Simon Hargreaves
BikeSocial Road Tester
Ferociously lazy, 49 year-old veteran bike hack Hargreaves took to motorcycles early in life when he realised twisting a throttle was less effort than pedalling. His first field bike was a BSA Bantam D15, which he was given for free and sold to a proto-Hipster for £15 in 1983. It was the first, only and last time he sold a bike for profit.
Simon H, has been, a professional motorcycle journalist for 25 years, although he prefers “writer” because, “I’m an enthusiastic amateur; I just love bikes and writing about them.” Over the years of contributing to Performance Bikes, Bike, RiDE, Motorcycle News, Practical Sportsbikes, MCN Sport and Motorcycle Sport & Leisure among others, he’s ridden almost every motorbike there is to ride, from an Italjet Tiffany to Honda’s RCV211V MotoGP bike. He’s toured Europe, ridden on most major racetracks around the world, and raced a Bugatti Veyron on an S1000RR.
As one half of Front End Chatter, Britain’s longest-running biking podcast, Simon H admits in same way some people have a face for radio, he has a voice for writing.
Simon also plays bass in a successful function band, the High Rollers, and especially enjoys writing biogs about himself. Like this one.
Recent Posts
- Features
Front End Chatter - episode 207
We look back at Bike Magazine from 2005, including the MT-01, Super Duke 990, R6, Monster and lots lots more
By Simon Hargreaves09/01/2025 - Features
Front End Chatter - episode 206
On this episode: our fave bikes of 2024 (and a few of 2025), more KTM woes, the last new bike news of 2024 and a whole heap of nattering on topics raised by you…
By Simon Hargreaves02/01/2025 - Features
Front End Chatter - episode 205
On this episode: MCL - was it any good? KTM - More financial woes! Does the Government really hate biking that much? and much more
By Simon Hargreaves09/12/2024 - Yamaha
Yamaha MT-09 (2024) - Review | Including Y-AMT gearbox
New style and technology as Yamaha MT-09 enters its second decade
By Simon Hargreaves19/11/2024