Martin Fitz-Gibbons
@mufga.bsky.social
Rider, writer and Front End Chatterer, plus Bike magazine editor
www.frontendchatter.com
www.frontendchatter.com
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
We are shipping MARC MÁRQUEZ The Biography 🚀 The book covers his life all the way to his 2025 #MotoGP title win. I interviewed pretty much every rival he’s raced against & every engineer he’s worked with, so through this book you’ll discover a new MM93 matoxley.bigcartel.com/product/marc...
MARC MÁRQUEZ The Biography ORDER NOW!
This is the only MARC MÁRQUEZ biography that tells the full story from minibikes to winning the 2025 MotoGP championship. The book is written by...
matoxley.bigcartel.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:56 PM
We are shipping MARC MÁRQUEZ The Biography 🚀 The book covers his life all the way to his 2025 #MotoGP title win. I interviewed pretty much every rival he’s raced against & every engineer he’s worked with, so through this book you’ll discover a new MM93 matoxley.bigcartel.com/product/marc...
Had a spare hour on my day off so ripped through a charge on the LiveWire S2 Alpinista. Huge fun to ride - instant whoomph everywhere, 194lbft of torque and a compact, engaging chassis. And the wheelies... oh the wheelies. Here for a good time, not a long time: 95% to 5% rinsed in just 40 miles...
November 7, 2025 at 3:50 PM
Had a spare hour on my day off so ripped through a charge on the LiveWire S2 Alpinista. Huge fun to ride - instant whoomph everywhere, 194lbft of torque and a compact, engaging chassis. And the wheelies... oh the wheelies. Here for a good time, not a long time: 95% to 5% rinsed in just 40 miles...
Fascinating. My highlight:
"I would say there were three types of greed... operational greed... strategic greed... [and] governance greed."
No mention of cams. No mention of MV. No mention of Demo Mode. History and folklore will tell a different story, but this is what led to KTM's insolvency.
"I would say there were three types of greed... operational greed... strategic greed... [and] governance greed."
No mention of cams. No mention of MV. No mention of Demo Mode. History and folklore will tell a different story, but this is what led to KTM's insolvency.
Interesting and slightly disturbing read on the future of KTM. Bajaj gets total control in November. And they don't sound keen to keep racing.
www.cnbctv18.com/business/baj...
www.cnbctv18.com/business/baj...
Overheads at KTM to be cut by over 50%, Bajaj targets white-collar rationalisation - CNBC TV18
Bajaj Auto is moving swiftly to restructure KTM, focusing on cutting overheads and streamlining white-collar roles while safeguarding production staff. The Indian company, which is set to take majorit...
www.cnbctv18.com
October 19, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Fascinating. My highlight:
"I would say there were three types of greed... operational greed... strategic greed... [and] governance greed."
No mention of cams. No mention of MV. No mention of Demo Mode. History and folklore will tell a different story, but this is what led to KTM's insolvency.
"I would say there were three types of greed... operational greed... strategic greed... [and] governance greed."
No mention of cams. No mention of MV. No mention of Demo Mode. History and folklore will tell a different story, but this is what led to KTM's insolvency.
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
Got a 6-page interview in the new Bikemagazine with Dorna chief commercial officer Dan Rossomondo, looking into Liberty's plans for #MotoGP 😎✊
October 13, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Got a 6-page interview in the new Bikemagazine with Dorna chief commercial officer Dan Rossomondo, looking into Liberty's plans for #MotoGP 😎✊
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
Finished MARC MÁRQUEZ The Biography and sent it to the printers😃😃 First come, first served 😎😎
matoxley.bigcartel.com/product/marc...
matoxley.bigcartel.com/product/marc...
September 28, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Finished MARC MÁRQUEZ The Biography and sent it to the printers😃😃 First come, first served 😎😎
matoxley.bigcartel.com/product/marc...
matoxley.bigcartel.com/product/marc...
Congratulations to Marc Márquez, seven (or is it nine?) time world champion. Ahá!
