Hello und velcome, friends, to Front End Chatter Episode 122 in which Simone and Marion chatter endlessly, augmented into three dimensions under the auspices of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists and BikeSocial.co.uk, the finest accumulation of news, sport, views, product tests and road tests ever to grace the ether. And this week – well, what do you reckon? Let’s talk about the myWorld Motorrad Grand Prix Von Österreich. Topics include: who’s to blame for that crash? is the circuit safe? ...
Aug 22, 2020•2 hr 6 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E121, Britain’s most aromatic motorcycling podcast, presented by the fragrant Simon Hargreaves and the perfumed Martin Fitz-Gibbons – and supported as ever by the mellifluous niff emanating from the guys and gals of Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and the aromatic scent wafting from www.bikesocial.co.uk, the world of motorcycling on the interweb. And on this edition of FEC we natter about: details of the proposed Isle of Wight Diamond Races – Brit...
Aug 05, 2020•2 hr 2 min
Hello and welcome to FEC120, the 120th episode of not the UK’s most popular automotive podcast but one of them. As ever, we are indebted to Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – and check out www.bikesocial.co.uk for the kind of comprehensive investigative consumer journalism you can’t find anywhere else. However, if it isn’t comprehensive investigative consumer journalism you want but a pair of gas-bags waffling instead, here’s what’s in store for you in episode 120: does a necktube count ...
Jul 25, 2020•2 hr 10 min
Hello and welcome to possibly the final lock-down episode of Front End Chatter, the motorcycling podcast that reaches the parts upon which other podcasts fear to tread. Thanks as always and eternally to that repository of all that is knowledgeable and wise, BikeSocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in episode 119, Martin and Simon chatter about: revving up for the return of MotoGP at Jerez with more speculation about who goes where in 2021, and guessing who’s going to w...
Jul 12, 2020•1 hr 59 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the occasionally number one motorcycling podcast in Iceland and, now, Singapore. This is episode 118 in a series we can confidently state contains at least 118 episodes recorded from the orals of Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, a pair of motorcycle journalists who’ve both forgotten more than they ever knew anyway. Eternal thanks to that font (sans serif) www.bikesocial.co.uk – all your two-wheeled infotainment emanating from one convenient portal...
Jun 29, 2020•2 hr 2 min
Halló og velkomin to Front End Chatter E117, briefly the most popular automotive podcast in the whole of Iceland (a country renowned for its exquisite and most excellent taste) and also, briefly, the second-most popular automotive podcast in the UK (er, yes, them too). Great bundles of thanks to the hominids at Bennetts BikeSocial – improve everyone’s lives and get your bike insurance from Bennetts and your biking infotainment from www.bikesocial.co.uk (and their YouTube channel). Right, on this...
Jun 16, 2020•2 hr 8 min
Hello you lucky people you, and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 116 with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons, brought to you via Durham with a detour to Castle Barnard. Front End Chatter is supported through thick and thicker by Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, and BikeSocial.co.uk, internet's home of motorcycling. And in this episode, a still socially distant Martin and Simon rabbit on about: • the return of MotoGP, and whose Alpinestars Jack Miller will be filling at Ducati ...
May 29, 2020•2 hr 10 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s most teeth-sucking motorcycling podcast... but no! That was the previous episode! For FEC115, Simon and Martin have installed a 5G mast at Chatter Manors to deliver you, dear FECers, broadcast quality audio at what I think you’ll agree is the minor cost of second-degree skin burns among the local peasant population. Thanks as ever to our comrades at bikesocial.co.uk – the worldwide web of motorcycling (check out their YouTube channel, it’s awesom...
May 16, 2020•2 hr 6 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s – nay, the world’s – most socially isolated motorcycle podcast, with Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons... and welcome to Episode 114 – the third in a series in which Martin literally phones it in. Thanks as ever to our brothers and sisters at bikesocial.co.uk – the worldwide web of motorcycling (check out their YouTube channel!) and of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this meandering soufflé of waffle we touch lightl...
Apr 30, 2020•2 hr 22 min
Hello and welcome to E113 and the second lock-down episode of Front End Chatter, the biking podcast that’s been around for over 160 hours of guffage – none of yer opportunist ‘Johnny-come-lately’ podcasts, jumping on the Corona bandwagon because someone’s bored, here. Oh no, Front End Chatter has been boring people for a lot longer than that. Thanks as always to our amazing benefactors and supporters at the world’s most comprehensive motorcycling website, bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike...
Apr 16, 2020•2 hr 1 min
Hello and welcome to very special, hopefully one-off, episode of Front End Chatter in which, as a result of current events, has been assembled from snippets of previous FECs and turned into a completely new podcast! No, truth is in keeping with government advice, FEC has self-isolated itself with Mufga calling in via Skype from the East Wing of Chatter Manors – yes, he's literally phoning it in. But even with the seriousness in the world, motorcycling carries on – well, not racing, but we can ev...
Mar 20, 2020•2 hr 10 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E111, the Aaron Slight Episode of Britain's flavoured biking podcast, sponsored and supported as always by nos amis at www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance peeps. And aptly enough we have a WSB feel to the front end of Front End Chatter, as the racing season kicks off with a triplet of cracking races from Phillip's Island in Australialia. Sadly, that's about as far as racing is likely to go for a good few months yet, as global events demons...
Mar 08, 2020•1 hr 52 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s best and most motorcycling podcast, supported through slim and thin by the veritable font (or indeed fount; both are legitimate) of tests and news and reviews, bikesocial.co.uk. And of course Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists – check out their customer rewards and make the most of being insured! Right. Nothing going on here. Nothing to see, move along. No, of course we have ill-informed gossip about: Norton – the story you’ve probably alre...
