Front End Chatter (2025)

31/07/2025

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and it’s episode 215 of the long-running motorcycling podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, Simon Hargreaves – and immense thanks as always to the ever-supportive Bennetts, Britain’s best-by-miles bike insurer, and the magnificent bikesocial.co.uk, the website with all your info on the latest new bikes, used bikes, classic bikes, news, reviews and product tests.

Right, on with the show – and, today, we’re in for a reborn, reinvention, reimagining, reincarnating treat... because:

• Suzuki’s GSX-R1000R is back, baby, for 2026 – and we have all the details, hot off the emails from Hamamatsu: power, weight, colours and tech. You can read about it elsewhere – but you can only hear about it, er, here

• KTM are back, baby – details of production starting again in Austria; the what, the when, and the how many

• BSA’s Bantam is back, baby – yes, after only half a century, the owners of BSA, Mahindra, decide to resurrect the name for their new 334cc single roadster, as a direct rival to Honda’s GB350S

• and of course the FECsack is back, baby – more musings, ponderings and queries from you lot to us lot about that lot.

Thanks for listening, please email your own compositions and questions and congratulations to Mufga on his new job and we’ll do our best to read them out.

Thank ee again, and see you on the backside, baby!

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-215

Suzuki's GSX-R1000R is back, KTM are back, BSA's Bantam is back, and FEC is back.

11/07/2025

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's crumbliest, flakiest motorcycling podcast, brought to you by the hapless hackery of Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, nattering endlessly on and on and on anon. We are, as always, scrutineered and scrutinised by Bennetts, Britain's Best Bike Insurer, and bikesocial.co.uk (don't need the www, but try telling legacy media that).

And this month (as it turns out) on FEC, we witter about:
• Suzuki's new GSX-8T and TT (cue schoolboy giggling)
• CCM going bust
• Dainese in debt
• global bike sales doing well, but not so much in Europe or North America, and pretty awful in the UK
• why automatic gearboxes are the opposite of a guitar solo

Plus much more, well, a bit...

Thank you for lending us your ears, and please keep you thoughts, musings, machinations and queries to the usual FECsack address. And continue to catch him and the other one on the socials.

Love ya!

👇
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-214

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

03/06/2025

Hello dearest ear-owners and welcome to Front End Chatter, source of the most significant soundwaves in British motorcycling since the feral howl of a raging Norton rotary haunted the quiet coastal village of Kirk Michael, or since the words "Go on then, I'll 'ave it" slipped breathlessly from the lips of a Derbyshire-born property developer attending the auction of a defunct motorcycle factory.

In this aural delight of an episode, Simon and Mufga regale themselves with a recap of the spectacularly special Highland Fling tours (so good they did them twice), along with:

• Loadsa goss about Triumph's Tiger Sport 800 and BMW's R1300GS Adventure having covered 3000 miles apiece
• Why MotoGP might be getting interesting again, and why the TT continues to fascinate every corner of the country for more than a century
• The forced-induction fabulousness that was the Bennetts Supercharged Showdown, where 50-plus Kawasaki H2 owners took over an empty runway
• Simon gets a taste of Ducati's £16,000 Streetfighter V2S
• Martin gets a taste of Voge's £6,000(ish) DS625X
• The latest facts, news, rumours and baseless speculation regarding Bajaj's takeover of KTM, and what it might mean for the future
• FECsack correspondence covering classic sports-tourers for young riders, the dubious bargains of Facebook Marketplace, how media gets hold of the bikes they test, bikes with undeserved reputations, the best British five-day biking tour, and more…

Thank you, one and all, for continuing to allow us to tickle your tympanic membranes - and enormously gigantical appreciations to Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers. Be sure to get a quote direct from Bennetts the next time you need motorcycle insurance, and be even more sure to check out bikesocial.co.uk for all the best bike news and product reviews on the interwebs.

Continue to catch him and the other one on the socials, and let us know where to take future FEC tours via the usual email address!

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-213

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19/05/2025

Awrite hens and laddies, and welcome to a very special episode of Front End Chatter presented, ingested and recorded LIVE at the Highland Fling tour(s) in bonnie sunny (no, really) Scotland!

With not a lot to discuss in the world of motorcycling at the moment - other than the uncertain future of one of Europe's biggest bike manufacturers, plus a raft of new flagship models revealed by another of Europe's biggest bike manufacturers - our fabulous FECers have boldly stepped into our creative breach.

Episode #212 is a Live FECsack extravaganza, with a wealth of wicked wonderings wittered by Highland Fling tourists spaken in the vague direction of Simon McHargreaves and Martin McFitz-Gibbons, including but not limited to…

• Does the rise of Chinese bikes mean certain doom for European brands?
• What effect will US tariffs have on motorcycling?
• Can KTM repair its reputation - and who would we pick to run it going forwards?
• What substance, material or concept should power motorcycling's future?
• If you could only ride one road for the rest of your life, which would it be?
• And what would you ride it on?
• What's all the fuss about two-strokes?
• What would be the least-enjoyable bike to ride the Highland Fling on?
• Risk - what is it, why do we take it, and how much do we try to avoid it?
• What would be the best bike for Mufga and Si to ride two-up to Gdańsk?

