Camping choice to tour with a heavy tent

[phil parker]

Well it's great to have a different tent for all occasions. I have a comparatively heavy Hilleberg Soulo, which I bought as a free standing mountaineering tent, but to also be used for 4-season cycle-camping trips and it has been great, despite the additional weight. I'm just at the end of a trip now, where I was very ambivalent from the start, due to Scottish weather, but chose my Easton Kilo - well it is May! However strong winds and even stronger sporadic gusts broke one of my tent poles in Peterhead last week, so yes, there is some merit to a stronger, but heavier tent when conditions dictate!

[simonineaston]

I think al_yrpal has got it right, build quality and a practical size for comfort at a sensible price.

That's the tent everyone thinks they've chosen!

[psmiffy]

I have no problems lugging a heavy tent about – 4.2kg in my case- I have only done one tour where the weather was consistently good enough that I would not have benefited – The tent was bought for a year when I was going to Spain in early Spring and Norway in September with the caveat that I would use my existing smaller tent for summer tours – never happened – the benefits of the larger tent were so great that the smaller tent is reserved for odd weekends away.

Advantages
• Practically free standing – takes less than 5 minutes to put up whatever the weather.
• Two door design – my personal observation is that I don’t seem to have condensation problems due to being able to maintain a cross flow of air.
• Robust three pole design – has survived gales in all parts of Europe and the odd unexpected dump of snow.
• Huge vestibule – I am able after a days slogging in a deluge to be able to put wet panniers/waterproofs et.al. well away from my living area and remove my waterproofs in relative comfort. The vestibule folds back to form an open awning when the weather and the view is nice enough - still provides effective protection against short sharp showers.
• There is sufficient room to be able to cook in the vestibule in comfort when the weather is bad – a two door design allows for plenty of ventilation from the back to the front to the front.

Disadvantages
• Weight – Within reason I have never found weight to be much of a problem when cycle touring – the tent weight is probably less than the daily change of weight of my touring ensemble – water, food, me – a couple of extra kilos

The tent – MSR Velo – unfortunately having pitched it around 500 times in over 20 different countries it is now time expired – no longer made – researching for a replacement – would be quite happy to put up with an extra kilo if I could find something that had the same qualities.

[nmnm]

Interesting stuff, psmiffy. Nice pie chart on your cgoab pages. Looking at percentages - your 5kg chart tent is quite different than my 1.7kg thing but both are about a tenth of our total touring weights (excluding body weight), so there's a consistency of approach there that's quite rational I think.

[simonineaston]

Oooh wot fun - a pie chart - or in my case a pastie chart - or perhaps when in Brittany, a tarte a l'oignon recette (Bacon and Onion Flan, to the uninitiated ) chart...
Now, where's my Excel gone?

[simonineaston]

Here's mine! Actually, it's a bit 'applesNpears' really, for example, 'cos I've not included any food, only water... my tent, at 1.6 kg, comes out at 2%.

[horizon]

When I posted I had anticipated that there would be bigger following of pro heavies who look beyond the weight

donnieban: I'm with you on this. I use a Force Ten Mk2 (4.5 kg). I do have a Jetpacker (1.5 kg) and use it in Spain. But I like a good groundsheet, a cotton inner and plenty of strength and space. I love my Force Ten - and I spend more time in it than on my bike. I lost 5 kg recently (went down from 80 to 75 kg) - that's my tent sorted. But .... if you want to do 80 mpd then the weight has to come down and it's easy to shed 2 kg straightaway with the tent. I keep my mileage down and my warmth and comfort up. I am not arguing a technical point here - this is purely personal preference. The only "technical" point I would argue is that, as others have said, a kilo or two may be a price worth paying for comfort and is a only a small percentage of the full load.

[simonineaston]

I lost 5 kg recently (went down from 80 to 75 kg) - that's my tent sorted.

There's a difference between live-weight and dead-weight - ask any horse!
As a result of the pastie-chart exercise, I'm interested in the substantial percentage involved in simply making sure I can take the stuff with me I want - i.e. the several kilos given over to the rack/pannier combination...

[horizon]

There's a difference between live-weight and dead-weight - ask any horse!

This is true - it was tongue in cheek. Nevertheless, I think the solution is in keeping the mileage low - the gears and legs will take care of nearly everything a bike will carry. Having said that, my maximum is 22 kg (though I am going to experiment with 28 kg - I am thinking of occasions when you intend to go camping by bike - i.e. take your stuff and set up for a day or two rather than camp en route, so to speak.)

[simonineaston]

There's a difference between live-weight and dead-weight - ask any horse!

This is true - it was tongue in cheek. Nevertheless, I think the solution is in keeping the mileage low - the gears and legs will take care of nearly everything a bike will carry. Having said that, my maximum is 22 kg (though I am going to experiment with 28 kg - I am thinking of occasions when you intend to go camping by bike - i.e. take your stuff and set up for a day or two rather than camp en route, so to speak.)

[nmnm]

I lost 5 kg recently (went down from 80 to 75 kg) - that's my tent sorted.

As a result of the pastie-chart exercise, I'm interested in the substantial percentage involved in simply making sure I can take the stuff with me I want - i.e. the several kilos given over to the rack/pannier combination...

Good pie chart! You've got the footwear department under strict control, I see!

[simonineaston]

Good pie chart! You've got the footwear department under strict control, I see!

Can't take any credit for the pie-chart - Excel dun it
Funny you should mention the footwear - I learnt a footwear lesson early, when me and a couple of chums did the West Country Way. Chum A had never cycle toured before and packed very frugally - amazing considering she was of the female persuasion (ducks...) Chum B ought to have known better, but came from behind his desk, having done no training trips, AND brought with him, amongst other things, 3 spare pairs of shoes, and, inexplicably, 2 separate full bottles of shower gel... poor chap gave up after day 3 and got the train down to Padstowe! I swear it was not possible to lift the back of his cycle off the ground!

[pjclinch]

The tent – MSR Velo – unfortunately having pitched it around 500 times in over 20 different countries it is now time expired – no longer made – researching for a replacement – would be quite happy to put up with an extra kilo if I could find something that had the same qualities.

Hilleberg's Kaitum GT ticks all your boxes except being practically free standing. It's still remarkably easy to pitch and strike, however, and has been designed so a solo camper in mittens can pitch it in minutes. You've a choice of 2 or 3 person size, 3.6 and 4.1 Kg respectively. There's also the Keron 3 GT (no longer a two person version) which has more bombproof materials and stuff like midge netting over the vents and porch doors, though there is (of course) a cost in bulk and weight. The Kaitum is still a strong tent though.

I share your preference for two-door designs. We use a Kaitum 3 (non GT) which has two large porches where the GT has one large and one huge porch. Unless you want to park the bike inside the non-GT is actually fine for storage and cooking with space to spare.

Pete.

[phil parker]

Mmm...what about the Hilleberg Rogen?

[psmiffy]

Mmm...what about the Hilleberg Rogen?

Very impoverished on the porch front -