Front End Chatter Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons

Hello Geeks and Nerds, and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's Bestular Biking Podcast with him, me, and me, him. Or is it the other way round? Stick to the script! 

Anyway, your erstwhile hosts @SimonHbikes and @Mufga are, as always, indebted and in balls-deep with Bennetts, Britain's Bestular Bike Insurers, as voted for by the residents of Mavis Enderby for the fifth year running – and the quietly awesome bikesocial.co.uk, populated with over 6000 pages of news, views and reviews.

On the pod this fortnight we have words on: 
• Ducati's new V4 Panigale and the absence of a singularly-sided swingarm
• possibly Ducati's final V2 sportsbike, the Panigale V2 Superquadro Final Edition (the clue's in the name)
• the ongoing KTM cam drama
• the very quickly and efficiently executed Suzuki V-Strom 800DE recall (that's how ya do it lads)
• Bennetts BikeSocial new Bike Club (don't call it a forum but it is, no shame in that, I use them all the time)
• Kawasaki's hydrogen-powered prototype, and why we shouldn't take it too seriously because a) it'll never be practical and b) it's probably a corporate vanity project anyway
• Yamaha's decision to put their new auto-transmission on an MT-09, and will it wheelie? 
• ...which we discover Harley's LiveWire Costa Del Sol is more than capable of...
• plus loads of your FECsack emails containing thoughts, musings, amusing, ponderances and preponderances – sent in to:
anything@frontendchatter.com 

Thanks for your ears, and if you fancy two days riding around with Simon H (and Simon Weir) on the Road Test Experience, go to roadtestexperience.co.uk and sign up! 

Hello one and all, and welcome to Episode 193 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s best motorcycling podcast and winner of the coveted Wooden Microphone at the 2015 International Podcast Awards.
Thanks as ever to Bennetts, Britain’s Best Bike Insurers – hey, “It’s insurance by the people, for the people!” (you can have that for free, Newbs) – and bikesocial.co.uk, the website with all the news, reviews, twos, blues and clues. For youse. With lots of lovely YouTube content to digest too.
Right, on this episode of FEC we have:
• deets of BMW’s R1300 GSA including its built-in coffee cup stand
• riding impressions of Yamaha’s blingy MT-09 SP hooligan compared to Triumph’s Street Triple RS
• Kawasaki’s rad new H7 Hybrid with the acceleration of litre sports, the performance of a 650 and the fuel economy of a 250 (it says here)
PLUS a deep dive through the FEC sack where we chat about all things great and good, such as:
• should you buy a bike with your heart or your head?
• are auto transmissions the future and can motorcycling be *too* easy?
 • our thoughts on the KTM chocolate camshaft issues, and can history teach a manufacturer how to manage a reliability problem?
• how much do bike videos cost to make?
• is there any point to wings on road bikes?
...and much much more.

Please like and subscribe, tell everyone you know about the pod, and if you want to ask us a question, comment on any of the issues we’ve raised, start a new topic, ask for bike buying advice – get in touch and send us an email:
 
anything@frontendchatter.com
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon! 

@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

Hello one and all, and welcome to a freshly squeezed episode of Front End Chatter, Britain's most absent motorcycling podcast featuring him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons. 

We are, as always, indebted to and inebriated by Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers, and biksocial.co.uk, the place to get all your news and views on motorcycling. 

And on this return to some kind of form, we have:
• what we've been up to (most of the episode, to be fair) including: the FECspagna tour of France and Spain on Suzuki's GSX-S1000 GX+ and BMW S1000 XR TE, Suzuki live, the ABR Festival, and a chat about the sudden appearance of auto gearboxes (including what, exactly, the definition of 'auto' is). 

Thank you for persevering and more episodes will be along shortly. 

Send emails, questions, queries and abuse to anything@frontendchatter.com 

@SimonHBikes
@Mufga

Greetings, podcast pilgrims, and welcome to Front End Chatter - just like having a fun chat down the pub with your mates about bikes, only without the drinks, or the ability for you to say anything back, or your actual real-life mates being involved. Or the fun, come to think of it. Alright, so it's nothing like having a fun chat down the pub with your mates, and much more like earwigging in on a pair of motorcycling mid-life crises unfolding in real time, mixed in with the odd history lesson pinched shamelessly from Wikipedia, half a badly photocopied GCSE maths exam paper, and a few swear words. Still, after 190-odd of these things it's somehow gathered enough momentum that neither of us knows where the handbrake is.
 