Thanks to everyone for the fabulous questions!

Speaking of thanks, our recognition, acknowledgement and gratitudes are, as always, directed to Bennetts, Britain's best bike insurers, and BikeSocial.co.uk, home to all the very best motorcycling news and reviews.

Plus our enormous, heartfelt appreciation to Paul at MCI Motorcycle Tours - mcitours.com - for all his graft in taking charge of the grown-up logistics that enabled the FEC Highland Fling tours to happen. Thank you, Papa Smurf, sorry you couldn't make it, and see you in September!

Right, that's it, we're outta here, dinner's calling. Regular service resumes soon(ish) so please keep your emails coming.

Guid cheerio the nou!

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-212

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26/04/2025

Hello and welcome (and a special hello and welcome to Adam Danger, who reads this 'sometimes')... to Episode 211 of Front End Chatter, the motorbicycling podcast prefrontally-lobotomised by Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, two motorcycle journalists who've been doing since their own, personal Day Ones.

We are, as always and hopefully forever, in debt to and grateful for the patronage of Bennetts, Britain's Best Bike Insurers – FACT – and bikesocial.co.uk, the bestest and brightest biking website and YouTube channel, amen.

And on the pod this time around the sun, we have:

• news of BMW's R1300 R

• how to make BMW's £25k R1300 GSA better for £9.99 (with thanks to Neil at NJW Moto YouTube)

• Yamaha's half fuel, half battery hybrid MT-09

• KTM in more trouble

• Triumph's smashing super smart updated Trident and Tiger Sport 660s

plus emails and missives from you, dear FEC listener, including a spectacular rant from Martin – bit of a collector's item.

Thank you very much for listening, look forward to seeing some of you on the forthcoming FEC Highland Flings (have I mentioned we're going ON HOLIDAY!)...

👇
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-211

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

07/04/2025

Hello you lovely FECers you, and welcome to Episode 210 of the long-running, will-it-never-end, Front End Chatter podcast for motorcycles and motorcyclists, spoken out loud by Simian Hardgleaves and Marsupial Fatz-Domino.

We are, as ever, indebted and beholden unto Lord Bennetts, Britannia's Best Bike Insurers and may his whaling fleet never run out of blubber, and bikesocial.co.uk, the hostess with the mostess, you know, you know... the one that goes up to 11.

And on this month's episode we have, among many other things:

• a bit of gen on Honda's Hornet 1000 and SP, including how much a piston costs and how many years' warranty you get

• who Ixion was, what he has to do with Canon Basil H Davies, and why his 1279 miles in 1905 on a Triumph came to be repeated in 2025...

• a game of 'If bikes were family members...'

you know what, it's so long ago I've already forgotten but it's jam-packed with yummy goodness, trust me, I should know.

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-210

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06/03/2025

FINAL CALL!

Come ride Scotland with Simon & Mufga on FEC Highland Fling #2

Arrive Tues 6th May, spend 3 mind-blowing days riding the best of Scotland, leave Sat 10th May. Great roads, great scenery, great company.

Don't miss out - bookings close tomoz (Fri 7th Mar)
👉

2025 Motorcycle tour of Scotland, meals as specified included.

27/02/2025

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, and it's episode 209 of the 209 episode-long motorcycling podcast presented, and I use the word in its loosest sense, by Martina Fitz-Gibbons and Simone Hargreaves, a pair of transitioning motorcycle journalists whose personal pronouns are 'it'. Fronty End Prongs is supported and comported by Bennetts, Britain's biggest and best bike insurers, and without whom you would all be pretty bloody sorry, I can tell you, so make the most of their offers and support their support of motorcycling ya ingrates. And also BikeSocial.co.uk, the hub of motorcycling's metaphorical Akront rim, with their Youtube channel and website and lots of bike-related content to tuck into.

So on this episode of FEC we chatter about:

• the latest news from the ailing KTM factory

• bad news from the Nürburgring

• last-minute booking news if you're thinking about coming to ride with us in Scotland in May on the FEC Highland Fling 2 tour

• a ride on Ducati's Multistrada V2 S and exactly how Ducati is it?

• Honda's new NT1100 and what have they done to it?

• Honda's new Hornet and wow, how good is it?

• Honda's last-ever CB1300 and can I have one please?

• why a 270° parallel twin is rarely an exciting engine

• how to describe engine configurations

• and many more musing and amusings from the FEC Sack of your thoughts, queries, ruminations on a theme

Thank you for listening and supporting us with your ears, and please email your own thoughts and musings to the usual place!

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-209

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

24/01/2025

Hello moi luverly FECers and this, believe it or not, is Front End Chatter episode 208 in a long-running series with him, believe it or not, Martin Fitz-Gibbons, and him, believe it or not, Simon Hargreaves.

Believe it or not, you should get your bike insurance from Bennetts, Britain’s best bike insurers and supporters of Front End Chatter since 1894, with massive range of savings and offers on all sorts of kit and caboodle, plus lots of cool policy add-ons like 90 days EU cover and common mods (like road legal exhausts) covered – as standard!

