Yes, it's from the 2013 Elephant.

I can understand why the manufacturers continually strive to shave off the odd gram here and there and shout it from the rooftops when next year's marketing push is in full swing but for the type of camping I do the drawbacks are more obvious than the benefits. If you're manhauling the tent and spending the night on a flat site with benign weather then chop away - every bit you don't have to carry is to the good. But it's been a while since I last did that. If the bike is taking the weight strain I'd rather have a bit more solidity in the tent. Many of the ultra lightweights also cut the dimensions to cut the weight but I've also given up on tents that feel claustrophobic inside. If I can't sit up without hitting the walls or the top it's not for me.

We were looking at tents yesterday trying to work out what dimensions our US purchase tent should be and the fragility of some of the materials used in some tents was quite surprising. And these were not Chinese no namers, but stuff from some of the mainstream players. Groundsheets so thin that unless you're camping on a bowls green you'll puncture it might shave a few grams off but having to add a "footprint" to protect it doesn't do much for the weight. It does however do quite a bit for the retailers bank balance as it's something else to sell you now that extended warranties are out of fashion.

The groundsheet of the tent I used on the 2013 Elephant rally was of the save a few grams type - and guess what, it leaked. I don't want this to turn into more of a (mini) rant than it is but having a groundsheet made of thinner material than the flysheet doesn't strike me as the best of design decisions.

Years ago I always intended to do some winter bike rallies using a kids Wendy house as a tent but the ones I could find were too small to stretch out inside. For years I kept an eye out for the aspirational middle class Wendy house with attached garage but without much success. At least the walls etc were made of pvc so with the addition of a Poundland tarp as a groundsheet it would probably be more weatherproof than some of the ones I saw yesterday.