The way most motorcycle companies are treating their customers in respect of the availability of spare parts is most execrable. In my own case, it was the Honda Sonic 125 some time ago, which I sold only because I was tired of waiting for weeks on end to get some important spare part. Now my Kawasaki Ninja 250R has been lying idle for the past two months because the authorized dealer/workshop where I live, is not able to deliver a simple spare part.

We should have a location, where we can report such things as short messages to Motorcycle Thailand and even give a change to the motorcycle companies to reply/explain why the customer is let down.

Touching upon another germinal issue, I also wish that the directors/managers of motorcycle manufacturing companies would leave their cosy offices once in a while and ride pillion on one of their own fancy creations for two hours at a stretch on an average bumpy rural road. Maybe, they would then realize that comfort has to take priority over style. Is it not idiotic that every day millions of pillion riders have to suffer the torture of those so-called seats just because manufacturers (as also we, the customers) are so much obsessed with style?

A couple of months ago we replaced the ECU on a Kawasaki ZX10R. We didn't need to of course, but when has 'need' ever played a part in the things we change on our motorcycles? A few years ago, replacing a motorcycle's ECU would have been a very extreme thing to do – certainly something left to the motorcycle mechanical experts. For the rest of us a Power Commander and gear position indicator, or at a push a new dashboard following a crash, were the extent of our electronic subterfuge. But that's beginning to change.

As we begin to see smart motorcycles being released in showrooms more frequently, our ability to meddle with the motorcycle we own diminishes. In the past, buying a motorcycle, fitting an exhaust pipe and Power Commander was part of the owning process. It made the motorcycle feel unique to us. But try anything more than replacing the end-can on a motorcycle built in the last two years and the amount of flashing lights it triggers on your dashboard is likely to leave you with permanent retinal scarring. Trying to fool the ECU with any form of after-market device therefore is virtual suicide.

That's why we find ourselves in the odd position of considering fitting whole ECU – and why there's a trickle of increasingly smart and cheap after-market ECUs being fitted to motorcycles. So, because they're out there – and to help you avoid having your hat nailed on due to not knowing any better, we thought we'd have a peep at some of the ins and outs of replacing your motorcycle's ECU.

In its most basic form on a carburetted motorcycle (hard to find any now-a-day) a modern ECU will do two things; control the ignition timing and provide the dashboard with the information it needs to display. But on most road-going motorcycles we can add operating things like exhaust valves, cooling fans and variable length inlet tracts to the mix too. It all sounds pretty daunting at first glance – but because the ECU is already wired to everything by the standard loom, controlling these functions is frequently no more hard than telling an ECU when you want something to happen, rather than how.

Thirty years ago, turbos were everywhere. They dominated in Formula 1 and rally cars, all the best vacuum cleaners and even completely unrelated consumer products bore their name. Honda, Kawasaki and Suzuki all made turbocharged motorcycles. So why did then then, and why don't they anymore?

What is a turbo? It's a centrifugal compressor that forces air into the inlet of an engine – forced induction. The special thing about a turbocharger though, is the way that it is driven. The power to drive a turbocharger comes from a turbine that sits in the exhaust manifold and extracts power from the engine's exhaust gas flow.

The turbine and compressor are attached together to form a single unit. The turbine driver the compressor via a bearing mounted shaft that runs through the center of the unit. They're usually mounted as close as possible to the engine in the exhaust manifold, where the exhaust gases have the most heat and flow energy (enthalpy) available to drive the turbine. With sufficient exhaust flow, the turbine is able to drive the compressor to very high speeds – up to 300,000rpm on smaller turbos. The compressor then forces air through some pipes, and sometimes an inter-cooler, into the engine's inlet.

Despite their small size, turbocharger compressors can flow vast amounts of air, much more than the engine they are feeding. This surplus of air in the inlet increases in pressure and forces its way into the engine giving it a bigger charge to burn, enabling the engine to make more torque and more power. The end result is that a turbocharged engine performs like a normally aspirated engine of larger capacity, but without the extra weight and friction of a larger engine. The old adage, 'There 'aint no substitute for engine size' is not entirely true.

Honda was the first motorcycle manufacturer who introduced a brake-by-wire system on a commercial available motorcycle, but are electronically controlled brakes really a step forwards?

Honda has first demonstrated its electronically controlled combined anti-lock brake system for motorcycles a few years back. The system, which is now available on a few Honda production machines, is a completely revised version of the 'old' Honda combined braking system (CBS), that links the front and rear brake systems, applying pressure to both circuits regardless of which lever the rider operates. But the main aim of the system is not to improve lap-times. Instead, it should increase stability under braking and reducing braking distances for less confident riders especially in an emergency situation.