September 28, 2025 at 10:12 AM
Congratulations to Marc Márquez, seven (or is it nine?) time world champion. Ahá!
Here 'tis: the new issue of Bike, "my" first. There's loads inside, from a @sihbikes.bsky.social group test, to Nick Sanders riding a Royal Enfield Bear to the Arctic Circle, to the world's fastest R1300GS, to @matoxley.bsky.social interviewing Alex Marquez + tons more.
Let me know what you think!
Let me know what you think!
September 20, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Here 'tis: the new issue of Bike, "my" first. There's loads inside, from a @sihbikes.bsky.social group test, to Nick Sanders riding a Royal Enfield Bear to the Arctic Circle, to the world's fastest R1300GS, to @matoxley.bsky.social interviewing Alex Marquez + tons more.
Let me know what you think!
Let me know what you think!
22 years ago this month I rode this bike to this building to start a new job as staff writer at Bike magazine.
Today I rode the same bike to the same building to start a new job as editor of Bike magazine.
It's been a two wheel trip, alright. Here's to the next leg of the journey.
Today I rode the same bike to the same building to start a new job as editor of Bike magazine.
It's been a two wheel trip, alright. Here's to the next leg of the journey.
August 1, 2025 at 6:38 PM
22 years ago this month I rode this bike to this building to start a new job as staff writer at Bike magazine.
Today I rode the same bike to the same building to start a new job as editor of Bike magazine.
It's been a two wheel trip, alright. Here's to the next leg of the journey.
Today I rode the same bike to the same building to start a new job as editor of Bike magazine.
It's been a two wheel trip, alright. Here's to the next leg of the journey.
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
Spent some time getting to know the 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS - the most powerful production Triumph ever built. But here's why the bhp doesn't really matter, and why its most important and impressive improvement isn't the motor...
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS (2025) – Review
Speed Triple 1200 RS retakes the title as Triumph’s most powerful bike
www.bennetts.co.uk
July 21, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Spent some time getting to know the 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS - the most powerful production Triumph ever built. But here's why the bhp doesn't really matter, and why its most important and impressive improvement isn't the motor...
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
Spent some time getting to know the 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS - the most powerful production Triumph ever built. But here's why the bhp doesn't really matter, and why its most important and impressive improvement isn't the motor...
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
Triumph Speed Triple 1200 RS (2025) – Review
Speed Triple 1200 RS retakes the title as Triumph’s most powerful bike
www.bennetts.co.uk
July 21, 2025 at 9:21 AM
Spent some time getting to know the 2025 Speed Triple 1200 RS - the most powerful production Triumph ever built. But here's why the bhp doesn't really matter, and why its most important and impressive improvement isn't the motor...
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
Well, it'll keep me busy.
July 15, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Well, it'll keep me busy.
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
Enough is enough!
Dodgy sellers keep pushing unsafe gear — and getting away with it. The petition to shut them down closes tomorrow. We’re near 7,100.
Let’s hit 7,500 by tonight.
🖊️ Sign: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
📬 Verify your email or it’s wasted.
📢 Share — and don’t let this slide.
Dodgy sellers keep pushing unsafe gear — and getting away with it. The petition to shut them down closes tomorrow. We’re near 7,100.
Let’s hit 7,500 by tonight.
🖊️ Sign: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
📬 Verify your email or it’s wasted.
📢 Share — and don’t let this slide.
Petition: Implement a strategy to protect motorcyclists from imports of unsafe clothing
We want the Government to implement a national strategy that protects motorcyclists from imports of unsafe clothing.
petition.parliament.uk
July 5, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Enough is enough!
Dodgy sellers keep pushing unsafe gear — and getting away with it. The petition to shut them down closes tomorrow. We’re near 7,100.
Let’s hit 7,500 by tonight.
🖊️ Sign: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
📬 Verify your email or it’s wasted.
📢 Share — and don’t let this slide.
