Introduction

If you have ever needed to carry anything on your bike you will realise how inconvenient it can be if you are not properly prepared for it. There are various solutions for this, but each of these can have their own problems. For example, wearing a backpack is cheap and easy, but you can't carry anything too heavy or you risk damaging your back. Another solution might be a tank bag, but then if you have to leave the bike for any reason you will have to take the bag with you to be sure it isn't stolen.

The best solution (although it is the most expensive) it to use a topbox. These boxes are securely locked to the bike so you can leave them unattended without fear, but can still be easily removed any time you need to simply by unlocking them and pressing a button. They are completely weather proof, have a good carrying capacity, they don't prevent you also taking a pillion (unlike a backpack or tailpack) and they don't need to be removed when refuelling (unlike a tank bag).

If you plan on using your bike to carry anything on a regular basis, you could do a lot worse than to invest in a good quality topbox and rack. After shopping around for a while, I came to the conclusion that the best brand to buy was Givi. The box shown in the picture is an E52 (their largest box at the time that I bought it), but they have many other boxes available and all are interchangeable. This means you could even have a pair of boxes (one large and one small) and then use whichever was most appropriate at the time. The same rack will work with them all.

Apparently Kappa boxes are also compatible with the Givi rack systems, and the Kappa brand tends to be a bit less expensive, so there is no reason not to buy a cheaper Kappa box to use with your Givi rack.