My son is going cycle touring up north and over to the islands. Any suggestions on a decent quality tent and how best to carry it? Don't want to spend more than £150 on a 1 man tent. Vaud and Vango possibilities.He will be using a pannier rack so I am thinking it could be tied to the top maybe in a dry sack. The pannier bags will probably be full of clothing, sleeping bag, mat, cooking stuff. Some folks seem to carry their tent in a handlebar mounted back but I'm unsure if this practical on a drop bar bike
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Cycle touring tents
(19 posts)- Started 7 years ago by GDR
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Posted 7 years ago #
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The north and west of Scotland will quickly expose the deficiencies of a cheap tent, but this will be character forming for the young man. Vaud and Vango are both pretty good.
Most folk carry the tent on the top of the pannier rack, in line with the bike.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Either Vaud or Vango would be fine.
I've tried a light and compact backpacking tent (Terra Nova Zephyros 2) and have found that the trade-off on comfort and space for lighter weight is not really worth it. Plus the tent, being lightweight, was not exactly the most robust - I have memories of tearing a hole in the flysheet when pitching up North. I cannot recommend the Zephyros!
The replacement tent on this tour was a Highlander tent that I picked up in Thurso - it was the only option available and was relatively cheap and capacious (£50) but leaked like a sieve and weighed a tonne - please avoid Highlander tents!
My last cycle tour I used a Zajo Fox tent (Cost ~£90). The tent is fairly robust, spacious and surprisingly well waterproofed (10000mm HH) - it is not the lightest but not the heaviest either (2.4kg). It survived a battering in gales and horizontal rain and stayed bone dry inside the whole time. Think I saw them recently on Sport Pursuit (an online shop) - definitely worth a look. Based purely on my experiences this tent would be my recommendation. I think Vaud and Vango are similar in price and quality to Zajo.
I wouldn't use a handlebar bag for a tent - I would save that for things I need to hand easily (camera, wallet, phone, maps, lunch, snacks etc). I've strapped tents to the top of the rear panniers (as proposed by IWRATs) and also stuffed them into one of the front pannier bags - the latter being my preferred option - I just don't like a stack of things (sleeping bag etc) on top - you become top heavy. Poles etc I put into an old inner tube that has been cut open (to form a long open ended tube) and then used the extra length of the tube to tie to the bike frame.
Posted 7 years ago # -
@ivangrozni Poles etc I put into an old inner tube that has been cut open (to form a long open ended tube) and then used the extra length of the tube to tie to the bike frame.
I'll pinch this one! I've wrapped them in a bin bag (to avoid chain grease - no idea how it gets to the top tube during a tour!) and strapped them to the frame, but this wasn't as secure as your suggestion and the bin bag tore and flapped...
Robert
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Roibeard
I'll pinch this one! I've wrapped them in a bin bag (to avoid chain grease - no idea how it gets to the top tube during a tour!) and strapped them to the frame, but this wasn't as secure as your suggestion and the bin bag tore and flapped...
It works a charm! My main concern was keeping them all together and stopping them rattling. I strap to the downtube rather than the top tube. But either should work fine!
Posted 7 years ago # -
Bikepacking bags for the bars are a good way of balancing the weight away from the rack and help stabalise the bike but are quite spendy.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Thanks for all the suggestions folks. The lad is off to Cotswold Outdoor with my CTC discount card. Think he is going for Vango Banshee 200. Thousands of DoE teenagers can't be wrong (can they?)
Posted 7 years ago # -
Probably a good choice - I went for the Vango Blade (one man tent) on impulse as it was reduced on introduction at Go Outdoors.
Fine but, even if I had got the two man version, the side entry on the Banshee makes things easier.
Posted 7 years ago # -
There was and might still be a place on Lothian Road that hires out tents.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Too late to the party, but I have Wild Country Zephros 2, which is slightly heavier material but intimately more robust 2 person tent. I've used it in very windy conditions and so long as you erect it across the wind so the pole is inline with the prevailing gails, its a fine tent.
Posted 7 years ago # -
Too late to the party, too, and I also have a Terranova/Wild Country Zephyros 2. Mine is the extra long and lightweight* version that they didn't make for very long. I had mine in the wind and rain of Snowdonia and it was pretty good.
* For small values of lighter; certainly nothing as light as the posh Terranova Laser Comp on which it is based.
Posted 7 years ago # -
thanks again-clearly lots of experienced campers out there. He picked up the Vango Banshee 200 with the luxury of space for 2 people or 1 person with panniers. Seems to get decent reviews. Just over 2kg but the really light ones seem to be a fair bit more expensive. I am now trying to persuade him that he really DOES NOT want to cycle up the A82 to Oban. Youth of today think they are indestructible
Posted 7 years ago # -
He'll have real problems getting to Oban on the A82... ;-) do you mean the A85? Where is he starting from?
(I have a light and very expensive 1 person tent, and a heavy 2 person tent. One day we will get ourselves a light 2-person tent!)Posted 7 years ago # -
He is going from Glasgow so A82 then A85 was what he was initially thinking. I have succeeded in persuading him to go via an alternative route. Comments on CTC forum suggest A82 is pretty scary in parts.
Posted 7 years ago # -
The A814 and A83 would be better, I think. I've cycled the A85 from Dalmally and found it OK.
Posted 7 years ago # -
I use a £10 tent from bargain stores when touring. I have wild camped hillwalking in the highlands in winter with snow on ground and used a better tend that was £50 ish still not a hiking tent walked 50 miles with 2 man dome tent. Unless trying to win the tour de france don’t think need a special cycling or hiking tent but they may be better, my next tent will be a bit better
Posted 7 years ago # -
@GDR I'd consider getting the train from Glasgow to Helensburgh then starting from there (following the A814). All the sensible options heading to that point are not great fun (speaking as someone who commuted from Glasgow to Faslane for five years).
And if you're going all the way to Oban, missing out ten KM or so won't be noticed :)
Posted 7 years ago # -
@Arellcat @Darkerside thanks for the route suggestions-I will pass them along
Posted 7 years ago #
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