Dodgy sellers keep pushing unsafe gear — and getting away with it. The petition to shut them down closes tomorrow. We’re near 7,100.
Let’s hit 7,500 by tonight.
🖊️ Sign: petition.parliament.uk/petitions/70...
📬 Verify your email or it’s wasted.
📢 Share — and don’t let this slide.
A #wheeliewednesday from 17 years ago this week on Triumph's Speed Triple 1050.
What a tool for the job. That original 1050 was such a willing wheelie bike, with its millpond-flat torque curve and rearward weight bias. Big, butch, brawny, beefy and British.
Wonder how the new 1200 RS compares…
What a tool for the job. That original 1050 was such a willing wheelie bike, with its millpond-flat torque curve and rearward weight bias. Big, butch, brawny, beefy and British.
Wonder how the new 1200 RS compares…
July 2, 2025 at 8:26 AM
A #wheeliewednesday from 17 years ago this week on Triumph's Speed Triple 1050.
What a tool for the job. That original 1050 was such a willing wheelie bike, with its millpond-flat torque curve and rearward weight bias. Big, butch, brawny, beefy and British.
Wonder how the new 1200 RS compares…
What a tool for the job. That original 1050 was such a willing wheelie bike, with its millpond-flat torque curve and rearward weight bias. Big, butch, brawny, beefy and British.
Wonder how the new 1200 RS compares…
After 3000 miles and a year with Kawasaki's Z7 Hybrid, I've written an extra huge pile of words covering the recall, the recent discounts, testing EV mode through London, and what it tells us about the future of hybrid motorcycles
👇
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
👇
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
June 26, 2025 at 10:30 AM
After 3000 miles and a year with Kawasaki's Z7 Hybrid, I've written an extra huge pile of words covering the recall, the recent discounts, testing EV mode through London, and what it tells us about the future of hybrid motorcycles
👇
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
👇
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/r...
@bennettsinsurance.bsky.social
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
In the new edition of @BikeMagazine in case you didn’t know about this 🙄😎
June 14, 2025 at 11:00 AM
In the new edition of @BikeMagazine in case you didn’t know about this 🙄😎
1.17pm - bike passes MOT, no problems
1.32pm - pick up screw in rear tyre on ride home
1.32pm - pick up screw in rear tyre on ride home
June 13, 2025 at 2:03 PM
1.17pm - bike passes MOT, no problems
1.32pm - pick up screw in rear tyre on ride home
1.32pm - pick up screw in rear tyre on ride home
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
Summer's here 😍 but with a heavy heart I have to get rid of this beauty because I've no time to do the miles it deserves 😥 2020 BMW R1250RT, 7k miles, pristine condition. Awesome machine and soooo comfortable. £11,500. North London. Reply here if you're interested
June 10, 2025 at 1:52 PM
Summer's here 😍 but with a heavy heart I have to get rid of this beauty because I've no time to do the miles it deserves 😥 2020 BMW R1250RT, 7k miles, pristine condition. Awesome machine and soooo comfortable. £11,500. North London. Reply here if you're interested
This is exquisite. Wish they'd do a regular show together. Must-listen.
June 6, 2025 at 5:50 PM
This is exquisite. Wish they'd do a regular show together. Must-listen.
Awoke my poor old Suzuki SV650S from hibernation yesterday and gatecrashed an MCN event (🙏) to see whether it (and I) could still wally about on one wheel. Wheelies seem a redundant skill, like being able to hunt a woolly mammoth or repair a Betamax. But the world would be far duller without them.
June 5, 2025 at 1:35 PM
Awoke my poor old Suzuki SV650S from hibernation yesterday and gatecrashed an MCN event (🙏) to see whether it (and I) could still wally about on one wheel. Wheelies seem a redundant skill, like being able to hunt a woolly mammoth or repair a Betamax. But the world would be far duller without them.
Front End Chatter #213 is live!
Verdicts on Triumph's Tiger Sport 800 and BMW's R1300GS Adventure after nearly 3000 miles apiece in Scotland on our Highland Fling tour(s). Plus Ducati Streetfighter V2, Voge DS625X, KTM/Bajaj, the best cheap sports-tourer and more!
