A New Tailpack for my Aprilia

[Smithers]

I finally had to break down and buy a tailbag for my trip to Laguna Seca. I got lucky finding this at my local bike shop. This Cortech tailpack isn't rated for more than 10lbs I believe but it works great for the few things that I might need to haul around. It came with bungee chords that come out of the bottom of it. I just wrapped them under the seat pad and attached it without much effort. It expands out to the side with the zippers. The best part was the price... I think I paid like $65 for it. Cortech is basically Tourmaster brand and they also integrate with the side bags from the same brand. They have a strap built in that allows the whole set to attach together nice and smooth. This bag also comes with a shoulder strap for carrying around PLUS a waterproof cover in case of wet weather ridin. I'll be buying the matching side bags when I ride up north in another month.

If you put more than like 15lbs in this type of tailbag I would recommend using a bunch net type thing to go over the whole rear end. The built in chords worked great for the 10-13 lbs of stuff I rode with. I ride kinda fast so I would be paranoid about losing a heavier load right off the back unless I put a net over the top of it for extra security. I think this tail pack looks the best and it's nice and streamlined. Hard to beat. If you really want to put a bunch of stuff in a tail pack (without sidebags) this one might not be large enough. But like I said I can't wait to get the sidebags to have a nice set. I've ridden other bikes with luggage high on the seat and lower in a set of saddle bags and it makes a huge difference how high you mount your luggage. I think a whole set of the Cortech/Tourmaster tailbag + saddlebags is easily less than $200 and it all holds together nice.

This pic doesn't show how wide it is but it's plenty wide when you expand it out to the side. You can't beat this bag for the features and the price.