Bike-packing tent recommendations

Much to my OH’s amusement, I want to rediscover my youth and do a bit of bike-packing & wild camping. Rescued my old tent from the loft and discovered that the sewn in ground sheet was rotting away, and the inside of the tent stinks like a stale sprout fart.

I think its safe to say that I’ll be staying in the tent on my own, so can anyone recommend a (lightish) one person tent?

FWIW, I’d thought about a tarp or bivvy bag, but would like to try some winter excursions, so think the tent might be better – especially if there’s room to make a brew in there:)

Budget?

Scarp 1

Preferably around £200, but possibly up to £400.

Trekker tents

http://www.trekkertent.com/home/home/3-stealth.html

I want one

If you are camping in a sheltered spot then one of the cheaper tents might well do – might not be particularly light or compact though. Decent one man tents tend to be aimed at lightweight backpackers so can be pricey

Just seen your budget: Terra Nova Laser competition http://www.terra-nova.co.uk/tents-and-spares/all-tents/laser-competition-1-tent/

Can’t go wrong with a laser comp.

I have a Six Moons Design Lunar Solo LE and i’ve not had any faults/complaints with it – the LE version has a slightly heavier weight floor which is good for bikepacking as the last thing you want on your mind after a day on the bike is being overly worried about what ground to pitch on.

Check here on Backpackinglight, Bob is good to deal with and could advise on a suitable choice

Gerlert solo £25 much cheapness and light enough with titanium pegs 🙂 seriously
Untitled by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr
Untitled by Richard Munro[/url], on Flickr

Sports Direct sometimes have deals on Terra Nova/Wild Country, if you have low morals.

If you are camping in a sheltered spot then one of the cheaper tents might well do – might not be particularly light or compact though.

I bought one from Aldi for £15 and I was surprised just how light and compact it was. About 1.5kg IIRC. Way more packable than my 2 man Vango Tempest 200.

Haven’t actually tried it out yet, and I don’t think I’d want to pitch it on top of a mountain, but they’re supposed to be alright after a few DIY upgrades…

Soz to hijack but I have a Hilleberg Akto for sale, brand new, never used, dark green, tags still on the bag. Widely regarded as one of the best one-man tents available – slightly heavier than a Laser Comp but a better tent in every other way. http://www.tgomagazine.co.uk/gearreview/review-hilleberg-akto
RRP is £490 and I’m after £350 plus postage or collect from Calderdale.

Gelert +1

Spend the rest on a hotel!

I have a Robens one, not used yet but looks decent enough, cost should be well under £100 and even less if s/h.

Just outside your budget but the Hilleberg Akto works well. Will cope with foul weather and in summer leave the inner at home and take the fly plus footprint for a surprisingly spacious bivi.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Quite a range of options – must admit, I’m tempted by the Gelert at £25, as I could put the money saved towards a decent new sleeping bag…..or a hotel;)

Worth a look at the Tracksterman blog for lots of tent stuff. His are used more in a month than most in a decade by the looks of it.

https://www.tarptent.com/momentdw.html (with solid interior option)

I had the Scarp 1, but sold it and moved to the Moment DW. A bit lighter, still plenty of room for 1 person (the Scarp is more 1.5), and the moment is quicker to put up, with just 2 pegs.

In the grand STW tradition of recommending what you got, I’m pretty happy with my Six Moon Designs Lunar Duo. The Solo version is lighter and more packabe, but you can sit up in this thing Actually, you could play squash in this thing. Only had it a month or so and used twice with two carbon fibre poles from bearbonesbikepacking. Also highly recommended.

in the past i have owned a vaude taurus, which was a good roomy tent. still own and use a saunders jet packer, nice light proper stormproof tent.

the last time bob@backpackinglight.co.uk had an open day, I saw this baby, and if I didnt already have too many tents I would have snapped it up

http://www.backpackinglight.co.uk/shelters-1/WF129.html

he had 20+ tents up on the lawn from brands such as Vaude and MSR and this low brand Chinese designed unit was the hands down best for layout, simplicity and price.

Stoner : I had a warmshowers cycle tourer staying last year and he used one of those ^ – i have to say i was mightly impressed with it for the money – loads of room inside it and massive porch area for cooking/storing kit etc. Very well made as well with decent stitching at the stress points.

Trekker tents

http://www.trekkertent.com/home/home/3-stealth.html

I want one

They look great! Seem to combine the best of a tarp with the best of a tent, and at half the weight and cost of a Laser Comp. I guess they lose some of the weight and price advantage if you have to buy poles (as any bikepacker would).

What about an MLD Trailstar? It’s a single-skin shelter that can be pitched in various ways and gets rave reviews.

Just a thought.

Scottish mountain gear repaired my expensive tent groundsheet superbly for something like £50. You could stick it in the wash then – job done.

Re poles for that tarp thingy – you can buy carbon fibre poles in a variety of sizes for cheap on ebay, and convert them into shock cord poles with some pieces of alu tube, a hacksaw, some bungee cord and some glue. Although I think some people already do this for you to order.

I’ve not had chance to try it yet but bought this for the same purpose £67 and delivered DHL in less than a week..

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231574807446?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=530810721774&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Here’s an in depth video review…

somafunk – yes, quality was perfectly good.

Thing is, with one pole erection it’s just so simple to put up in bad weather or the dark or a hurry.

Some of the MSR ones gave me a headache just looking at them.

Wl’s Hilleberg would be hard to beat at that price.

For flexibility and lightness it is hard to beat a tarp. Can be rigged in so many ways to suit location, weather, mood, etc.
Rig off trees or rocks (or carry poles) but you have your bike – front wheel off, frame upside down rig tarp off forks. Can use wheel guyed out at the other end if required. Bonus is no-one can nick your bike in the middle of the night / wilds (not likely but is a bonus.)
Get a bug bivvy too. MLD’s bug bivvy is ace and featherlight.

Yep, my Akto’s a good price. It’ll be going on classifieds when I get around to it.

nw36984

Love to know how you get on

A great thread for ideas

Just seen the nature hike from a uk supplier

http://www.amazon.co.uk/NatureHike-Outdoor-Double-layer-Camping-Lightweight/dp/B00W1F7672

I’ve got a trekker tent stealth 1. It’s good. Tiny pack size, ridiculous low weight. But, entry/exit is a pain due to pole placementand the inner is very small compared to the outer.

But it’s lighter than my bivi/tarp combo!

Does that inner have a bit of bathtub style groundsheet?

Anyone know the name of that uk company (I can’t remember if they manufacture or just design) but they are a big deal with D of E and do an ace lightweight 3 man that splits between 2 bags..
Looked good for me and the other half for touring purposes

Usual DofE kit is often Vango but they tend not to be light..?

Some of the force 10 kit is very light and used for d of e it’s the posh bit of Vango tents now.

+ 1 for the Gelert solo! Great little tent. Change the pegs tho.

Hilleberg Enan – great tent. Basically the lighter version of the Atko. A bit out of your price range but about as good as you can get.

If you’re not entirely sure what you want, I’d definitely go the cheap Gelert 1 man route for now. They used to be called the solo, now called the track 1 I think?

For the sub-£30 price tag you can’t beat it without spending a few hundred on a Terra Nova or Hileberg. If you then decide you’d like to try a tarp and biv instead, then you haven’t lost anything.

My best tip for choosing a quality tent is look at the flysheet fabric. For a tough, long lasting tent you want silicon coated nylon rather than polyurethane coated polyester.