Even though the KTM catalogue from 2019 – its the last one that made it into my house – shows their middle-wieght adventure bike, the 790 Adventure, fitted out with black aluminium panniers, most riders seem to put soft, weight-saving luggage on the bike. The brand in vogue seems to have been Mosko Moto. You can fit a surprising amount of travel gear into their Reckless 80 litre bags.

I got drawn into that but always secretly wanted the convenience of some hard luggage, especially when going on a short ride or to do some shopping. And my Touratech aluminium luggage left over from my last BMW was still taking up room in my garage which is also full of a kitchen, old vacuum cleaners and furniture. And a topbox is a handy place to store your helmet while you are in the supermarket. I tried some nice strap-on tail pack from Kreiga, mounted to the Perun rack that I fitted soon after buying the bike a few years back. It was great for carrying some tools on a ride but not much else. Eventually I have caved in and started investigating fitting the mount for my Touratech top box onto my 790. You have to buy the whole set up to get the tubular mount. But Touratech in the UK could not tell me when the black version would come into stock so we agreed to try the kit made for the Husky 701 as they are very similar bikes. The cost was £150.

The kit arrived and on my first attempt to fit it I found that the Husky and the KTM have very slightly differently placed holes for the bolts that fit the rear rack. My second attempt involved fitting the tubular mount onto my Perun rack which was fiddly but possible. And it does not look too bad.

The top box would be much better if black but is fine. I don’t think the taste police will pull me over for it.