Tents for your TR

Interesting...

http://www.hoghaven.net/catalog/i195.html

http://www.lonerider-motorcycle.com/

http://uncrate.com/stuff/nomad-motorcycle-tent/

http://www.bikertent.com/

I'm a fan of the Eureka Timberline series of tents. My dad used them back in the day. I used them all the way through scouts. I've slept in all weather conditions with these, probably something in the neighborhood of around 200 nights I've spent in these tents. They're not ultralight backpacker models, it packs down fairly small but not like some do. I use the 2 man for just me and some gear. It could be used for a 2 person, but I'd have to be pretty comfortable with a person to sleep two up in there.

Freestanding, how it stands up in weather, how's the layout?

I have a "2 man" backpacker dome tent somewhere. It had a footprint of about 6 feet by 3 feet, by 2 feet tall. When you figured in the angle to make it to short, you'd have to curl up in a ball in the center to stay off the walls in the rain. Something like that isn't work the lighter weight and smaller packed size to me.

You can never go wrong with a Big Agnes.

I'm 6'4, and tried a couple of tents before settling on this:

http://blackdiamondequipment.com/en/tents-and-bivys/vista-tent-BD810195MARIALL1.html#q=vista&start=1

It's the only one I could fit in without running in to the ends. I can use it on the bike, and use it with my wife on other
occasions. It's the most ventilated tent I've every used, very important here in the pacific northwet. The inside layer is about 85% mesh.

I can fit the tent, fly, footprint, big agnes long wide q-core pad and 30degree bag, one change of clothes jetboil and a few meals etc. with various other bits in a wolfman medium duffel. As I ride mostly alone, and do some more remote stuff, I carry the full setup on almost all of my rides. If something goes really wrong I can camp comfortably while I get it resolved.

That sounds VERY close to my situation. At 6'4" I bought an REI Half Dome 2 Plus for that extra length.

http://www.rei.com/product/845481/rei-half-dome-2-plus-tent

This weekend will be the first time I pack it on the Husky for a trip to mountains near Chelan, but will be taking the tent, fly, footprint, jetboil, etc. in my new Wolfman setup.

I run on the lower end, more recreational side, but I have been really impressed by my Eureka Apex 2 XT.
Plenty of room for my 6'-6" size and one of the big selling points for me was that it has 2 decent sized vestibules and doors.
One for "stuff" and one for me.
I have also camped with my son and each of us having our own vestibule and door is really great.
Mine has plenty of mesh, which is VERY important in the south east US.
Only one end is fabric, everything else is mesh.

http://www.scoutorama.com/store/prod_display.cfm?prod_id=76&pg=images


Mine is a few years old (its the yellow/gold version) it looks like Eureka has changed this tent (now orange/gold).
I can't tell if the new version has 2 vestibules anymore and looks like it has less mesh too.

http://store.eurekatent.com/apex-2xt

Yea, it’s "noticeable" isn’t it?
The new color is a bit less obnoxious, but I don’t know if I like the other changes.

Mine was dirt cheap when I got it; I think it was around $75 through campmor.

I'm not a big fan of tents that are so low to the ground you need to be some sort of gymnast to get changed inside them. I am no gymnast. If I'm going camping with my wife, I take a tent that's big enough she can, and I can almost stand in. The problem with this tent is that it gets buffetted terribly by strong winds and it's got a very light frame, so it bends quite a lot and acts like a big old windsock. Then I have another tent which I only use when travelling alone, and it's about 2.5 person sized tent, and I can sort of get changed inside it, kneeling down. I bought that one specifically because the tent pole sections are small enough to get into a pannier with the tent. Most cheap tents in camping stores have very long pole lengths which makes them harder to pack on the bike. Over the past 10 years i've probably been through about half a dozen different tents, trying to find the elusive 'cheap tent which suits my needs'. Each of these tents does that. If I'm travelling solo, and I know the weather will be good, and I will only be stopping long enough to sleep, but not long enough to need a 'home' then I have a canvas swag which I throw on the back of the bike. It only takes about 2 minutes to prepare, and about 4 minutes to pack up. This is what I would use if I'm just stopping in a truck stop for a nap. It has a self inflating mattress, a pillow and a sleeping bag inside, and once unrolled, the bed is made.

