MCN Fleet: KTM Super Duke GT gets a bum-bag

Published: 25 July 2016 Updated: 25 July 2016

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My arse looks big in everything, so there’s never any point asking. And the 1290 GT with its panniers fitted also has a fairly volumous back end, but with a few trips away planned over the next couple of months, I’ve added a muffin-top of additional luggage.

This official tail-pack (£96.58) fits onto the pillion seat with two underseat straps like an elegant pancake, and boasts two additional fixing straps which loop through the frame and clip back onto to the front of the tailpack – giving even more security when tanking it across a continent.

Despite its footprint, in its flattest form it only adds 10 litres of additional capacity, along with a bungee lattice on the top. But open up the zip that runs round its circumference, and you’ve instantly got 30 litres of capacity – and a handy backrest too. It’s an odd design, but the lid of the semi-rigid pack effectively hinges forward, giving you a large cavern into which various gubbins can be shoved.

The quality appears to be top-notch, and you’re also provided with a shoulder strap and a luminous orange rain cover to repel the worse deluges.

It’s not had a thorough test yet, but will when I head south for the Austrian MotoGP at the Red Bull Ring on August 14.

See more updates about the KTM 1290 Super Duke GT.

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By Richard Newland

MCN Editor - With over 40 years of riding experience and 21 years as a bike journalist, Rich has ridden pretty much every new bike of the last two decades and plenty of others from history – dating right back to machines from the 1930s. His big passion is for sportsbikes from the 1990s and early 2000s, but he also has a real soft spot for big bikes that handle well and can take you places. Tell him he’s got 24hrs to get to somewhere 1000 miles away and a Ducati Multistrada V4S to get there on, and he’ll be gone before you’ve finished the sentence. He has as a worrying penchant for big days in the saddle, and once stupidly rode from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back again without stopping (that was 1703.5 miles in 30 hours 4mins, in case you were wondering). In his own man cave there’s a 2007 Honda VTR1000 SP-2, a 1998 Ducati 996, a 1986 Suzuki GSX-R750 ‘Slabby’, a 1998 VFR800FiW and a 1975 Honda CB750 SOHC Dunstall. Previous ownership highlights have included a Kawasaki Z1000, Ducati 900SS, Sherco 2.5 trials bike, a Kawasaki ZXR750H1, Suzuki T500 classic racer (which he never actually raced, ahem) and a KTM LC4 Supermoto. He rides anything between 12,000 and 30,000 miles every year in all weathers, all year round. You’ll only find him in a car when there’s simply no way of travelling by bike. The rest of the time, he’s sat behind a Mac helping to make MCN as one cog of the best team in bike journalism.