last year I used a small 2 berth tent, however you needed to lay out the groundsheet and peg it in with 8 pegs

Edited by rapheal glynn - 22 Apr 2012 at 12:18

top man

the Blacks Aquilla we got from a tent show for £39 instead of £120 is brill, big enough and easy to put up take down came with led lights too .... well worth keeping an eye on tent shows for a bargain

I have just been nosing at the cotswold camping website they do videos of most of the tents showing them being assembled

I bought a Khyam Compact Plus, it cost all of £35 (which might just fit your budget), and is a two man tent. It weighs all of 2.5 kilos, and packs up small enough (about 35 x 15 cm) to fit inside the pannier (leaving lots of space for more). It takes little more than 10 mins to erect, two bendy poles threaded through the flysheet, then the inner complete with groundsheet goes in after. The benefit of this is that you can pack the inner away dry if it's raining. Don't go for a single skin tent, they may not be as waterproof, and suffer more from condensation (and are colder too). You could get one of these new pop up tents, self erecting in 2 seconds, though they take a longer fight to pack up. Also they pack into a circular bag, about 55cm dia. which would be difficult to carry on a bike. But they are double skinned. Mind you, if you want it for two people then you need to look for a three man tent.

Edited by Brian UK - 23 Apr 2012 at 22:20

Try looking at the Vango omega 350,good size sleeping area for 2 + big porch for pannier storage,cooking etc,good quality alloy poles too.

We have a Vango 450 which is piece of cake to put up, and has loads of room for us and our gear- handy if the weather is poor. We got ours ex display for £60. Weighs about 7kgs and packs up reasonably compact.

this site is worth a look

Edited by guzzibear - 26 Apr 2012 at 12:03

I have a Gelrt Nankina which I have had for a few years only weighs 2.5kg and at less than £30 a bargain. It takes less than 5 minutes to pitch and is totally waterproof. I wouldn't want to sleep with two people in one, but it is perfect for one plus storage for kit.

http://www.campmania.co.uk/Item--0-cat-0-brand-427-Gelert_Nakina_Plus.aspx

great

Edited by rapheal glynn - 27 Apr 2012 at 11:17

I've spotted the nordkapp tents as well - they look good, (reassuringly expensive too), but I have never seen one in the flesh, or on my tent shop... Ebay

just been looking at the vango it looks very good

Oh god yes, trying to cram to peole and two lots of bike kit into a too small tent is bad enough... And if the bike gear is sodden its infinitely worse

You need sufficient room inside the tent for the gear, because if it rains and it's left I. The awning it can end up soaked...
Actually, if you come back plastered and forget to take the stuff into the tent fro. The awning it ends up drenched, as we found in mandello - oooops

at one time it was a simple matter of going into a few camping shops and comparing prices but these days there are just too many different brands and model sizes it can be a very time consuming thing to do, the good news is at this time of year there are a lot of tent outlets doing big displays of their ranges, just google 'tent displays' followed by your location and you should get a good list of places to vist,
one other problem now is the fact that tent manufactors are now more and more moving their production to China,  last year my  old Vango Force Ten survived a very wet and very windy winter rally high up in Todmorden, but a couple of newer Force Tens got ripped, my tent was about 18 years old the damaged ones were only a year or so old, my tent had a label with 'Vango Force Ten' 'Made in Scotland'  their tents just had 'Vango Force Ten' but the 'Made in Scotland' bit was missing, going on the internet last night I did notice a good few remarks on camping forums re "the poor quality control" with some  (but not all)Vangos, not only Force Tens, and many fingers being pointed to the fact that they are not made in Glasgow anymore, likewise with  some other brands.

 I decided after the Wiltshire branch camping wekend that I am getting to old to crawl in and out of a small tent so today I went into my local camping outlet in Blackburn, ( Outdoor Action) the good news was that both the  very helpfull staff members were motorcyclists who did a good amount of camping and knew their stuff, they both have used Force Tens for  years but after the Todmorden weekend I am not sure if I want to pay £435 for a Chinese Vango,  the tent they both did rate for a motorcycle use was a brand unknown to me 'Robens Light Dreamer'  and they had one on display, £175, it has good reviews on a lot of innernet camping forums,
maybe a good idea would be to list all the tents on this thread and whilst going around as many tent displays as you can look out for these brands,   take your time, re-read the posts above and dont panic! you will get there in time.                          


Edited by northwest - 08 May 2012 at 23:32

Originally posted by Brian UK was that this one Bob? £110 at Cotswold Outdoor with free delivery.

minus club discount?