual gearbox version (we love Honda, we really do, but blimey they make it hard sometimes). Meanwhile Suzuki unveil the V-Strom 800RE, possibly the most useful motorbike of 2024, and Triumph announce some prices. And in the green corner, literally, there's Kawasaki letting slip a small trump of details about the "Strong Hybrid Ninja 7" - a half battery, half petrol-powered 451cc parallel twin with what Kawasaki say is the fuel economy of a 250 combined with the performance of a 750 and the 0-60 of a ZX-10R, yeah right chinny chin chin (that bit wasn't in the press release). And after all that, we FECsack about CX500s, commuting 100 miles a day and cramming a lifetime of motorcycle choices into a few years as you work out what kind of biker you are. Right, that's all for now. We should start a newsletter. Hey, that's a good idea. Email your thoughts and queries and desires and offers of, well, anything goes tbh but money's good, to: [email protected] Thanks for listening, you mad FECers you x @SimonHBikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 182, live in front of a bunch o' FECers from the Elephant & Castle in Newtown, Wales! Thanks as ever to Bennetts, the finest motorcycle insurers in the country, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the place to go for all your bike-related news, new bikes, tests and stories. Become a BikeSocial Member and take advantage of a plethora of offers, discounts and competitions. It just makes sense, ya heathens. Anyway, on this episode of Front End Chatter, Simon and Martin natter about: • Suzuki's forthcoming GSX-8R, GSX-S1000X and V-Strom 800 • BMW's fifthcoming R1300 GS and F900 GS • Kawasakis sixthcoming EV-1s • ...and much more, plus chat with the FECers on tour – where's the bar? Thank you for listening to Front End Chatter, and please send your questions, queries, thoughts and musings to: [email protected] I'm @SimonHbikes and he's @Mufga

Hello and welcome to Episode 181 of Front End Chatter, Britain's most electric, eclectic and eccentric motorcycling podcast, presented by hoary old motorcycle journalists Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons. We are as ever indebted and in cahoots with Bennetts, Britain's leading bike insurance experts, and BikeSocial.co.uk. No flipping, don't change that channel – check out the offers, competitions and discounts Bennetts offer and become a BikeSocial member to access them all even if, for some reason beyond the wit of man, you aren't insured with Bennetts. Don't take our word for it – see for yourself. However, speaking as someone who always fails to take advantage of money-saving offers because I'm hamstrung by a belief that paying less than full value is somehow morally wrong (I don't like using loyalty cards because why should a supermarket item be cheaper for someone who has a 'loyalty card' than for someone who hasn't? An item should cost what an item costs for every human in that shop, regardless of where they habitually grant their custom). Mind you I'm perfectly happy to stream football matches off an eastern European website, so figure that one out.

On this episode of Front End Chatter we have topics as widely varied as: • Triumph's new 660 Daytona and how middleweight sportsbikes now often less sporty than middleweight naked bikes

• Triumph's addition of user-lowered rear preload on Tiger 1200s to make them more usable for more people of inversely advantaged verticality

• why KTM's 890 Adventure R could be a forever bike, even if it doesn't last forever

• proving a Zero electric bike can manage a day's adventure (including off-road)

• and why every single commentator on YouTube, in print or on podcasts need their riding advice filtered through an 'it doesn't apply to me' filter – this stuff ain't Gospel, okay?

Anyway, that's enough for now because I'm on holiday and the wifi in the holiday cottage uploads at a prehistoric pace which, given I'm on the Jurassic Coast, is appropriate if not completely infuriating. Please grace our inbox – [email protected] – with your thoughts, queries, jokes, funny stories and any random stuff that passes across your grey matter. Catch me and him here: @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello and welcome back to Front End Chatter, Britain's most durable motorcycling podcast, with Simone Hargreaves and Marion Fitz-Gibbons – a pair of ye olde worlde motorcycle journalists like wot they had off them magazines they used to have, talking about bikes, talking about riding them, talking about remembering what it was like to ride them, talking about dreaming of riding them, and talking about other things as well. Or even better. There's more to life than bikes – you might think that's what you came here for, but bikes are just the start. Anyway, thank you to Bennetts, the marvellous bike insurers, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the best place on the web to locate all your motorcycling news, views and reviews. And check out their YouTube channel, whydontcher? On this mighty organ of FEC we have: • a chat about the BikeSocial group test of the Suzuki GSX-8S, Honda Hornet, KTM 790 Duke and Yamaha MT-07 • Yamaha's Tracer 9 GT+ with added radar soup • a bit of natter about manufacturers using throttle mapping to define the power delivery of their bikes • KTM's upcoming 1390 motor, and what size it might actually be • ...and do we really need more capacity, and is that what really sells new bikes? • plus some of your FECsack emails, including what bike best sums up the 1990s? Thanks again to everyone for your ears, and please write with your questions, thoughts, queries, jokes, funny experiences, and that time you met and he tried to get off with your girlfriend, to: [email protected] @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 179 of Front End Chatter, Britain's Chattiest Motorcycling podcast with him Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – underpinned, as ever, by Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurer and BikeSocial.co.uk, the place to go for your biking info.

