(tents) how heavy is heavy ?

[Aushiker]

One thing to watch out for on these lightweight tents is how much area a folded tent takes up. Some of these lightweight tents use these fibreglass twisty stays and fold into a bag bigger that's quite a bit bigger than a wheel. Can be hazardous if you're out somewhere windy.

Are you talking about tents here or beach shelters? I have never seen nor heard any lightweight tents as described.

Regards
Andrew

 

[totolacoste]

Are you talking about tents here or beach shelters? I have never seen nor heard any lightweight tents as described.

I think he's referring to those '3 second' efforts that indeed look like huge wheels..

 

[Aushiker]

except the floor seems worryingly weak, but i am sure it was some kind of anti tear material.

If the tent or more specifically the floor is made of silicon coated nylon (sinylon) you will find it is very thin but actually quite tough. They are however slippery and if you use a Therm-a-Rest or similiar you will find they slide around a fair bit.

You can overcome this problem by running lines of silcone seam sealer along the floor. It acts like a "grip" reducing the slipperyness of the floor.

Regards
Andrew

 

[totolacoste]

way too heavy for solo touring unless you are a real glutton for punishment or hoping to gather a harem en route!

Heh .. you read my mind.

 

[psiclist]

The plan is to hit Montpellier by train from Paris, and then to ride from there, down the coast to Cerbères and then into Spain.

Depending on how much energy we have left, we then head down to Barcelona and if we're still feeling brave, we head back up to Andorra.

That's a fair bit of riding, which brings me to another question if I may: is that too long? I've calculated that even if I'm riding for eight hours a day at a leisurely 18-20 mph, that still allows me to do 144 - 160 miles in a day. Is this achievable?

In answer to the question: how fit are you?, I'm 40 but have been a lifelong cyclist albeit mainly commuting and riding around Paris and its environs.

144-160 MILES/day?????? @ 18-20 mph? How far are you going? Is it totally flat? Are you guaranteed a tailwind? Do you average 300+ miles/week at 20+ mph now? Sounds optimistic to me. For an unloaded commuter rider on a loaded tour with hills, I would say 50-75 miles per day would be more realistic. But it sounds fabulous. Good luck! BTW, my 3 person tent is about 2kg. Room enough for another person and our gear.

 

[totolacoste]

144-160 MILES/day?????? @ 18-20 mph? How far are you going? Is it totally flat? Are you guaranteed a tailwind? Do you average 300+ miles/week at 20+ mph now? Sounds optimistic to me. For an unloaded commuter rider on a loaded tour with hills, I would say 50-75 miles per day would be more realistic. But it sounds fabulous. Good luck! BTW, my 3 person tent is about 2kg. Room enough for another person and our gear.

Well like I say, this is my first trip ....

 

[geoffs]

Well like I say, this is my first trip ....

Well at the end of my first 6month tour around Europe, I was managing distances like this with no problem at all and on my best day I did 230kms which included three Cols. I was riding fully laden and even carrying everything.

But.............
I had been touring for 6 months and was seriously fit.
It was cold and I was riding back to meet some friends so I had a schedule to meet.
Doing that kind of distance means you need a huge amount of food as fuel. Trying to eat enough becomes a challenge in itself.
Forget about stopping of to see interesting things along the way. You wont have time.
If you are planning to do the Raid Pyreneen great (why would you need a 9.4 kg tent to do this?) but if you are touring then.........

Enjoy yourself. Touring is great way to see things and to meet the locals.
It makes you a traveller not a tourist.
Plan on averaging 80 to 100kms a day with a day or 2 off each week somewhere nice that you'd like to explore.

Cheers

Geoff

 

[vinyl_theif]

HI. I cycled from London to Barcelonna (then Majorca) in May/June this year & my tent was too small! I used a coleman, i forgot the name but it was kinda like a coffin tent with a sloping top, quick to errect but limited space! your 9Kg sounds way too big for one person, i'd strongly reccomend a free standing dome tent(no skewers), i saw some tourers at a camp sit this year set up under a large roofed canopy, in the dry, while i was out in the rain (it rained every day while touring!!) advantage of a free standing tent you can errect them on concrete or any hard surface that you find under shelter!

Your 160miles a day is acheivable but with a 9kg tent + supplies your statring to add undue weight, keep it light & you can keep your daily mileage up then.
I managed Ax Les Thermes to Barcelona in a day (146 miles) via the N152.
Take over shoes as i got DRENCHED form a local shower just coming out the Pyrenees
Mark. UK

 

[bikehippy]

I'd say that's insanely heavy for a touring tent, although the link you posted doesn't work any more so I can't see what you get for that weight.

I use a Terra Nova Laserlarge 1, which was originally bought for 2 people - it gets a little cramped like that but but when I tour alone it is pretty spacious. Not so huge that I'd want to sit around in it all day but I've got other things to be doing anyway and there's lots of room for me and all my stuff. It weighs 1.6kg and I can fit that plus all my clothes in a rear pannier.

 

[jstava]

Anything in the vicinity of 9 kg sounds way heavy unless it's going to be shared by 4 people, and take care of your every need.

I have 3 tents. A trusty old double walled 2 person single poled tent with ropes, and a large vestibule. Stand up to any weather, and is dry, at 4 Kg. then there is the .9kg Black Wolf single. Great if the weather is reliably fine, I not, I'd need to pack some other form of shelter too. In the middle is the Double Coleman, somewhere around 2.4 kg. It's big, but has no vestibule, really, so another bit of shelter is useful. It's the extra bit of shelter that complicates things, both procedurally and from the point of view of packing/space and.

A little overkill when bicycle touring is OK. You are not carrying it on your back. And more tent than what you need for the conditions gives additional space or protection from elements and simplifies the "camp".