Front End Chatter #101

Explicit content warning

09/09/19 • 107 min

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.

Previous Episode

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.

Next Episode

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.