And on this week's FEC we have: • EXCLUSIVE details of a special ADDITIONAL FEC tour THIS YEAR!

Yes, we've teamed up again with our friends at MCI Tours to bring you a FECin Welsh Weekend. When's that, I hear you ask?

I'm glad you did – the FECin Welsh Weekend is taking place from the afternoon/evening of Friday 22nd September, riding on Saturday and Sunday, departing Monday 25th September. JOIN US – on the best roads in Wales, officially selected by the Cannes Jury Of Mint Roads in Wales, Bach.

Visit bit.ly/fecwales and get involved.

Also in this honestly massive episode of FEC (because bigger is better, right?) • Ivan Cervantes, multiple enduro world champ and Triumph test rider speaks about his world record endurance ride on a Tiger 1200, doing 2493 miles in 24 hours – and also updates on the progress of Triumph's forthcoming range of enduro and motocross bikes

Plus! • all the info on two new technologies coming up on BMW's R1300 GS – radar-powered front collision warning system and a new suspension system with variable spring rate (haven't we heard this before? – Ed) • details of Triumph's new 400 Scrambler X and Speed 400 • how to ride in the wet

...and if that's not enough, there's more of the same. Blimey. Please keep your emails coming in – queries, thoughts, musings, amusings, funny stories, nothing too heavy if you don't mind, keep it light – to: [email protected] Aye. Youse brilliant, youse are. @SimonHbikes @Mufga

Hello everybody and welcome to a Front End Chatter FECsack special. Special you say? Yes, very special indeed, thanks for asking.

Why so special? Special because in a change from FEC's (un)usual format, we've devoted a full hour to answering one single, solitary, lonely, individual question sent in by a listener. Well, you know, after 170-odd of these things, we figured it's about time we did one properly...

And as such it is the unbelievably enormously magnificently humongous pleasure of Britain's best bum-lickingiest biking podcast to welcome the one and only Adrian Morton - Britain's best bike designer - to the deepest deep dive (too soon?) you'll ever hear on:

• what it was like to work with (and then take over from) Massimo Tamburini - how the Cagiva, sorry, MV Agusta F4 750 came to life, and whether it can ever be repeated - how many designs does it take to get a footpeg right - who really designed the F3, despite what Wikipedia says - and much, much more, including the future of motorcycle design...

We hope you love this detour from our usual FEC waffling as much as we do. And if you'd like to contribute to our bulging FECsack of listener questions, please fire your ponderings through to [email protected]

Hello and welcome one and all to Front End Chatter, Britain's cakiest motorcycle podcast with she/him, Martina Fitz-Gibbons and it/blimey, Simone Hargreaves. As the country's leading formerly employed but subsequently jettisoned motorcycle journalistas, now freelancing for anyone with a gold sovereign and a glint in their eye, we're proud to be supported and stimulated by Bennetts, Brian's leading bike insurers, and BikeSocial.co.uk, more motorcycling news, reviews and blues clues on the web than the web really deserves. And on this mightily magnificent episode we have: • the NC500 and why it's not a Honda parallel twin, but a blummin' ace ride around the top of Scotland • BMW's new M1000XR • Kawasaki's new ZX-6R • the price is announced for Kawasaki's ZX-4RR • Michael Dunlop and Peter Hickman dominate the 2023 TT • how Triumph's Tiger 1200 is the fastest bike ever over the longest distance in 24 hours • details of Bennetts High Performance Awards for bike clothing, taking the complexity out of bike kit protection ratings and why you should look out for it • FECsack musings including why isn't cruise control fitted to smaller bikes, the best small-bore track bike, why bike modern bike seats don't always fit and much more... Thanks for your ears, please keep your musings and queries and general thoughts coming to: [email protected] @simonhbikes @mufga