Viaterra Element Tail Bag for KTM 390 Adventure Review: On The Bike

Gallery Introduction How much can it carry?Can it replace the top box?Is it easy to install?What’s Next?Product Details

Introduction

We told you about the Viaterra Element tail bag’s construction, its carrying capacity, and what bikes it could be used on in our last report. You can read that HERE.

But, how is it to use in the real world? What all can it carry? And can you use it as a motorcycle-cum-office bag? Also, is it all the bag you need for your motorcycle? We answer those questions in this report.

How much can it carry?

The Element is a non-expandable 35-litre tail bag. But, as we found out it, can carry more than what it advertises.

It can carry your office laptop, its charger, your notebook and magazines, and in fact your water bottle, your tiffin and your coffee flask. And if you don’t want to carry your riding jacket and gloves on your arm while you go up to the office, the Element has space for those too along with all the office related kit.

But, let’s say you want to throw in a bit of trail riding before you head to the office. Or after. Well, this Viaterra bag can also hold your adventure boots (these are the RE TCX Stelvio boots), along with your riding jacket and your gloves. Not to mention, there’s also space for a pair sneakers or loafers or boats or jellies, to switch to for a hard day at work.

Can it replace the top box?

So, as you can tell, the Element in that sense, is quite a handy everyday-use tail bag.

However, can it replace a top box? And we ask that because top boxes, though handy and waterproof and tamper proof and hardy, are also heavy and cumbersome; both on the bike and off it. And these are a pain to store off the bike given their dimensions.

As we found out, it can! After all, it can hold your riding gear including a full face modular helmet so that you don’t have to lug the stuff around. Having said that, it does need an additional investment of a securing strap. Like SteelCore for instance. Yes, it will push the overall cost of the setup close to Rs 6,000. And given that the bag, Element, itself isn’t so difficult to carry around - either via the shoulder strap or the grab handle - this might not be a solution for everyone.

It does work for us though, especially given the bag can hold a full, one piece racing suit! Yes, you read that right. And along with the mandatory chest and back protectors one needs to ride on the track, all stuffed in, it makes for a great luggage option for those wanting to ride to Chennai or Coimbatore or even Greater Noida to do a track day.

Is it easy to install?

This was a mixed bag for us.

The Element comes with three straps. The one at the front - which incidentally needs to face the rear of the motorcycle - is a U-type strap that doesn’t come completely apart. So, there’s a hint of handicap there; nothing major, just reduced flexibility to mount in a sense the rear of the bag has two double D rings and straps to go along with it.

The double D rings themselves are on a short strap instead of being on the bag itself. and that means if you didn’t want to use the pillion footrest hanger as your anchoring point for the bag, and wanted to use the grab rail instead, the bag would also stay loose no matter how much your pulled it tight. This, like the front U step, limits flexibility on how and where one can mount it.

The current setup is ideal if you want to mount the bag on the pillion seat. But, like us, if you wanted to leave the pillion seat vacant, and mount the bag on the tail rack instead, the fit doesn’t feel right.

Now, the mounting and strapping process is simple enough. Run the straps around the anchoring mounts, pull the straps tight via the double D rings, loop the excess strap around so that these don’t get caught in anything, and you are done. If one wants to leave the bag on the bike, this is fine. But, for one to use it as a do-it-all bag - which the Element will be great at, by the way - it needs a quick release system, like Viaterra offers on its Hammerhead tail bag.

What’s Next?

Now that we know the Viaterra Element can hold plenty, it’s time to put it through the everyday grind, and maybe even a couple of highway trips! So, when we come back, we will tell you if things panned just as we thought. Or did we find some chinks in the Element’s armour that weren’t as obvious before. But that’s after a couple of thousand kilometres. And so, as the cliché goes - stay tuned.

Photography by: Kaustubh Gandhi