Cycling UK Forum

Hi Paul

Do you have a manufacturer/model for the front rack?

Regards

John

We have gone the way of 2 separate tents as a family. Camping usually in Scotland I never fancied the idea of the larger tents in the windy weather we have experienced there from time to time. So once we'd outgrown our 3 man tent we added a 2 man tent. In terms of your children - if your tent lasts a few years will they still want to share a 4 man tent with parents - or vice versa ? Going with 2 tents also does give flexibility if it's not the whole family camping.

We have the Hoolie 2 ETC with the extendable porch. The Hoolie 2 ETC has a very large porch - great for storing stuff in (freeing up space in the main tent). The main tent does have a good amount of floor space for 2 (more than the Terra Nova Voyager it replaced and since it is a tunnel tent it has a bit more room to sit up than the Voyager. It only has very small side pockets, thought that's not a big issue. We've only had it this year so can't give an extended performance review - the only problem we have had was a crack to one of the poles which Wild Country put down to it not being put up correctly (£10 repair). It was very windy (probably >20 mph) during one part of our holiday. The tent does blow around a bit more being a tunnel tent compared with geodesic or semi-geodesic. We also have a Monsoon 4 tent for our children which is a definitely a better quality tent (I think it's no longer available - it was probably more expensive than the Hoolie).

My 9 year old daughter twisted my arm to buy her some of the cycling glasses in Aldi at the weekend. As well as dark lenses they do orange ones which should be ok for daytime (which were the ones she chose). They're not child-specific, but they fit her ok. The "Special Buy" link for the relevant date is no longer available on the Aldi website, but they may still have stock in the shops. Cost about £4 I think.

This company sells the pertex and fibrepile fabrics used in Buffalo soft shell clothing (may not be exactly the same material as Buffalo use, but the same type).

http://www.profabrics.co.uk

Not used them myself, but hoping to make my own Buffalo type gloves at some point.

The rackbag is fixed to the rack with 4 velcro straps (2 each side). The distance between the outside edges of the straps (red arrow in the attached photo) is 250 mm. The overhang behind the rear strap (yellow arrow) is 20 mm. The rear pocket then overhangs a further 55mm (green arrown) from the end of the bag.

Hope this helps.

John