Bought any camping gear today?

[bloomers100]

This week I bought a Eurohike backpacker from Millets for £30 for this summers foray into cyclopubcamping. All based on Rogerzillas recommendation, so if it goes wrong I'll blame him from the B and B.

[jogler]

I resisted  the temptation to order a Snugpak Hooped Bivvi
 

[Canardly]

Couple of waterproof stuff sacks from Tesco they are a decent size £8

[Butterfly]

Today a new bag, pole and some runners for the Nallo 2 arrived from the marvelous Alpenstock.  Really helpful and super-dooper service .

[mrcharly-YHT]

A forkoon from wiggle.

Stupid name. It's a spork. I'm an australian (sort of), and I shall call it a spork.

[Polar Bear]

Today a new bag, pole and some runners for the Nallo 2 arrived from the marvelous Alpenstock.  Really helpful and super-dooper service .

Alpenstock are fabulous.   Both our Hillebergs have come from them.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I have titanium, for the first time ever! (spork)

I wonder if the carabiner hooky thing is strong enough to lever off beer bottle caps?

[Feline]

I am checking out light weight camping stuff, for possible post-dunrun campage this summer. I am going to attempt to put together a whole camping set up weighting less than 5kg including the panniers.

I am lusting after this tent
   Buy Online - The definitive single person tent for lightweight travel. Updated for 2011 with a smaller pack size and improved venting.
at 720g 

Thermarest Z Lite mat at 410g (are these comfy enough to get some decent sleep on??)

Vango Ultralight 200 sleeping bag at 900g

Primus ultralight titanium gas stove 69g (dunno what the little gas cyclinder will weight)

Titanium spork ... already have 

Snowpeak titanium Trek 900 cookware set 175g

Total weight of the above 2.3kg 

[mrcharly-YHT]

Sleeping bag seems a bit heavy. Can't you make do with a bin liner and a warm companion?

[marcusjb]

I am checking out light weight camping stuff, for possible post-dunrun campage this summer. I am going to attempt to put together a whole camping set up weighting less than 5kg including the panniers.

I am lusting after this tent
   Buy Online - The definitive single person tent for lightweight travel. Updated for 2011 with a smaller pack size and improved venting.
at 720g  

Thermarest Z Lite mat at 410g (are these comfy enough to get some decent sleep on??)

Vango Ultralight 200 sleeping bag at 900g

Primus ultralight titanium gas stove 69g (dunno what the little gas cyclinder will weight)

Titanium spork ... already have  

Snowpeak titanium Trek 900 cookware set 175g

Total weight of the above 2.3kg  

Nice setup - one concern I have with the Z-lite is the pack size as it concertinas away and never goes shorter than the 51cm of it's unpacked width.  May not be a problem at all, but worth bearing in mind.  It has advantages over Prolite and so on, in that punctures are not a problem, but a Prolite regular is only about 50g heavier (and is amazingly comfy).

[Feline]

I am checking out light weight camping stuff, for possible post-dunrun campage this summer. I am going to attempt to put together a whole camping set up weighting less than 5kg including the panniers.

I am lusting after this tent
   Buy Online - The definitive single person tent for lightweight travel. Updated for 2011 with a smaller pack size and improved venting.
at 720g  

Thermarest Z Lite mat at 410g (are these comfy enough to get some decent sleep on??)

Vango Ultralight 200 sleeping bag at 900g

Primus ultralight titanium gas stove 69g (dunno what the little gas cyclinder will weight)

Titanium spork ... already have  

Snowpeak titanium Trek 900 cookware set 175g

Total weight of the above 2.3kg  

Nice setup - one concern I have with the Z-lite is the pack size as it concertinas away and never goes shorter than the 51cm of it's unpacked width.  May not be a problem at all, but worth bearing in mind.  It has advantages over Prolite and so on, in that punctures are not a problem, but a Prolite regular is only about 50g heavier (and is amazingly comfy).

This is a good point. The Z-Lite sounded good in reviews for sitting on round a camp fire etc. because it can't puncture or melt, but tbh sleeping comfort is probably a higher priority. I will take a look at the Prolite 

[marcusjb]

Packing down to a 51cm long tube may not be a great challenge mind - can be carried on top of rack etc.

I haven't sat on (or slept) on the Z-lite, so can not comment on it's comfort.

Of course, if you want really light, you can look at the Neo (I think), but it does look very fragile indeed. 

But I don't think you can go wrong with a Prolite - I've had mine a number of years (they have updated a few bits of the design since then).  Touch wood, no punctures with it and it is very comfy on all surfaces.  Pack size is very sensible (easy to fit in a pannier etc.).

