Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, Britain's most celebratory biking podcast, currently marking the historic 223rd anniversary of the moment Simon Hargreaves and Martin Fitz-Gibbons opened up a small family firm manufacturing essential podcast components. After the original Chatter Manors was flattened by an implausibly large quantity of pancakes falling from the sky, the burgeoning business was brought under state control by the good folk at Bennetts, Britain's best motorcycle insurance brokers. If your bike insurance is due soon get yourself a quote direct at bennetts.co.uk - and if it isn't, then head instead to bikesocial.co.uk for all manner of two-wheeled news and reviews. Oh, and don't forget to check out Bennetts BikeSocial on The YouTubes, where a brand new season of The Great Escape To The Country - sorry, What Bike Next? - will be dropping soon.

Anyhow. In this episode Si & Mufga chatter all about:

• Downsizing, and whether small bikes are the next big thing
• Why Langen's Lightspeed is the polar inverse of BMW's R1300GS
• Silently sneaking around the countryside on Stark's Varg EX
• Screen (extenders) if you want to go faster
• Whether bike security is a total waste of time
• More grey import goodness
• Endurance racing glory
• and probably some other stuff too!

It's a (relatively) tight one this, clocking in at just over an hour [Thank goodness - All]. Thank you, as always, for listening - and for the lucky few, we'll see you on FEC's 2026 The Moors The Merrier tour very soon!

Until then, keep on sending your thoughts, wonderings and ponderings to anything@frontendchatter.com

Mwah

Hello and welcome to Front End Chatter, the motorcycling podcast, and none other than Episode 221 – they said we couldn't do it, but we've naysayed the naysayers. His name is Martin Fitz-Gibbons, editor of Bike magazine, and my name isn't but that's not important right now – what's important is we thank Bennetts, Britain's best motorcycle insurers who put more back into biking than insurance companies who put less back into biking, and some of whom put nothing back but merely take take take. Good people one and all. And also uber-thanks to the bikesocial.co.uk, the world of wokecycling on the web and on the YouTubes, with loads of news, views, new bike launches and road tests – all the good stuff.

Right, on with the show – and today Martin and Simon, for it is he, opine about, in no particular order...
• Suzuki's marvellous DRZ-Z4S and how old can be better than new
• the loss of Phillip Island as a MotoGP circuit
• Honda Hornet 1000 recall for excessive oil consumption
• UK bikes sales stats for YTD up to Feb
• fab epic bike doc by FortNine called Yalla Habibi
• plus a selection of your fine emails from the FECSack.

As ever, please keep your questions and queries coming to anything@frontendchatter.com

And thank you very much for listening!