Bluetooth motorcycle helmets sound like an excellent idea, but how well do they really work. We decided to take one out for a spin. Read on to find out how we got on.

Bluetooth technology has been around for some time now, but it's only just being embraced by the motorbike owning community. The basics behind the technology are, fortunately, fairly simple.

It was designed to enable various pieces of equipment to communicate without the need for cabling. Hence it's often referred to as being a wireless form of communicating.

Typically, it might be used to enable a mobile phone to wirelessly communicate with another device. This could include another mobile phone, for instance.

At present, the technology is only effective over a relatively short distance. This means that it could be used to communicate between two devices that are within 50 metres of each other, but not for considerably larger distances.

So how can it be used on motorbikes?

The answer lies in the fact that bluetooth enables a mobile phone to communicate wirelessly with special headsets. In effect, your mobile phone call can now be relayed into a headset.

That headset consists of headphones and a microphone. When you use the device for the first time, everything suddenly seems so clear.

The technology is basically just facilitating a means of communicating in a hands free fashion. In short, it's perfect for using on a motorcycle.

You might think that the noise that is inherent with a bike would prove something of a problem.

Fortunately, the manufacturers have been able to produce headsets that automatically alter the volume, depending on the background noise.

An impressive piece of kit and one that seems to be falling in price over time.