Guys and dollies (how to pitch a tent)

[Flip]

My 3 man Vango dome tent is f*ckin' awesome. Wind doesn't bother it at all. The 5 man Vango dome tent (huge porch, could stand up in) had both it's main poles snap the 1st night it went up 'cause of the wind. To large tents.

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I did start writing a post when this was first put up, but never finished it and due to my own stupidity (clicking on a "april fool's" link you're supposed to send to others lost it).

Anyway, a few comments on the original post:

[stinkwheel]

We had recorded wind speeds of 40 knots, gusting to 50 at the Simmer Dim rally this year. 30-35 knots at the Meinhoff Ace of Spades last year which is a "summer" rally in a sheltered field.

Guy ropes!
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[Shay HTFC]

Also, the guy ropes not only stop you from blowing away, but keep the inner tent away from the outer tent.

To my misfortune, I didn't have any guy ropes and after a rainy night, in a lot of places the inner had come in contact with the outer which is asking for trouble if there is anything touching the tent side.

The material isn't all that waterproof when things are pressed up against it. The surface tension or whatever gets broken, so the water can flow through. Although, that may have just been my tent
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Full Motorbike License - GS500E '95

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[flamair]

Great info on tents guys, thanks for that. I have a Coleman Adrenaline 2 which I used in the Alps this year and although it's a great tent for bike camping and fitted easily into my panniers, give me a B&B any day for ease and comfort. I tend to find that camping is twice as much effort and gear to carry than B&B's for a third of the comfort and convenience!!!
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Remember you're unique-just like everybody else..

[bikedemon99]

dont be soft, use a tarp

Yours Sincerly.... Ray Mears : inventor of the Birch bark motorcycle
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Ride safe

[owdamer]

More tips.

Campfires.

Great for sitting around, and great for warming you up. But be careful where you have them. When the fire starts popping and cracking and sending showers of glowing embers into the night air it can easily wreck your tent. It probably isn't going to burn down, but it will put burn lots of little holes into the fabric which will then let water in. Discovered this the hard way at the farmyard. Everything getting wet on the first night of a weekend isn't a good start.

Mind where you park your bike.


Probably wont make any difference at most rallies, but at somewhere like the Bulldog you can easily find yourslf blocked in as they tent to jam everyone in. Not a problem if you are happy to spend the entire weekend onsite, but a lot of people want to head into stratford for a macshit.

[Sir Black Pig]

Stinky, good offering very informed.

Good tips as well about the guy ropes, on a modern tent in summer the main corner guys, any other time all, including the storm guys.

They are the difference between a tent and a kite.

Also you mentioned the correct length for a guy, bravo sir, all to often overlooked.

As a rule of thumb, halve the guy rope by running the slider all the way to the canvas, then at the furthest end you will have found the midlength of the guy rope, hold this bit, run the slider to midlength, then hey presto you guy should be just about the right length, for the guy to be in line with seams and headers and not put undue stresses on any fabrics or poles.
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Eurotrip 2009
Sportugal 2010

[shenpen]

Great thread.

One thing to add that I don't think's been mentioned so far.... when considering what tent to buy (regardless of type) bear in mind how much room you'll really need inside.

Generalising a bit....

1-man tents are usually big enough for an average height/size bloke, but don't expect to have much space left over for your gear (or to be able to sit up).

Likewise, 2-man tents are big enough for 2 people (who know each other VERY well) without gear, or perfect for 1 person with gear. Always good to have a tent with a decent size porch for stowing away wet stuff overnight and sitting in with a brew in the mornings.

For solo camping (campsites & wild in all weathers) I've used a Vango Storm 200 (2-man) geodesic tent for several years. Quick and easy to put up, never leaked or broken, and doesn't take up much space on the bike. I don't think they make that particular model any more, but there are newer and probably even better equivalents from both Vango and Coleman.

https://www.vstromownersclub.com/Portals/0/blogphotos/hu08.jpg

Getting the balance right between having a tent spacious enough to be comfortable/useful vs. small/light enough to pack easily on a bike can be tricky, but if you can, go for a 2-man for solo camping or a 3-man if you're sharing.
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Iain Harper
V-Strom Owners Club UK
www.vstromownersclub.com

[Mudskipper]

Just to throw a spanner in the logic...

