Front End Chatter

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

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 poi

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 R

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?

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

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

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 Cadw

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 Benne

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 n

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? wh

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 diar

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 centenar

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? effe

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 o

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 TT

Welcome to Front End Chatter E83, and what a perfectly formed audio package it is too – supported and sustained as forever and always by the magnificent humanoids at www.bikesocial.co.uk and their Bennetts-ian, bike insuring benefactors. And wow! Scoop! Front End Chatter has a world exclusive interview with none other than the youngest man-child ever to win a grand prix – fresh from his Valencia Moto3 victory, we present Mr Can Öncü, fresh from his crib, literally. But apart from that, this week we waffle interminably on the following:   winners and losers from the final round of MotoGP from a predictably, or not, sopping-wet Valencia... ...and happy bunnies and sad hedgehogs from MotoGP testing at a largely dry Valencia will Triumph enter a factory team in Moto2 at some point, like, 2020, maybe to coincide with the launch of a Daytona 765 road bike? hits and misses from that 2018 Motorcycle Live they had then Triumph’s new Street Twin and Street Scrambler, ridden at the launch in Portugal (in case it’s un

Hello lovely people and welcome to our humble musings on the world of two wheels, otherwise known as Front End Chatter.  FEC is supported by www.bikesocial@co.uk, your 24-hr convenience store for biking information, and Bennetts, the bike insurance experts.  Here we are again with a marathon podcast to make up for lost time, and we have: • a teeny bit of Moto GP gossip, including why Lorenzo should not be henceforth be known as 'Sicknote' • all (most) new 2019 bikes fresh from the Eicma show they have now, including some detail on BMW's R1250 GS v R1200 GS, as seen on www.bikesocial@co.uk and Ducati's Multistrada 1260 Enduro • listeners' emails, on subjects as varied as new Chinese v used Japanese 125s, which new bike to buy if you don't want to lose too much money, are Royal Enfield's new twins better than an old Bonneville... and much more.  Thanks for listening, thanks for downloading (feel free to subscribe on iTunes or your Android pod app, but if you download from www.bikesocial@co.uk we'd be very gr

  Oh my lordy lord, here’s Front End Chatter E81, hot on the heels of E80 and ploughing an ill-informed furrow through the field of motorcycling podcasts, supported and upheld as ever by the munificence of www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance people. And this time out we have topics as varied as: • Jonathan ‘Nice’ Rea’s fourth consecutive World Superbike title – and which previous WSB champs congratulated him... • Ana Carrasco and her maiden – literally – WSSP300-on-a-400 world title • Jorge Lorenzo, who crashed at the first corner of the Aragon MotoGP race by sheer will power alone • New bikes from Royal Enfield, yes, that’s Royal Enfield, with Simon riding the Interceptor and Continental GT at the launch... • ...and even more new bikes, from the Intermots they have now – including, er, well, not all that much, really – apart from Suzuki’s GSX-S1000-in-a-frock Katana and Indian’s FTR1200 flat-tracker, Moto Guzzi’s V85 TT, Kawasaki’s 125s, Triumph’s Street Scrambler & Street Twin, and Y

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E80, brought to you from the girded loins at www.bikesocial.co.uk and supported by bike insurance humanoids at Bennetts. This week, chatter topics for your aural entertainment are: Romano Fenasti – the hot-headed ex-Moto2 rider is definitely cracked, but should he be sacked or backed following his Misano misdemeanour? • Mufga’s been riding BMW’s new, enlarged, Shiftcam (careful!) R1250GS... ... and Simon’s had a go on Yamaha’s Niken with some BikeSocialists (and a FECer; hi Dan)... ... and they’re not the only ones; other FECers who’ve tried the Niken let us know what they think, plus loads more of your emails, including      Harley out-selling Triumph, Ducati and Suzuki in Europe last year, is MotoE going to be any good, why V4s don’t sound like inline fours, is it possible to ‘see’ grip, best mods for Aprilia’s RSV-R, advice for smaller riders... and lots more. Thanks, as always, for listening, please bookmark www.bikesocial.co.uk and get your insurance from Bennett