It's been 30 years since Tron debuted in movie theaters, so it's about time someone made a proper light-up motorcycle jacket. Possible sources of inspiration aside, Adaptiv Technologies is trying to get riders noticed in a different way.

The Adaptiv Technologies GlowRider motorcycle jacket (available in Neon Green or black) is a basic, all-season motorcycle jacket. It has a 600-denier polyester shell, a zip-out fully sleeved liner, front and back vents, two front slit pockets and removable CE-approved armor. Three electro-luminescent panels – one on the back, one on each shoulder – are set within the jacket's reflective strips. On each arm is a smaller transparent pocket; the right one holds a removable control unit/battery pack, and the other is large enough for a modern mobile phone. There are straps for adjusting fit in all the usual places, and zippers are claimed to be 'weatherproof.' The GlowRider jacket kept one person we know while it was raining.

RST has built an enviable reputation for making a product that is the match for much more expensive lines and being able to sell at an affordable price. Just 26,700 THB for a leather motorcycle suit of this quality has to be a bargain.

Made from 1.1 to 1.2mm cowhide, the suit is double and treble stitched and comes as standard with CE approved armor. Although I haven't thankfully, put the RST leather motorcycle suit through a crash test I have seen others that have, and they stood up to it really well.

My RST suit has, in the main, been used on the track while parading my own classic race motorcycle or when I've been lucky enough to get to test something exotic, with only the occasional road trip.

The XPD XP7-R boots, the Italian company's top of the range motorcycle racing boot. From XPD, a brand name from the well known motorcycle gear manufacturer Spidi, you can expect fundamental elements like modern design, comfort wearing and safety.

XPD invested 3-years of research into the development of the XP7-R boots, and the likes of Marco Melandri, Leo Haslam and former Japanese MotoGP star Shinya Nakano have all benefitted from this work.

Dainese, has been busy in the safety department. How on the heals of it D-Air Race leathers, the Dainese launched its super-trick D-Air Street system.

Dainese's research shows 60 percent of accidents are with cars – and these tend to be hard. So the street system is designed to reduce chest, abdomen and back impacts – by anything up to 75 percent. It does this by the controlled and tuned inflation in three dimensions of airbags in less than 80 milliseconds, 55 milliseconds after the parameters confirm a crash.

The new airbag and inflation method is clever, but not half as clever as the algorithm used. The system uses sensors mounted on your motorcycle's forks to detect a crash in any plane. The system and everything communicates via two separate radio channels. Proper bleeding edge stuff.

The Shoei RF-1100 full face motorcycle helmet. My brain is my moneymaker so I can't risk any damage to it for fear of bankruptcy. Okay, everybody knowing me can now stop laughing.. a good motorcycle helmet is a serious thing...

Shoei helmets may be better known for protecting racers' heads than the average rider cruising the rural roads of Thailand, but that's where the different lines of helmets come into play.

The Shoei RF-1100 is a full-face motorcycle helmet that was designed specifically for the street rider and costs a good amount less than what the famous racers wear. Still you should expect a price tag of around 19,000 THB.

With new motorcycle models we expect parts to become lighter, but with one part of our motorcycle's this is not the case. For instance the exhaust system from an early 1992 Suzuki GSX-R1000 was around 9 kilograms. Today, ten years later, the exhaust system of the Suzuki GSX-R1000 is well over 10 kilograms. For some motorcycle models from other manufacturers the exhaust system even has increased more than 3 kilograms. So why is that?

With the old Suzuki GSX-R1000 exhaust system was a single-piece construction, with headers, collector pipe and silencer all welded together into one. It's much simpler than the new Suzuki GSX-R1000 exhaust system's design, which is down to the easier job it had.

While the '90s GSX-R1000 only had to silence the engine noise down to the that time standard noise limits, the latest GSX-R1000 exhaust system has to meet worldwide quieter noise regulations, as well as other exhaust gas emissions regulations. There are limits on how much hydrocarbons, nitrous oxides and carbon monoxide a motorcycle can emit, and the easiest way to reduce them is by using a catalytic converter.

The new Alpinestars Atem leather motorcycle jacket is one of the many new items in the 2012 Fall Collection. It is a result of years of extensive testing and development at Alpinestars' race performance department.

The Alpinestars Atem leather jacket is fully CE-certified, it meets EN 13595 standard - Level 1 for riding safety, and is constructed from 1.3mm thick durable high-grade leather, with re-enforcements in critical impact zones and heat-resistant and strong synthetic Aramidic fiber stretch panels on sleeve areas to further improve fit and feel.

The Atem jacket offers high performance protection and styling for the street with technology derived from extensive track testing, with external Alpinestars exclusive Dynamic Friction Shield (DFS) technology shoulder and knee protectors, race proven in MotoGP and WSBK. The Atem jacket also has a racing profile perforated, aero hump on upper back for improved aerodynamic performance and ventilation.

Whether your brake discs are worn, you want better brake performance, less weight or just want them to look better, a set of spangly aftermarket discs are the answer. It's easy not to appreciate what a huge tasks your brake discs take on every time you pull the lever. Pulling nearly 1G on a road going motorcycle at full power means the not inconsequential weight of your motorcycle and you are nearly doubled.

On a typical modern, 1000cc motorcycle that can easily amount to around half a ton of bulk to haul up. Don't forget all that energy doesn't just go away either. In this case, it's turned into heat, heat which mainly the brake discs (but also the brake pads, calipers and disc carriers) have to somehow dispose of. Whether your brake discs are worn-out, warped or bent, or you're after improved braking performance, lighter weight or just like new looks, you'll not go far wrong with a set of new aftermarket brake discs.

There's no better weight to lose than un-sprung weight. Your suspension will have an easier time, and even better, less rotating mass equals less gyroscopic effect, so your motorcycle will be easier to change direction too.

The patterns cut into the brake discs are not just for show either. More venting will improve heat dissipation and therefore reduce brake fade. As with all things brake related, take care and do everything properly with the correct tools. A bad job with brakes can have catastrophic consequences.

You might think that bearings receive little attention in motorcycle racing, but this isn't the case. In production-based motorcycle racing wheel bearings are perhaps the most frequently changed. They may be replaced for a narrower version, reducing the contact area of the rolling element and, therefore, also reducing friction slightly.

While this may actually have a some direct benefit, it's generally done to create space so captive spacers can be fitted into the wheels. The downside is that the bearings won't last as long, but if they're being checked every 200 kilometers or so and replaced this doesn't matter much.

From Valentino Rossi's favorite motorcycle helmet manufacturer, which is owned by Valentino Rossi's favorite motorcycle suit manufacturer, comes the AGV GP Tech, to be the classic AGV motorcycle race helmet and the not-so-long-ago the top-of-the-range professional motorcycle helmet.

Currently AGV just introduced the AGV Gird which is the latest top-of-the-range motorcycle race helmet, but the AGV GP Tech is still a good choice.