Who’s been where, whats your kit, whats your bivvy bike etc. Pics would be good……

I have been toying with this idea for a week or two. I read the article in STW from a few months back.

Been looking at various kit, just need some ideas and inspiration too 🙂

I remain to be convinced that the minimal weight saving provided by a decent bivvy bag makes it a better alternative than a lightweight tent. I’d love to hear some counter-arguments though.

I use a AlpKit Hunka which must be smaller than ANY tent. I have bivvy on the south downs way in South Wales and local bits in the New Forest. I take the same bike I would take if I wasnt bivving but with a seat post mounted rack to put the bulky bits on.

did the SDW over two days.

osprey bag
alpkit bivvy/sleeping bag and airmat
take something other than what you will ride in, to sleep in, is my ‘top tip’ pack a wooly hat and a hip flask.

the view from our camp

Top Tip- take fresh socks.

Also, read this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Book-Bivvy-Cicerone-Guide/dp/185284342X

I’m with druidh on this. I have bivvyed and camped.

you save less than a kilo in weight per person and lose much comfort if the weather is poor

been bivying for years, started off with an old ultimate sleeping bag and a survival bag.

Now in summer at least its a OMM down bag, alpkit bivvi bag and alpkit wee aric mat.

For that slightly more comfortable experiance I am this weekend going to be on top of Ben More.

happy days

Agreed, a bivvy bag is great if the weathers kind, so much quicker to pitch than a tent. Plus, in a tent, I kind of feel like I’m missing a little bit of that ‘completely outdoorsy’ feeling you get sleeping under stars.

A few folk who took part in the Welsh Ride Thing used hammocks (Henessey?). Bag to tree in a couple of minutes. has an in built midge net and tarp roof. They’re not cheap but, http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk do a DD hammock which has the net but not the tarp … they do sell tarps though.

I use a fully enclosed bivvy bag so if it’s raining your face isn’t out in the open like with a Hunka etc. I also take a lightweight tarp if I’m with someone else.

I’ve just started to use a Go-lite 3 man shelter. Packs up to nothing, weighs 1kg and I can nearly stand up in the centre (5′ 7″). It takes around 3 minutes to erect and has enough room for 1 to have a party, 2 + gear to sleep and still cook or 3 big lads to kip.

Monty … I’m jelous.

Stuart

me and the kid
Who needs nylon

s8tannorm

So what is the advantage over a tent then?

what s8tannorm is talking about

http://i565.photobucket.com/albums/ss93/flatfishy/hammockcamp.jpg" alt="" title="" class="bbcode-image" />

Four of us did a bivvy trip on the South Downs Way last ‘summer’. Great day riding on the Saturday but it absolutely tipped it down overnight. We all had Hunka’s and spent the night under a groundsheet / tarp and were still nice and dry the next morning.

Travel light. Share what you can and strap as much as possible to the bike. A sleeping mat in a dry bag or black bin bag, fixed to the handlebars with a bungee works well. Tarp and bivvy bag under the saddle.

We tried those self heating meals for breakfast, which were just about OK. Dinner was in a pub, with a comedy drunken nightride back to camp.

We’ve got a couple more trips planned for this summer. It’s great fun and great to wake up with no tent obscuring the view, even in the rain.

TJ, if your talking about the hammock, then pack size and weight seemed to be in it’s favour, they did look very comfy too … if you mean my Go-lite shelter, then nothing, it is a tent, just not a normal one. I’d estimate that to gain that much internal space a ‘normal’ tent would weigh 2.5kg + and have a much larger packed size.

Stuart

s8tannorm

So what is the advantage over a tent then?

You can’t bivvy in a tent. Tents are for camping. HTH. HAND.

hey stuart,
can you post a pic of the hennessey from wrt?

