Front End Chatter Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons

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

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the motorcycling podcast presented by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, a pair of bike journalists who've been riding and writing about dem motorbikes they have these days for bleedin' ages. 

The pod is, as ever, supported and enabled and ennobled by Bennetts, the bike insurance gods, and BikeSocial.co.uk – the brightest and best biking website and YouTube channel rammed with motorcycling goodness content. Including lots of new bike reviews. Oh yes. 

So on this long-awaited return to pod action, Martin and Simon talk about: 
• the new bikes they've been riding, such as:
BMW's R1300 GS
Honda's Africa Twin Adventure Sports
Triumph's Speed & Scrambler 400s
Suzuki's GSX-8R
Yamaha's MT-09
Moto Guzzi's Stelvio
Harley's Road and Street Glides
Kawasaki's Eliminator 500

Phew! No wonder there's not been a pod for over a month!

Plus the lads natter about Yamaha's defunct-or-is-it R1, what is Euro5+ and why World Superbike might be making a comeback to a podcast near you soon. 

Please like and subscribe, no, hang on, that's videos innit, getting me content mixed up... please download and tell your mates about the pod, what do you mean you haven't got any mates, tell you mum then, I dunno.

Compose questions, queries, ideas, perverted thoughts and musings, offers of free stuff, recreational and/or procreational pharmaceuticals, and send them electronically to:
anything@frontendchatter.com

Bless ya, we're all in it together x
@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the UK's most flexible motorcycling podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – a pair of disreputable motorcycle journalists who have yet to find a block around which they have not been. 

We are supported in our endeavours as ever by the estimable Bennetts, the UK's most bike-friendly bike insurers (a higher standard than some meet), and their multi-media wing on the web at bikesocial.co.uk

Right, on this episode we have: 
• all the deets on the new Triumph Daytona 660 brought to you from a meeting with the bike itself – listen here, or watch us wrestle with words in realtime on FEC TV – search Front End Chatter on YouTube or go to 
bit.ly/fecdaytona
• Simon's been to Scotchland on a Suzuki V-Strom 800DE and mighty cold and mighty comfy it was too
• he still also chuntering about a bike he'll never buy, and now can't decide between not buying a BMW R1200RT or a Triumph Trophy 1200 SE – but is leaning towards the Triumph at time of recording...
• plus a pile of FECers emails including not watching racing in 2024, are fast, fun, lightweight bikes gone forever, will anyone be building specials with engine swaps in the future, and much much more. 

Thanks for listening, please check us out on YouTube, please email questions and queries and thoughts and musings to anything@frontendchatter.com
And it's goodnight from him, and goodnight from me. 

@SimonHbikes
@Mufga

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 anything@frontendchatter.com, 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.