And so in episode #191 of this moss-dodging rolling stone, Simon and Mufga cover:
 
• KTM's return to building sportsbikes, in the thinly camouflaged guise of the new 990 RC R, heading to a Supersport race series near you
• MotoGP's plans to drop two dress sizes by summer, slim down those aero love handles and give their saggy rear ends a long-overdue lift
• Yamaha's XSR900GP, which proves it can delight everyone from Rose-Tinted Racers to Portuguese school kids
• Husqvarna's Svartpilen 801, which also stirs together dollops of the past, present and future like a timeline trifle
• BMW's new Automated Shift Assistant tech and, perhaps more intriguingly, which as-yet-unannounced (but possibly already-photographed) bike it'll debut on
• Whether one bike exists that could possibly replace a listener's pretty awesome-sounding three-bike garage
• What motorcycling experiences you'd want to experience if your body had just a few years of riding left in it
• Why tyres dare to demonstrate so alarmingly little respect for mathematical consistency
• Whether hip replacements and motorcycles go together like a femoral head and an acetabulum
 
If you get through all that and are thirsty for more, don't forget to like and rate and subscribe and leave a comment and tag a friend and all the rest, but most importantly do remember the great and benevolent Bennetts the next time your motorcycle insurance is due. Go on, they're Britain's best bike insurers, and if you get your insurance direct from them you'll also get free BikeSocial membership, which is statistically possible to make your motorcycling year both better and cheaper by virtue of its capacious catalogue of discounts, deals, experiences, offers, opportunities and more!
 
As always, if you're on the X-stagram socials you can find us lurking at @SimonHbikes and @Mufga
 
And if you're reading this in May 2024, it's not quite too late to join us on our incredible Viva FECspana tour - head to bit.ly/fecspain
 
Peace, love and understanding x

Hello everyone, two, three here we go and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 190 in series one of Britain's best (or at least longest-running) podcast-flavoured semi-occasional long-form motorcycling nattertainment, no thanks to him, Simon Hargreaves, and even less to him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons.
FEC has been FECing for a whole FECing decade now, mostly thanks to two things: not knowing when to quit; and the tireless support and encouragement and assistance of Bennetts, easily Britain's best bike insurers. You need some of that motorcycle insurance they have these days? Actually, that's not really a question. You need some of that motorcycle insurance they have these days! And you should head directly to Bennetts.co.uk to get it, or at least get a quote for it. Not only are they wonderful people who put back in the bike industry (like, cough, this load of free ear-muck), but if you buy your policy direct you'll get a year's free BikeSocial membership, which unlocks all manner of exclusive discounts, competitions, offers and experiences like some kind of cheat code for your wallet.
And in this episode, we have:
- Honda's new E-Clutch, ridden and rated - have Honda finally figured out a way to overthrow the manual transmission after nearly 70 years of trying?
- Triumph Tiger 1200 - only two years old and already updated, well a bit, but also a hell of a lot.
- BMW R1300GS - what's it like compared to the R1250GS, and what will BMW do with the Adventure?
And a hearty shuffle through the bulging FECsack, including
* Street Triple - standard or R?
* Guess the shaft-drive, garage-wood inducing tourer
* How long do helmets really last, really?
* The Biking Ladder - is it a load of tosh?
* Fun bikes for occasionally taking a pillion (who may or may not be fun)
* Best tyres for a Tenere
* Credit where Viva FECspana credit is (over)due
Please keep topping our FECsack up by emailing your thoughts, wonderings, ponderings and observances to anything@frontendchatter.com
And it's not too late to join us on a 10-day biking tour of a lifetime! Viva FECspana takes in amazing best roads in France and Spain, fab company and lush hotels. Don't miss out on the highlight of your summer - bit.ly/fecspain
And, as ever, find us on the socials: @SimonHbikes and @Mufga

Welcome ladies, gentlemens and ornithologists, to Front End Chatter – episode 189 of Britain's favouritest motorcycling podcast presented by him, Simon Hargreaves, and him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons.

This pod is, as ever, nurtured and natured by Bennetts, the gorram best bike insurers in 'verse, with their wealth of offers, discounts and competitions – and BikeSocial.co.uk, the website & YouTube channel with all the latest news, views, road tests and consumer info.

And on this episode of FEC we have: 
• Martin's experience riding the Triumph Daytona 660 at its recent launch
• Simon's experience riding the Moto Gutzi V85TT at its recent launch
• Norton victims get some of their money back
• KTM assume control of MV Agusta 
• and lots more – I mean, if I list it all here it's a bit of a plot spoiler so download the pod and have a listen, is the idea

Please email your thoughts, queries and general comments – in fact anything at all, even poetry – to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

Please have a think about coming on tour with us: FECspana will be a glorious ten-day ride across France and Spain with a select group of FECers riding the finest roads, tasting the finest wines and eating the finest food. We'd love to have you along. 
Go to www.bit.ly/fecspain for more info. 

Reach us at: 
@SimonHBikes
@Mufga