On the bag - it's very light and very good value - but has the disadvantage most synthetic filled bags have (they do have some good advantages as well, so I'm not bashing synthetic!) in that the pack size is again large.  Down bags are pricey, but the pack size is amazing.

It might be better to redistribute how you spend your money and look at a lower cost tent, but a down bag?  You might be able to end up at about the same weight, but with a smaller sleeping bag pack (easier to get into pannier).  Worth playing around with.

[Tewdric]

I am checking out light weight camping stuff, for possible post-dunrun campage this summer. I am going to attempt to put together a whole camping set up weighting less than 5kg including the panniers.

I am lusting after this tent
   Buy Online - The definitive single person tent for lightweight travel. Updated for 2011 with a smaller pack size and improved venting.
at 720g 

Thermarest Z Lite mat at 410g (are these comfy enough to get some decent sleep on??)

Vango Ultralight 200 sleeping bag at 900g

Primus ultralight titanium gas stove 69g (dunno what the little gas cyclinder will weight)

Titanium spork ... already have 

Snowpeak titanium Trek 900 cookware set 175g

Total weight of the above 2.3kg 

Snugpak sleeping bags are worth checking out - they seemed to be the best lightweight ones when I bought mine.  A Jetboil stove might fit your needs too - they are so efficient you don't need to carry as much gas, which saves weight in itself.  You don't need a seperate mug or pan either.

[Feline]

I am checking out light weight camping stuff, for possible post-dunrun campage this summer. I am going to attempt to put together a whole camping set up weighting less than 5kg including the panniers.

I am lusting after this tent
   Buy Online - The definitive single person tent for lightweight travel. Updated for 2011 with a smaller pack size and improved venting.
at 720g 

Thermarest Z Lite mat at 410g (are these comfy enough to get some decent sleep on??)

Vango Ultralight 200 sleeping bag at 900g

Primus ultralight titanium gas stove 69g (dunno what the little gas cyclinder will weight)

Titanium spork ... already have 

Snowpeak titanium Trek 900 cookware set 175g

Total weight of the above 2.3kg 

Snugpak sleeping bags are worth checking out - they seemed to be the best lightweight ones when I bought mine.  A Jetboil stove might fit your needs too - they are so efficient you don't need to carry as much gas, which saves weight in itself.  You don't need a seperate mug or pan either.

Thanks, they certainly seem to go down to a very small pack size 

[PH]

The nice folks at Terra Nova talked my out of buying a competition tent.  They're very honest about the compromises made to get down to those weights, why they're worth it if you're in a fell race and what extra I'd get for the extra weight of one of their superlight range.  
I spent a not so small fortune reducing my camping kit from 18kg to 12, only to find that for me it made no difference.  The time I did the Dun Run with full camping load was quicker than the other two.  Though it might be different if there was a mountain range if Suffolk.  This is just a personal experience, I know others who say they notice every gram.  Just might be worth a bit of experimentation before you splurge the cash.
If you are gram counting there's always the Balloon Bed
balloonbed light mattress bed that packs small

Or a bit more seriously, I think the Alpkit Numo would be a good compromise between weight and comfort, 500g £40

 Outdoor Gear Shop - Alpkit

[tatanab]

I'e been cycle camping about 15 years and find that I am not too bothered about weight but more interested in pack size i.e. bulk.

Tent - Hilleberg Unna - 2 kg
Sleeping bag - RAB Quantum 400 down - 900gm
Mat - Thermarest Prolite 4 regular - 460gm
Cooking stuff - a folding gas stove that goes inside a small pan.  Titanium mug, fork and spoon.  Gas bottle.  Not a lot of bulk or weight.
Camping pillow case

Total weight, including bag, 5.5 kg which includes a few bits (some emergency rations, maybe odd maps etc) and that is with a tent that gives me lots of space and head room.

[Butterfly]

I am not too bothered about weight but more interested in pack size i.e. bulk.

I find this too. I think the extra weight is worth it for comfort - e.g. I can't sleep on a thermarest as all the ones that are reaonable thick are far too bulky and heavy, so I use a exped downmat or synmat. The tea tastes odd in my titanium pan/mug so we usually carry ordinary vango pans. I feel the cold so (when I was on my own) I use/d a sleeping bag rated to -18 comfort in winter and one rated to -12 in summer. I could get a much lighter or cheaper one but I wouldn't sleep so where's the fun in that? We use a Hilleberg Nallo 2GT because the extra space is worth the weight over the Nallo 2 that I used on my own and that TGL now uses.

Having said that, there are a lot of things that I have decided that I don't need over the years. (A towel for a weekend camp, a stool, that sort of thing).

