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Front End Chatter

Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons

Britain's best biking podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons

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  • 224 episodes
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Episodes224

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  • Oct 3, 2019 · 1 hr 50 min

    Front End Chatter #103

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Sep 22, 2019 · 1 hr 38 min

    Front End Chatter #102

    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.

  • Sep 9, 2019 · 1 hr 47 min

    Front End Chatter #101

    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.

  • Aug 15, 2019 · 1 hr 16 min

    Front End Chatter #100

    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.

  • Aug 6, 2019 · 1 hr 49 min

    Front End Chatter #99

    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 FEC100@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Jul 24, 2019 · 1 hr 27 min

    Front End Chatter #98

    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 FEC100@frontendchatter.com • 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

  • Jul 18, 2019 · 1 hr 55 min

    Front End Chatter #97

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Jun 30, 2019 · 1 hr 58 min

    Front End Chatter #96

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Jun 18, 2019 · 1 hr 43 min

    Front End Chatter #95

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com Follow @Bennetts on Twitter and Insta and Facebook Follow @Mufga and @SimonHBikes on Twitter/Insta etc Laters taters.

  • May 31, 2019 · 1 hr 45 min

    Front End Chatter #94

    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: anything@frontendchatter.com And catch Simon and Martin on the social medias @SimonHBikes @Mufga Thanks again for listening! X

  • May 15, 2019 · 1 hr 37 min

    Front End Chatter #93

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com

  • Apr 30, 2019 · 1 hr 29 min

    Front End Chatter #92

    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: anything@frontendchatter.com @SimonHbikes @Mufga

  • Apr 25, 2019 · 1 hr 33 min

    Front End Chatter #91

    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: anything@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Mar 24, 2019 · 1 hr 47 min

    Front End Chatter #90

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Mar 10, 2019 · 2 hr

    Front End Chatter #89

    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 anything@frontendchatter.com 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...

  • Feb 23, 2019 · 1 hr 44 min

    Front End Chatter #88

    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

  • Jan 29, 2019 · 1 hr 47 min

    Front End Chatter #87

    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

  • Jan 12, 2019 · 1 hr 28 min

    Front End Chatter #86

    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: anything@frontendchatter.com 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

  • Dec 26, 2018 · 1 hr 23 min

    Front End Chatter #85

    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.

  • Dec 9, 2018 · 1 hr 33 min

    Front End Chatter #84

    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: anything@frontendchatter.com (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.