Hammock stylee

Nope … no piccy account anywhere and besides I don’t know my arse from my elbow with stuff like that 😀

me too as you can see above.

thanks for the disc also

OK, I’ll bite 🙂

A tent is great if you have a nice flat place to pitch it, and the time / energy. This limits you a little to where…and most places are pretty public so you need the privacy to get changed, sleep etc…

With a bivvi bag you can stealth-camp pretty much anywhere, you can use natural features for cover, you can cook dinner while in your sleeping bag and when you do drift off its looking at the stars and you wake up naturally to sunrise 🙂 Pitching / breaking camp is done in minutes (11mins last time when some insomniac dog walkers damn near tripped over me!)

Throw in a £15 poncho / tarp and some paracord and pegs and you have some cover for really bad weather (like torrential rain all night!)

Bivvi kit listed here but I have slimmed it down a lot since then…my Welsh Ride Thing kit was sub 14lbs (sub 20lbs with food and water) including tools, spares, bike lights etc…

SSP Bike Packing Kit

SSP – well I have both wild camped and bivvied. Wild camping – you have somewhere to change and so on – in your tent. By the time you have your bivvy bag / tarp / paracord and pegs You are saving 1 kg in weight max for the loss of much comfort. I can get my camping kit down to not much more than 14 lb.

I have never had any issues wild camping and finding somewhere to pitch my tent

I have bivvyed using a bivvy bag and it was simply miserable when it rained.

I simply fail to see the point.

I use one of these Rigel X2 tents. It’s great! They call it 2 man but it’s really only one man with you kit along side you.
http://i12.ebayimg.com/06/i/001/37/e6/24b8_1.JPG
Very light, single skin (but breathes well), pitches in 2min max. low weight of an ex-army gore-tex bivvy, but with far more comfort.

I also carry a cheap vango down sleeping bag, ‘balloon bed’, small coleman stove/225g gas cylinder, 2 very small pans and a Tikka headtorch.

That’s about it really. My clothing depends on weather and intended bivvy spot, but I ususlly take a down jacket too as they pack small for the amount of warmth they give.

My tuppence: in a bivvy you have no redundancy when everything goes tits up

I pack really light – bivvy bag, and a credit card. The card gets used more than the bag 🙂

twang, you only want to bivvy cos you cant put up a tent one-handed! im off to do snowdon again this weekend, sleeping in the biggest tent in the world! get well soon fella…

There are good and not so good bivvy sites. As you can tell by the retro look this was some time ago.

Oh well, never mind.

loving my bivvying lately – mirror what ssp said really – we got drunk in Old Dungeon Ghyll in the Lakes then walked about a mile and lit a fire, clear skies fantastic. it was -7 tho – but fine in a hunka bivvi, just snuggle… well hunka, down.

ssp, is that frame bag bespoke or can i buy one?

>
With a bivvi bag you can stealth-camp pretty much anywhere, you can use natural features for cover, you can cook dinner while in your sleeping bag and when you do drift off its looking at the stars and you wake up naturally to sunrise Pitching / breaking camp is done in minutes (11mins last time when some insomniac dog walkers damn near tripped over me!),

Great – now add wet gear, Scottish weather and midges.

As for the hammock…

I’ll stick to the tent thanks

[img]http://www.campsaver.com/ItemMatrix.asp?GroupCode=out0019&MatrixType=1[/img]
I use one of these, with a mini Trangia meths stove for cooking. Sleeping is taken care of by Sugpac softie & a Robens self inflating mat. Not sure of the weights but the golite comes in just under 1kg.

I have a Hennessy hammock pretty good, well below a kilo, I think, and not that expensive. Also super comfy.

never done but supposedly can be used on the ground as well, though I guess you.d be wanting atleast a decent mat and possible a groundsheet.

http://hennessyhammock.com/catalogue.html

Though I do also have a good 2 man tent about 2,5 kilos and nice size porch for cooking while in your sleeping bag, and storing 2 full size backpacks. Lightwave something

Has anyone got any good two day loop rides? With a wild camp/bivvi in the middle.
I’ve been looking into c2c but I’d like something I could fit into a weekend.

I’m in midlands so could get to most places. Not scotland.

