I bought an entire set of Oxford soft luggage as there was a special offer, if I bought the panniers and the tank bag, I'd get this for free.

Now, the panniers and tank bag are excellent, and in theory the tailpack is just as good. It's got a removeable bum bag, ample space, loads of handy little compartments, and above all, it can sort of be used as a ruck sack. I say sort of, you'd be better off using it as a sort of shoulder bag, it's a bit fiddly as a rucksack.

If you find yourself buying some bits on holiday, you can expand it upwards, which is actually really handy. Also on long journeys it makes for a nice back rest, provided you don't put anything uncomfortable in the front pocket!

The way the bag fits is not quite as straight forward as the rest of the luggage in the oxford range, but it's not too bad. It straps on using supplied and fitted bungees, these are a nice feature because the bungees are already attached, no fiddling about or getting the much warned about "bungee in the eye" (Trust me, I've met a guy who did that!).

The bottom of the bag is made of non slip material so that it won't slide about. The only annoyance is that you can't just unzip the bag like you can with the tank bag, the whole lot, bungees and all need to come off. Bit of a pain if you're just leaving the bike for an hour, but it's not that hard to fit so not the end of the world.

So far so good, you're thinking? Well here's the fly in the ointment...

Oxford soft luggage is not waterproof, like all other soft luggage. Fair do's. They supply you with some lovely waterproof covers so your bags stay dry, which just slip on, easy to do at the first sign of rain.

Now these covers on the panniers and the tank bag are excellent, they just slip on and they're secure. The cover for this bag slips on easily, but unfortunately it slips off just as easily. I was touring and it started to slip off in the wind, just a light bit of rain, riding at about 60mph, and I start feeling the thing flapping about. I pull over, turns out it's just about to fly off. I reattach it, make sure it's secure and I'm on my way. Anyway it happened again, and again, so I ended up just taking the thing off, resulting in getting everything wet.

The thing is just useless now, there's no point in touring with it unless I just store things that can get wet in there, or just tour in the dry (like that's ever going to happen! One can only hope).

It's gained pride of place in my junk cupboard.