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/n...
Verdicts on Triumph's Tiger Sport 800 and BMW's R1300GS Adventure after nearly 3000 miles apiece in Scotland on our Highland Fling tour(s). Plus Ducati Streetfighter V2, Voge DS625X, KTM/Bajaj, the best cheap sports-tourer and more!
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/n...
Front End Chatter - episode 213
Plug in your headphones & have a listen
www.bennetts.co.uk
June 3, 2025 at 10:49 AM
Front End Chatter #213 is live!
Verdicts on Triumph's Tiger Sport 800 and BMW's R1300GS Adventure after nearly 3000 miles apiece in Scotland on our Highland Fling tour(s). Plus Ducati Streetfighter V2, Voge DS625X, KTM/Bajaj, the best cheap sports-tourer and more!
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/n...
Verdicts on Triumph's Tiger Sport 800 and BMW's R1300GS Adventure after nearly 3000 miles apiece in Scotland on our Highland Fling tour(s). Plus Ducati Streetfighter V2, Voge DS625X, KTM/Bajaj, the best cheap sports-tourer and more!
www.bennetts.co.uk/bikesocial/n...
Isle of Man TT races preview from the Framlingham Weekly News, Saturday 27th May 1922 - so exactly 103 years ago today.
Reads like a parody but it's 100% legit.
Poor old Thacker on his Beardmore Precision.
Reads like a parody but it's 100% legit.
Poor old Thacker on his Beardmore Precision.
May 27, 2025 at 4:55 PM
Isle of Man TT races preview from the Framlingham Weekly News, Saturday 27th May 1922 - so exactly 103 years ago today.
Reads like a parody but it's 100% legit.
Poor old Thacker on his Beardmore Precision.
Reads like a parody but it's 100% legit.
Poor old Thacker on his Beardmore Precision.
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
It is over fifty years since Japan's "Sunshine Project" started governments pouring money into green hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels. How is it going? TLDR: not well.
open.substack.com/pub/mliebrei...
open.substack.com/pub/mliebrei...
Fifty years of green hydrogen in five charts
It is over fifty years since Japan's "Sunshine Project" started governments pouring money into green hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels. How is it going? TLDR: not well.
open.substack.com
May 24, 2025 at 1:37 PM
It is over fifty years since Japan's "Sunshine Project" started governments pouring money into green hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels. How is it going? TLDR: not well.
open.substack.com/pub/mliebrei...
open.substack.com/pub/mliebrei...
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
Full details of KTM's rescue and bailout by Bajaj, how Stefan Pierer will have no more involvement with the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer, and what it might mean for their MotoGP program.
motomatters.com/news/2025/05...
motomatters.com/news/2025/05...
Bajaj Funds KTM Creditor Payout, Faces Final Obstacle Before Taking Control Of KTM | MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks
motomatters.com
May 22, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Full details of KTM's rescue and bailout by Bajaj, how Stefan Pierer will have no more involvement with the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer, and what it might mean for their MotoGP program.
motomatters.com/news/2025/05...
motomatters.com/news/2025/05...
Reposted by Martin Fitz-Gibbons
MotoE: Still relevant? Floating along? Or still showing the possibilities of alternative tech in MotoGP? Some thoughts and words from a person that knows best: ontrackoffroad.substack.com/p/motoe-2025... (photo by motogp.com)
MotoE 2025: A third year of Ducati power but does the series still feel relevant?
Le Mans plugged MotoE back into action for another seven-round contest and the seventh campaign since the championship entered the MotoGP support card in 2019. But is the series running out of charge?
ontrackoffroad.substack.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:48 PM
MotoE: Still relevant? Floating along? Or still showing the possibilities of alternative tech in MotoGP? Some thoughts and words from a person that knows best: ontrackoffroad.substack.com/p/motoe-2025... (photo by motogp.com)