Fancy exploring from Lanberis maybe?…

bivvy bag / tarp / paracord and pegs You are saving 1 kg in weight max for the loss of much comfort. I can get my camping kit down to not much more than 14 lb.

I use macpac waterproof sleeping bags. The summer one is 500g and tiny. It is waterproof and warm. If it rains, you have to sleep on your side. I don’t take any more camping kit if I am out in summer – I sleep on soft ground so I don’t need a mat. It means I can camp with a medium sized (20 litre) camelbak. The winter one I have is I think 800g. The lightweight thing does make a real difference, I know a lot of people say you can’t ride technical terrain with camping gear, and to be honest, even with my lightweight tent and stuff, I tend to have to take a bigger bag than I’m comfortable / strap things to the bike, both of which make hard riding suck, whereas with the bivvy sack, I just stick a tiny 500g weight in my sack and take a bit more food and I can still ride in comfort.

I wouldn’t bivvy low down in the Scottish highlands in summer thanks to midges, but then to be honest, summer camping in Scotland also sucks due to that.

Bivvying isn’t just about light weight (although compared to my pretty lightweight camping gear, I save about 3.5kg), it is about being able to just ride till you’re tired then camp up anywhere. Particularly in England (and also in many foreign countries), where you are not allowed to camp in a lot of places, bivvying is super handy, because you can get away with it pretty much anywhere – I’ve bivvied in woods on the outskirts of towns, on the Thames, at the top of Leith Hill, and various other places that were way too blatant for a tent, with no problems ever.

Joe

PJ if you can read a map I can send you the GR for the Welsh Ride Thing. It’ll take you through some great spots in mid Wales. The GR will give you an indication of where to go but you’ll have to make your own route up. With the light nights it’ll be doable in 2 good days.

Email stuart@forestfreeride.co.uk if you want them.

Cheers
Stuart

Bivi bags great fun as long as its not raining on the hills. Trees allow sheets to be used but open mountains have less in the way of woods!! Bike frames can make substitutes but a tent will be better in crap weather. Anything single skin will create condensation unless you can vent it really well, not an option in bad weather. Many modern bivi bags eg the Alp kit are little more than pit covers as the are simply a drw cord top. Again great if its fine but you cannot seal yourself in and stay weather proof like you can with a envelope type design. I have spent nights in hammering rain, snow and wind in my old Snowdon mouldings goretex bag which will keep me dry if I keep a slight slope at the flap. Can even run a stove in it!! have slept comfortably with it zipped up completely although its not nice on warm nights. just a point, mine is green outside as it should be for a low profile but yellow inside which is much more pleasant.

Anyone ride a full susser?
I cant fit my gear on like I could with my hardtail and rack.

I have a Hennessy hammock and it’s fantastic. So comfy and quick to put up. I got it from http://www.facewest.co.uk/Hennessy.html, they also have some pretty smart M.E bivi bags.

Hammocks are lovely until theres nowhere to hang them. That depends on your chosen ride area and bivvy location.

As joemarshall says a bivvy bag is the ultimate in lightweight if you want to ride out on more technical terrain un-encumbered by loads of heavy gear (14lbs is heavy IMO and WILL affect how you can ride), and you really can poach a bivvy site pretty much anywhere. They’re less ideal in bad weather, but the inclusion of a small tarp can help greatly.

Anyone that says tents are better than a bivvy bag is kind of missing the point really – they’re really for slightly different things.

I’d agree, tents are almost definitely better than bivvy bags if you have to deal with midges, persistent bad weather, longer duration excursions or less technical terrain, but none of those factors are an issue for me.

Wow, lot of hammock users on here, i had no idea!

Ive got a Hennessy Hammock but not had the chance to use it in anger yet. What are the other hammock users opinions/suggestions on keeping warm? ive heard it can get quite cold hanging up in the trees if its a little windy. Also, any tips for picking sites? ie. deep in the trees, face upwind/downwind? Be good to hear about a biker perspective of them as most of the reviews are by walkers who tend to suggest using thick jackets etc. to keep warm, not somthing i expect to carry on the bike.

Cheers,
Rich.