And you also get free BikeSocial membership (which you can also buy for £60 regardless of your insurer), which gives you access to all the above offers and savings, plus VIP experiences, cheap track days; the list goes on. And don’t forget to visit bikesocial.co.uk and their YouTube channel for all your biking media consumption needs.

And – last few rooms remaining on the FEC Highland Fling 2 – yes, ride Scotland’s greatest hits this May with Simon and Martin, enjoying the best of the NC500, the best of the West Coast, and a romp through the Cairngorms, all while staying at the Aultguish Inn and partaking of libation in the evening.

The dates for Fling 2 are arrival Tuesday May 6th, departure Saturday May 10th. Visit bit.ly/fecfling2 for more info!

And on that note, what’s actually in the podcast? I’d tell you but, honestly, on this occasion it’s easier to just listen!

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-208

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

09/01/2025

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s physics-bendingiest motorcycling podcast, a vision formed when eccentric inventors Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons slipped off a toilet seat and banged their heads on a sink. This is episode #207 which, as always, is powered by the suitcase of stolen plutonium that is Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, the first place you should point your browser for used-bike buying guides, in-depth product reviews, new-bike technical analysis, the week’s hotted two-wheels deals, plus so much more.

And this week, in the absence of much going on in the biking world (other than Simon squeezing Christmas lunch into the panniers of a Triumph Tiger, and Mufga squeezing Christmas lunch into himself several times over), FEC takes a twenty-year trip back in time, back to January 2005, or more specifically the January 2005 issue of Bike magazine. A time when Britain was obsessed with sportsbikes, when Mufga was obsessed with dataloggers, and when Simon was obsessed by Troy Lee decals. How times have changed.

Come between the covers with us (ahem) as Simon and Mufga spill the goss on how Britain’s biggest-selling bike magazine was cobbled together 20 years ago, including:

• Yamaha’s MT-01 – what it was, why it was made, whether it was a flop, and why Si had to push one down a hill

• KTM’s 990 Super Duke – why it came with the rudest promo video ever, and whether it’d take KTM from unknowns to the biggest brand in Europe

• Yamaha YZF-R6 – why a new set of forks and brakes made Si visit a burger van in the Peak District

• Ducati Monster S2R – why it made Mufga bar-hop through Monte Carlo, and why a WSB legend flicked the Vs at Chippy Wood, Bike’s own legend

• Plus the creeping rise of nostalgia in motorcycling; one of the ugliest group tests ever put on paper; the questionably relevance of riding MotoGP bikes; and a plethora of predictions gone horribly wrong.

We hope you enjoy our spectacularly self-indulgent trip down memory lane. If you do, let us know which era we should revisit next by emailing the usual address – and if you don’t, then instead email us with your thoughts, questions, observations, wonderings, ponderings about all things two-wheeled, modern or historical, for us to waffle about this year.

Thank you for listening, and we hope to see you in Scotland on FEC Highland Fling ( #1 & #2) in May, and/or the FECstival in October!

👇
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-207

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

04/01/2025

(Better late than never…)

Hello and welcome to E206 of Front End Chatter, the UK's most Christmassy (he means 'Festive' – Ed) motorcycling podcast, brought to you gift-wrapped in last week's MCN by Simon Humbug Hargreaves and Martin Ho Ho Ho Fitz-Gibbons, supported as ever by the bike insurance baubles at Bennetts, and their multimedia minions at BikeSocial.co.uk. Get your insurance with Bennetts because their industry-wide offers and discounts will pay you back big time in 2025. Become a BikeSocial Member, take advantage, get involved, come to a discounted trackday and keep your eyes on your inbox for amazing events with which you can get involved.

And on this week's FEC we have:

• our fave bikes of 2024 (and a few of 2025)

• more KTM woes, plus does talking about it make it worse?

• the last new bike news of 2024, Ducati's down-sized V2 Multi

• plus a whole heap of nattering on topics raised by you, the FECers, sent in via email to the FEC-Sac

Please keep your thoughts and ideas and musings and fantasies coming in!

https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-206

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

09/12/2024

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s premium motorcycling podcast, hosted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves. This is episode 205, probably, and is supported in its endeavours by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – and bikesocial.co.uk, the number one place to go for bike-related news, reviews and product and kit tests. And check out Bennetts' YouTube channel, with all the lovely lovely lovely moving images contained therein.

And on this week’s FEC we natter about

• Motorcycle Live – was it any good, what was the vibe, any hot takes?

• KTM – more financial woes, and they thought chocolate cams were bad...

• Why the Govt’s failure to have plans to encourage the use of motorcycles isn’t the bad news it might sound like...

• …but we can’t still use all bus lanes

• plans to introduce a blanket 50mph speed limit on Scottish single-lane carriageways

• when is depreciation slight enough to make an upgrade worthwhile?

• some EV stuff Simon doesn’t understand

Plus loads... well, *some* more… 👇
https://www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/news-and-views/features/podcasts/fec-episode-205

Plug in your headphones & have a listen

Front End Chatter

31/07/2025

11/07/2025

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19/05/2025

26/04/2025

07/04/2025

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27/02/2025

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