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.

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.

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

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