My £20 Tesco tent last Easter
https://www.yorkmotorcycletraining.co.uk/images/Various/slides/19a-400.jpg
It survived that and then went to Farmyard and Ganton Gathering.
I do plan to upgrade this year though, not pushing my luck!
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CBR125|||GSXR400|||CBR400|||CBR400|||CB250RS|||GSXR750|||CB250RS
"You're clumsy, you eat too much and you behave like a 12 year old boy. But you know what? Every once in a while, you find a thumb."

[raak]

Mudskipper....

Hardcore, sir..hardcore..
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Previous bikes: Suzuki GT250A / Yamaha DT125 / NTV Honda 650 // currently Suzuki RF900

[c-m]

After seeing some good sized tunnel tents I spent £38 on an OhVee 2 man tunnel tent for my tour of Eastern Europe. By the time I got from Norwich to London for a tournament the tent was already wrecked.

Zips broke, fiberglass (isn't this meant to be stronger than steel?) poles bent and broke, the whole tent was a nightmare.

It was very spacious for two people and full gear light weight, but wasn't really suited to the task.

Tunnel tents need to be fully guyed out all the time, there is no other way they can stand up. If you are on a campsite like the one I visited in Klon or Split the you have a major problem - rock hard ground and pegs made of cheese.

Here is how my tent looked by Croatia


https://lh3.ggpht.com/_mJuQcw6-3ws/SOOo0pwZ1VI/AAAAAAAAAUw/B5igeThLk44/s512/dscf1291.jpg?imgmax=800

I am going away again this year and bought an Aztec Esquina Plus Tent:

[img] https://www.venturesport.co.uk/images/products/product_5335.gif [/img]

It is semi geodesic with aluminum poles. It is reaonsably light and folds down to about the size of a 3 litre bottle of cider if not smaller. I expect it to serve me well this summer.[/img]

[Grazoid]

[John933]

I've done a bit of this camping lark ... And what I use as well as peg's is 6/8 inch nail's ... And a small pin hammer don't take much room ... But very handy ...
John933

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[stinkwheel]

[ms51ves3]

Halfords are doing 15% off all Gelert tents at the moment.

Clicky

I'm eyeing up the Gelert Eiger 2 Man Tent. £25.50 delivered

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[Grazoid]

[psychofox]

The tent connoisseurs may laugh, but I reckon the Pro Action Cross (£20 one from argos, which I got for a bargain price of £12) is pretty handy. Me and a mate used it while hitchiking to Morocco. It survived heavy rain, winds and a little bit of snow. A year later we took it to Benicassim festival in Spain and the ground was so hard that we couldn't get the pegs in. No problem we thought, until this happened:

https://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/content_display/industry/e3i876b1b34206deb32bc9e4abc503d161d

Came back to find our little tent exactly where we left it, while other pricier tents were on the train tracks. We had a cosy nights sleep while some of our friends had to be evacuated to a local school.

I look forward to using it again in some other totally unsuitable situation.

https://www.argos.co.uk/wcsstore/argos/images/36-3400054A67UC318917M.jpg

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[Livefast123]

Finally managed to get my new Gelert Solo out in anger for the first time in preperation for the Hyo owners club meet in Billing.

It does what it says on the bag.....it's compact and light (1.5Kgs). There is enough room inside for me and a bit of kit but everything else will have to be stored under the fly sheet.

We'll see how it copes.

https://img69.imageshack.us/img69/4086/dscf6146a.jpg

Uploaded with ImageShack.us
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Current ride - Yamaha MT-07

[gixerbill]

rule 1.
when camping at sachsenring for german motogp beware of drunk germans falling onto tent.i got back to mine in early hours to find it collapsed.after re erecting and getting some kip i was woken at 6 am by the same german shouting and offering me a beer in compensation.

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