I've created an album with those pages in, hopefully they can be viewed here.
If they are too small to read I can email them to you or you can buy the Trail mag when it comes out.
The 1st place tent isn't the lightest or the roomiest but taking all the criteria that the mag set into account it has come out tops, but if you want a roomier tent or a lighter tent then the test will give you a good starting point for your tent hunting. May give you some ideas and pointers you hadn't thought of, i.e. 2 entrances, handy if the weather changes direction.
------------- Tar-paullynn
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Cheers that's really helpful - i guess its going to have to be a case of going along to a few shops and trying them - its not the sort of thing i just want to order over the internet without having a proper look.
The two entrances does sound like it would be useful - the Northface Roadrunner looks like its worth investigating - although maybe not waterproof enough
If there is 2 of you going put the poles/pegs in a seperate bag so that you share the weight - just make sure you don't have a barney and one of you storms off with 1/2 a tent!!!!LOL
Hi: I to enjoy cycling i have completed the coast to coast route but we had a sherpa van which carried our tent from day to day.
How many people to you want the tent for? Millets do the pop-up tent which is 3.1KG which seems to be ideal to use as time is saved once you have had a hard day pedalling.
I bought a Macpac Nautilus while in NZ for the intention of cycle touring and tramping (kiwi for walking) and it weighs in at 3.5kg and was fine on the bike for 3,000 miles and on the back for near on 50miles without sharing the load.
Plenty of room for 1 plus panniers (4) in the tent with additional space in the vestibules for the wet and dirty gear! More than enough room for two if panniers/rucksacks left in the vestibules.
I believe that the Nautilus is now out of production but Macpac will have a replacement model that may be worth a gander - I can vouch for the build qaulity as I had to sit out the horrendous flooding in NZ during 2003 and it didn't whince to the battering. The only caveat is their tents are now produced in China as opposed to NZ but they still have to undergo the same quality testing.
Thank you all for your replies - some really useful advice. I am going to take a look at a few tents over the next week or so and will let you know what I decide on.
I've just ordered a Coleman Epsilon 2 from Outdoor Megastore for backpacking(should be here next couple of days). Weighs 2.6kg and costs £69 plus del (best price I could find anwhere).
Thank you all very much for your advice - has been really helpful. I finally bought a tent yesterday and I decided on the Jack Wolfskin tundra 2. It seems like a fairly good compromise between weight and comfort and price. It looks like it is pretty roomy and the weight - which is a bit more than I really wanted - 3.9kg is (hopefully) manageable.
I think if I end up wanted to do a lot of carrying my tent around I will get a proper lightweight one as well - maybe a Vaude.
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Topic: Weight or comfort?