Its not that easy to choose right tent. I'm with Mr. Nev. here - I hate that most tents are low inside! 120 cms internal height minimum. Also required:
- dome-shaped to withstand bad weather
- lighter than 3 kgs when packed (~7 lbs)
- alu poles as I've seen lots of poles breaking (and damaging tent's fly)
- have enough space for 2,5 persons (me+luggage+space for various work I need to do when its eg. raining)
- AND IDEALLY - when packed, length must not exceed 38/40 cms to fit into standard alu side panniers; 95% tents do not fit here, needs some custom work on poles.

Been looking long enough.. with no luck so far.

http://www.backcountry.com/nemo-equipment-inc.-morpho-2p-tent-2-person-3-season

Only $500 us , but zero poles.

I use one of these, usually for the riding I do and places I go it works well. So far I've had no problem finding a place to string it up. Also you don't have to worry about how rough the ground is. And you get rocked to sleep!

http://www.hennessyhammock.com/

For the bike, although a tent with an annex looks neat in the photos and for bragging rights at some rallies, I think the extra effort required to erect the bike annex wouldn't be worth the effort, and would eat into valuable drinking time, not to mention the bike just adds another obstacle when you're trying to get in or out of your tent. I always throw a 6'x6' tarp on the back seat under a bag on the back seat or held on by the pannier straps. The tarp with a few cable ties is sufficient to cover 1 or 2 bikes, and keep the weather or just curious eyes off it, and you never know how many other uses you can find for a tarp when you're out camping, as a ground sheet, or as a shelter, etc.

big fan of the Big Agnes down bag and pad setup - but I've had North Face Tadpole (and Tadpole 23) for decades.
I like a freestanding tent that packs to the size of a Sunday paper with alloy poles that have short sections.

Shown without the rain fly, these tents have taken me way into Canada and down to Baja

Wow! I see why there are so many typs of tents out there. Just in this thread there are huge differences in what people want in a tent. I have the Nemo Morpho 1p and it is more like a 1 1/2 person tent. I got it on clearance at REI for $175 and retail is $400. I would have returned it promptly if I had paid full price. But for $175 it's ok though I do not recommend it. The Eureka 2XT or more heavy duty REI Half Dome tents are very nice and 6 lbs is the most I would ever want to carry on my bike anyway. I have a super light 1 man MSR tent that was great in my younger days, but like most here, I like some wiggle room. Whatever you get, just make sure it is free standing and big enough inside or has a large enough vestibule to keep you and your gear dry.

Nev, do you have any photo's of the canvas swag set up? I have never seen anyone do this and I am curious.

I'm pretty sure these are just an Australian thing, so not sure of their availability elsewhere. I think they date back to the days when the stockmen would carry a canvas bed roll on the back of their horses. They've really grown in popularity in the past few years I think. At the rally where the second photo was taken about 10% of the riders were sleeping in swags, whereas in years past, everyone would carry tents.

This is the swag rolled up on the back of the bike. This one has a thick pvc base and a canvas top. It had a mattress about 2" thick in it, but I took that out and replaced it with a self inflating mattress which is about 1/2" thick. Going through my albums this is about the clearest pic of it on the back of my DL1000. That has the mattress, a pillow, and a change of clothes rolled up in it. It's about the same width as the panniers on the bike.



Haven't got too many pics of it set up ready to sleep, because I normally stop after dark and off again in the morning before daybreak.
This one has a single aluminium hoop at the head end, which keeps the top flap out of my face. It also has a zip up mosquito fly inside and then canvas over the top which velcroes up just near the hoop. On a hot night it's quite comfortable to leave the canvas top rolled down and just fall asleep looking at the stars through the mozzie net. It has a couple of lines from the top of the hoop which can be pegged to keep it in shape, but I normally just run one of these lines to somewhere on my bike to hold it in place.

Brilliant! Thanks nev. Is the canvas oiled? I see why it's getting popular. You could park, pull it off the bike, set up and go to sleep in about a minute and a half if you left in the original mattress.