[TimO]

Opps, not quite today, but a week ago Saturday we were in Snow and Rock getting some essential skiing gear, and noticed they had a Hilldeberg Rajd shelter going for half price (and it was a competitive £260 when full price. Just a shame it didn't qualify for our 10% discount too!) so we're now just looking for an opportunity to use it 

That is, once we've ensured we can successfully improvise some poles.

I reckon you could improvise support at one end using a bicycle.  If you run a cord out from the tent/shelter over the bike (and preferably secured to it for extra rigidity), and then down and pegged into the ground.

I'd make the cord long enough that if the bike fell over, it wouldn't puncture the tent, and you'd probably need a good strong tent peg, but if you had one other support (like a tree or fence) this could work.

You could probably support it solely using two bicycle, but I'm assuming that you may be on the Tandem, in which case that wouldn't be an option.


As regards the Laser Photon, it's not only a very lightweight tent, it's also very compact, which is as much the reason that I use it for cycle camping.  Compared to the weight of you and the bike, the camping luggage isn't all that heavier than my "normal" cycling luggage.

Laser Photons, and the variations on this theme (Laser Ultra, Laser Competition etc) seem to have been pretty common on several of the YACF camping events that I've been on.  The one issue I have with mine, is that there is a reasonably large mesh panel, that can't be covered, so I wouldn't want to use it in very cold weather, since it would let too much of the heat you'd expect to build up, escape.  Aside from that, I do OK with it.  It's not exactly spacious, and it's not ideal for sitting inside of, but I find most tents difficult to sit in, and not hit my head on the roof, so that's not a biggee!

I'll use my Ultra Quasar when I'm camping out the back of the car, but it's quite a bit heavier than the Laser Photon, and a lot bulkier, so pretty much has to be strapped on top of the rack, whereas the Laser will fit inside a pannier, including it's poles, and still leave room for other stuff.  The Quasar would fill an entire pannier, and I'd still need to strap the poles somewhere else.

[TimO]

I got some Tritium light tags yesterday (aka Betalights), which are rather impressively neat.  I've got one on my keys, and I think I'll put the other one on the tents zip, to aid finding it in a dark campsite.

They aren't the brightest things in the world, but the fact that they'll operate continuously for a decade is rather cool (although I suspect they'll be getting a bit dim by that point).

After all the above tent discussions, I'm now lusting after a Hilleberg Soulo.

[Luke]

...

As regards the Laser Photon, it's not only a very lightweight tent, it's also very compact, which is as much the reason that I use it for cycle camping.  Compared to the weight of you and the bike, the camping luggage isn't all that heavier than my "normal" cycling luggage.

Laser Photons, and the variations on this theme (Laser Ultra, Laser Competition etc) seem to have been pretty common on several of the YACF camping events that I've been on.  The one issue I have with mine, is that there is a reasonably large mesh panel, that can't be covered, so I wouldn't want to use it in very cold weather, since it would let too much of the heat you'd expect to build up, escape.  Aside from that, I do OK with it.  It's not exactly spacious, and it's not ideal for sitting inside of, but I find most tents difficult to sit in, and not hit my head on the roof, so that's not a biggee!

I'll use my Ultra Quasar when I'm camping out the back of the car, but it's quite a bit heavier than the Laser Photon, and a lot bulkier, so pretty much has to be strapped on top of the rack, whereas the Laser will fit inside a pannier, including it's poles, and still leave room for other stuff.  The Quasar would fill an entire pannier, and I'd still need to strap the poles somewhere else.

The mesh panel in the Laser competition can be covered. 

[Feline]

The reason I am so bothered about minimising weight isn't so much me cycling with it, but I am planning to do this on my Sabbath September ti audax bike that isn't a touring bike, although does have rack mounts and a 36 spoke rear wheel so should be fine for a light load. I have no plans to buy a touring bike at this point but would like the option of doing some very lightweight or credit card touring

[PH]

We all set our own criteria, but you shouldn't have any concerns about you bike being able to carry a reasonable amount of camping gear.  If you have any doubts a phone call to Sabbath should dispel them.

[Butterfly]

The reason I am so bothered about minimising weight isn't so much me cycling with it, but I am planning to do this on my Sabbath September ti audax bike that isn't a touring bike, although does have rack mounts and a 36 spoke rear wheel so should be fine for a light load. I have no plans to buy a touring bike at this point but would like the option of doing some very lightweight or credit card touring

But you are a wee slip. Think about the difference in weight between you and the other riders who might be out on a Sabbath September and you will see that you can carry pretty much what you like up to about 50 kgs .

[cycleman]

maybe a trailer might work. for occasional touring it will not effect the bike and there are some good ones about

[YahudaMoon]

Mmm sounds like the Sabbath is a audax bike and not a touring bike. Ain't touring bikes built stronger for more weight ?

So what is the difference anyway between a audax/touring bike frame/bike ?