Unlike the Combined Braking System (CBS) you find on some of Honda scooters, which work mechanically, the Electronic Combined Braking System with ABS system is completely electronic and has been referred to as brake-by-wire technology, meaning there's no need for caliper mounting mechanisms to mechanically operate the other pistons.

The calipers on the Honda CBR600RR are identical to the calipers of a CBR600RR without brake-by-wire system, but that's where the similarities end.

There was a day when people thought wearing back protectors was over the top but, once you wear one, you feel uncomfortable without one – even on a short trip. The Alpinestars Bionic SP protection vest works in the same manner.

One you wear the Alpinestars Bionic SP vest, you feel naked without it. The main USP of the Alpinestar Bionic SP vest is the chest protection, 'chest protection?' I hear you cry. Yes, chest protection. Everywhere else is covered in leather or CE protections, so when you stop and think about it, the chest is vulnerable.

The Alpinestars Bionic SP vest changes this by adding a plastic and foam guard at the chest, making you feel better protected in what is a fairly important area of the body. Thankfully, I don't think bikers suffer from the stupidness syndrome, so you don't go reckless when you've got it on, it's there just in case.

The Ducati Monster 1100 EVO is powered by a new evolutionary engine. So what do we know about this new Ducati engine. The 1100cc Desmodue Evoluzione power unit continues to use a bore and stroke of 98 x 71.5mm, but now has its power boosted to 100 horsepower (73,5kW) at 7500rpm with 10,5kgm (103Nm) @ 6000rpm.

The 1100 Desmodue Evoluzione engine's crankcases are vacuum cast using the same Vacural technology used for the latest Ducati Superbike engines, saving weight.

In addition to the new magnesium alternator cover, the Ducati 1100 Desmodue Evoluzione engine now has a lighter crankshaft assembly, using an 848-style Superbike flywheel, and the search for further weight reduction even went as far as using lightweight rare-earth magnets for the generator assembly.

It's the digital switch-over in motorcycle dash form. Since motorcycle manufacturers first started dumping cable operated speedos in the late '90s and moved over to digital tachometers, dashboards have been getting smaller, lighter and more daring in their layout. But they still generally looked like conventional dashboards – until now.

To borrow a phrase from the aviation industry – BMW's HP2 Sport has a glass cockpit. And a smart one at that. There isn't a single moving part, yet it's capable of relaying far more information than any production motorcycle dash to date (I think).

So what can this dash do that a normal set of clocks can't? It has to do the basics of course, RPM and speed, and recording the motorcycle's kilometers. It also has the usual array of warning lights too; neutral, high-beam, indicators and so on but the similarities end there. You can change the dashboard's configuration by pressing a switch. And that's useful in itself.

Multiple-layouts are useful as different information is important at different times. For road riding, your speed is more important than gear position so it makes sense to be able to change this to suit, and the BMW HP2 Sport allows you to change between Road and Race configurations. In race mode things like laptime and gear position are given prominence over speed and time.

I've had my current favorite motorcycle helmet for almost two year. It could do with freshening up some way. Luckily my helmet has removable and washable lining. But what's the best way to do this, right...

If your motorcycle helmet has a removable lining and cheek pads it's easy. Take them out carefully and wash them in a bucket by hand. Use lukewarm water and baby shampoo. Spend time squeezing the lining so the soap penetrates the foam cells fully.

Then rinse I. Again, spend plenty of time working and gently squeezing the lining to get all the detergent, dirt, sweat and bacteria out. Squeeze out as much water as possible without being too brutal, and hand the lining out to dry on the washing line.

One of my motorcycles has embarrassed itself slightly at the back. A rumbling sound on the brakes around 2900 kilometers alerted me to the fact that the rear brake pads were worn right down to the metal. Now I admit that I'm quite heavy on the back brake, using it loads when cutting through traffic. But less than 3000 kilometers is a new record for wear – so if you use your rear brake often, it's worth checking the rear brake pads before they get down to the metal like mine.

Changing the rear brake pads was simple enough, although I was cursing the single-sided swingarm design again. It robs you of space to work. And the underslung caliper also acts like a trap for gunk and water and dirt, making it a real mess to clean.

The Bike Interceptor is a small electronic 'plug-and-play' fueling module, that plugs directly into your motorcycle's electronics, and more beside that, available for many modern, fuel injection motorcycles. It allows you to custom-map your motorcycle's fueling and there's an auto-tune function too. With Auto Tuning, the software can automatically adjust the Fuel Map for the best performance.

We fitted and mapped a Interceptor fueling kit on a Yamaha YZF-R1 sportsbike and were impressed at the results in terms of smoothness. Direct plug-in cables and a great software package keep installations easy and fast. The Interceptor can control up to eight injectors (twin rails of four, if you want), and it has plenty of room for expansion, as it can handle up to 43 channels and flipping between two fuel maps via a handlebar mounted toggle switch is a breeze.