Guy Martin’s New Kriega Backpack Will Have Motorcycle Nerds Reaching For Their Wallets

Guy Martin’s long-running love affair with Kriega just became an official collaboration with the new R25 edition.

Photo by: Kriega

By: Enrico Punsalang

Jun 1, at 7:25am ET

Add RideApart as a preferred source in Google

Comment

There are motorcycle brands people buy because they’re affordable, practical, or trendy. Then there are brands riders become irrationally attached to. Kriega absolutely falls into that second category. And yeah, I’ll fully admit I’m part of the problem.

I own a stupid amount of Kriega gear at this point. Tail packs, backpacks, fanny packs, pouches, and probably enough straps to secure another motorcycle to my motorcycle. None of it was sponsored either, although if Kriega is reading this, I’d absolutely sell out immediately. No shame whatsoever. But the reason I keep buying their stuff is simple: it works ridiculously well.

That’s why this new collaboration with Guy Martin hits so hard for me personally.

Photo by: Kriega

I’ve been following Guy Martin for years now. Like a lot of motorcycle nerds, I first knew him as the fast Yorkshire road racer with a permanently sideways smile and zero media training. Then he slowly evolved into this bizarrely lovable hybrid of racer, truck mechanic, engineer, TV presenter, tractor enthusiast, and human embodiment of caffeinated chaos.

And through basically all of it, there was almost always a Kriega backpack strapped to him somewhere. So when Kriega announced a special edition R25 backpack developed together with Martin, my immediate reaction wasn’t “oh cool another merch collab.” It was more like, “Holy crap, how do I get my hands on one ASAP?”

Because unlike most celebrity collaborations that look assembled by marketing departments in conference rooms with glass walls and cold brew coffee taps, this one actually feels authentic. Guy Martin has been organically promoting Kriega for years simply by existing near motorcycles while wearing one of their bags.

The new R25 Guy Martin Edition is based on the updated 2024-spec R25, which is already one of Kriega’s most beloved products. The company first launched the R25 all the way back in 2001, and over the years it’s become one of those pieces of motorcycle gear riders recommend with borderline religious intensity.

Photo by: Kriega

This new version adds a bunch of Guy Martin-specific touches pulled directly from his own long-term pack setup. The most obvious is the reflective skull-and-spanners logo splashed across the rear panel, plus his iconic racing number 8 stitched into the back. But the coolest detail might be the return of the 6061-T6 alloy adjusters on the Quadloc harness straps. Kriega brought those back specifically because Martin preferred them on his original R25. And that’s the exact kind of detail hardcore motorcycle people appreciate. It’s overbuilt, industrial, slightly unnecessary, and somehow cooler because of it.

Photo by: Kriega

Priced at £239, or roughly $320, the bag isn’t cheap. Then again, nobody buys Kriega expecting bargain-bin pricing. The thing is, once you actually use their gear long term, the cost starts making a lot more sense. I’ve beaten the hell out of my own Kriega stuff over the years. Rainstorms, daily commuting, track days, airport abuse, random gas station floor drops, overloaded rides home from events carrying gear and half my life stuffed into dry bags. The gear just keeps surviving.

And if you ride naked bikes or sportbikes, you know how awful some backpacks can get once wind hits them at 80 miles per hour. Cheap bags start moving around like they’re trying to escape your body entirely. The R25 stays surprisingly planted even when fully loaded. That stability is probably why you see so many serious riders using them. Not influencers posing beside motorcycles at coffee shops. Actual riders doing actual miles.

What do you think?

View

Comments

Which makes Guy Martin the perfect ambassador for the brand. The dude doesn’t exactly strike me as someone who’d keep using gear he didn’t trust. This is a man who races motorcycles between stone walls at terrifying speeds, builds engines for fun, and casually attempts world records like normal people take weekend vacations.

So yeah. Guy Martin plus Kriega? This one makes perfect sense.