I'm in the market for a decent 2-person tent for me and the missus. We'll be travelling by car, so we're looking for comfort rather than light weight, and a big porch for 2 bikes would be good.

Never bought anything like this before so I'm completely clueless – any pointers on makes, places to buy etc. I'm in North West…

Thanks in advance, and sorry if this has been done to death.

Khyam do one that is supposed to be aimed at bikers (of the motor variety), so it has a big porch and can sleep three (or two if you want to be able to move).

I can't remember the name of it off hand, but it's on the shortlist for which tent the wife and I are going to get to replace our smaller two man.

I think you'll struggle to find a 2-person tent with a large enough porch to store 2 bikes.
We started off with a 3-man tent from Blacks that had what we thought to be was a large porch (not for bike storing duties). I think we envisaged our camping trips being spent with warm evenings & a cold beer outside, rather than the inevitable freezing cold wind & rain!
And when you are forced inside, the porch soon starts getting small.

We ended up upgrading to a Vango Orchy 600 which is actually a 6-man tent, although I don't think you'd really want more than 4 in it for general camping type activities….
It's got a splitter in the sleeping area to make two 'rooms'. We use one for storing our stuff & bikes etc. and then have the 'living' area free to use as we want. It works quite well.
We've also bought the optional canopy for it, but haven't tried that out yet.
I think ours cost £150 but the normal retail price is £220.

Just googled Khylam and they do one called the Biker, I presume that's the one Willard means… Looks good!
What's the quality of them like?

Wild Country

Have a look at the Decathlon stuff – very well made, easy to erect and ridiculously good value.

Range is huge and you're not paying for a posh name or for the ultra light weight that has no relevance for car camping.

Bet you walk out with some bike clothing as well 🙂

Decathlon

Just had a look at Decathlon. Something like this looks ideal, and like you say, very cheap. Is the quality OK?

@ Shibboleth; I've been looking at the biker tent too, via my other forum's sub-section on camping (review here). Seemingly very highly regarded & brilliant value. The only slight down side is the weight at 6kg (for my motor sickle); been considering a 'Terra Nova Superlite' as well, though that's mega£$!

Pop down to Stockport and have a play with one – the staff are very helpful.
A few friends are using the Decathlon stuff without problems.
Our next one will be coming from there.

Keep any on the sales and you can pick up a Gelert Stratus 3 for about £30.

The porch should fit a couple of bikes okay. Not light but who cares if the car's carrying it for you anyway.

30 quid? Cheapest I can see online is about 70! Are all these budget makes much of a muchness?

I'm probably looking more in the £100-£140 price bracket than things like Terra Nova. It's only going to get used 4 or 5 times a year.

Decathlon are good. Go to any French campsite and you'll see tons of them. I've got a Quechua tent for cycle touring and it's a great little tent – really small and light but still good quality.

The MSR Velo will meet your needs, its expensive but worth the dosh.

Go to winfields at Haslingdon, or look online for them… They have 100s on sale. And normally about 50 set up on display..

Top of the A56/ M65… Just outside Accrington.

Have been looking for something similar myself – having had good experiences with Vango before, am thinking of getting one of these:

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/vango-omega-350-3-berth-tent-p140004

Plenty of space for kit and bikes.

I've got one of those Quechua 4.1 tents and it is a great camp-out-of-the-back-of-the-car tent. Goes up easily, pretty stable in crappy weather and I can stand up in it (I'm 6'4"). The porch area is big enough for a couple of bikes and a couple of chairs and a table etc.

Only problem I had with mine was some kind soul slashing the outer and nicking my bike out of it. I bought another one though and would have another again if needed.

Highly recommended

I've got a Vango Orchy 400, the 6-person size (600) would be big enough to have you + bikes in all the time, the 400 is a bit cramped for everything in there at the same time.

Might I suggest a trip over to http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk. A great tent review database. Probably focused more on bigger stuff but should be plenty of smaller tents with real user reviews. They are to tents what STW is to bikes. Take that as you will.

>The only slight down side is the weight at 6kg

Crikey – my tent is 36kg!

Steel poles. 5 man. Coleman Sector X5. £180 I think. Great for events when you ideally want to be able to have plenty of room when you're too knackered to keep everything neat.

When is was peeing it down, we had 6 people sitting in the living space no probs at all.

Do need 2 people to put it up though

Buy bigger than you think you need, and make sure you can stand up in it.

We (my biking buddy and I) bought one of these:

http://www.ukcampsite.co.uk/tents/p/Wild-Country-Homestead-5/548

Might as well be comfy!

Don't restrict yourself to a 2 man tent – especially if you're cat-camping. Look at 3 to 4 man jobbies instead.

Outwell tents are very good value for money. Decent quality and well designed. I have an Outwell Oregon 3 I use when I go away on the bike (motorised). It is 8kg, but that weight is not a problem on the bike.

Cotswold have the Vango Beta 450 on offer at 89 quid at the moment

Youtube vid of it

30 quid? Cheapest I can see online is about 70!

That's why I said to keep an eye on the sales. I know at least three people who have all picked them up for £30-ish. Of course, if you want something now then it'll have to be something else.

If you're anywhere near Edinburgh then you can borrow my Stratus 3.

Thanks for all the pointers, ad cheers Gordy but you're a bit far away.

I think I've narrowed it down to the Quechua T4.1 or Khylam biker, though I think that Outwell Oregon looks worth a second look. I'll head to some dealers at the weekend I think…

Cheers!

The Biker is ok, but if it were me (i've been in the position you are now), i'd still go for one that you can stand up in comfortably as it makes a big difference to how you can use the tent.

I'm a cyclist, a biker and a car camper and I'm still looking for the perfect tent.

At the moment I've got a 3 man for the bike (tent will fit in my topbox when it's all packed up) and a 5 man for the car. Made the mistake with the 5 man of having the big sleeping area (standing up room; I'm 6'4") and the smaller porch. It will just about take two bikes, but the chairs and the table then need to go in the sleeping area. Usually take a small tarp and lock the bikes together under the tarp at night and if we go out in the car.

I will certainly be thinking about the Quechua T4.1 for my next tent (or something in that style). I did notice in the new Argos catalogue that Regatta have developed a range of tents. Checking on the Regatta website, it would appear that they are only selling them through Argos. I've not found any reviews yet, but I'd certainly be interested based on how long some of my Regatta clothes have lasted.