Feb 22, 2020•2 hr 1 min
Hello and welcome to E109 of Front End Chatter, a biking podcast without barriers or boundaries – we know not the meaning of constraints other than the fairly obvious extent of our knowledge and articulacy, the limits of both of which will become obvious as soon as you press ‘Play’. However. Enormous and sincere thanks to our patrons at bikesocial.co.uk, which is where you should go for new bike news, reviews, consumer info and racing gubbins – and Bennetts, the bike insurance bods who are often...
Jan 24, 2020•2 hr 6 min
Hello, welcome and feel free, literally, to feast your aurals on Front End Chatter, A Most Biking Podcast, with this being Episode 108 delivered in a stream of barely comprehensible noughts and ones directly into your earballs courtesy of the UK's most celebratory biking website, www.bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the number one and ONLY place to get your bike insurance because they actually put something back into biking, including this podcast, unlike certain other so-called 'motorcycle' insur...
Jan 14, 2020•1 hr 44 min
Hello and welcome to E107 of Front End Chatter, Britain’s most biodegradable biking podcast, oralised by Martin Fitz-Gibbons and Simon Hargreaves, and supported and recycled by the green bins at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this fab, decidedly retrospective episode we have: under-achieving factory Aprilia rider Andrea Iannone is in trouble with the FIM after a urine sample is found to contain performance-enhancing drugs. Mr Iannone is understood to be see...
Dec 29, 2019•1 hr 50 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E106, Britain’s fave biking podcast, supported and enabled by the good people at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And in this fab, decidedly non-Xmassy, episode we have: relatively informed but mostly speculative chatter about Triumph’s new Tiger 900, including probably far too much thinking about its innovative T-bone crank – explained in an aural medium with the help of a drum machine Guy Martin off that telly they have now r...
Dec 13, 2019•1 hr 53 min
Hello hello hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain’s rambliest biking podcast with him, Martin Fitz-Gibbons and me, Simon Hargreaves – enabled, legitimised and somewhat vindicated by Bikesocial.co.uk – the world’s largest repository, depository and not the one beginning with ‘s’-itory of all modern new and used motorcycle info – and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And on E105 we have: Motorcycle Live round-up – what we thought of Honda’s Blade, Kawasaki’s Z H2, Ducati’s Street...
Nov 27, 2019•2 hr 9 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 104, eventually, brought to you by via the web’s best motorcycling website, bikesocial.co.uk, and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists, via the mouths of Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons. But before we kick off – come and chat to Martin and Simon for real at Motorcycle Live at the NEC on the Bennetts stand (Hall 4 Stand 4B 25) on Thursday 21st November between 11am to 12pm, then again 2pm to 3pm. So it’s a really simple FEC this week: bi...
Nov 14, 2019•1 hr 21 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter episode 103, suspended like a great chattering hammock from the stout tree trunks at bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. And what a rambling podcast we have this week, only tangentially about motorbikes but also talking in topics such as: MotoGP from Aragon, with how the winning bike was second slowest, how Bradley Smith beat a factory Honda and what happens to all the “New World Champion” T-shirts that are made for riders who don...
Oct 03, 2019•1 hr 51 min
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. An...
Sep 22, 2019•1 hr 39 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 v...
Sep 09, 2019•1 hr 48 min
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'...
Aug 15, 2019•1 hr 16 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 99, the Nearly-But-Not-Quite episode brought to your ears in cahoots with the best biking website on the, er, web – bikesocial.co.uk – and the best biking insurers in the, er, universe, Bennetts. And for your delectation: remarkable Mark Marquez marks his all-time record-equalling 58th pole position at Brno by qualifying with the biggest margin in the modern MotoGP era... ...although technically and mathematically, there’s still a chance Hafizh Syah...
Aug 06, 2019•1 hr 49 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter Episode 98, the One Less Than Jorge episode, verbalised and spuffed into noughts and ones with the roadside assistance of bikesocial.co.uk and their insuring overlords Bennetts, the bike insurance guys and gals. And it’s a short and sweet episode this week, as we clear the FECsack in preparation for FEC100 (live at Cadwell Park near Louth, Lincs, on Tuesday Aug 13th), including: Mufga gets tugged by the Fuzz Why milking snail mucin for facials is a real thi...
Jul 24, 2019•1 hr 27 min
Apologies for the late arrival of FEC#97 – delayed by unexpected items in the bagging area – but now it’s here, let’s tuck in! Brought to you as always by the furiously febrile funkateers at bikesocial.co.uk and the bike-insuring bike insurers Bennetts, this week’s regurgitation of previously held opinions includes: MotoGP (remember that?) round-up from Assen and Sachsenring, including neck braces, tankslappers, youngsters v old ’uns, should JL99 and/or VR46 retire, who’ll take ZR5’s place at KT...
Jul 18, 2019•1 hr 55 min
Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter E96, the world’s most favouritist biking podcast, supported as ever by bikesocial.co.uk and Bennetts, the bike insurance specialists. Rambling gossip this month includes: MotoGP from Catalunya and why Lorenzo wasn’t the bad guy conquering the Rudland Rigg on a Triumph Scrambler 1200 new bike news featuring... 1) Ducati’s Streetfighter V4, with added wings 2) KTM’s 790 Adventure R Rally with added springs 3) Triumph Rocket III TFC with added torques ...which...
Jun 30, 2019•1 hr 59 min
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, Si...
Jun 18, 2019•1 hr 44 min
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 ...
May 31, 2019•1 hr 46 min
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 resur...
May 15, 2019•1 hr 37 min
