I've used a number of different tents over the years (I cycle tour) and the MSR Hubba Hubba has been the most versatile. Freestanding, spacious, well built, twin porches. Don't like the new colour but the older green option is great for wild camping.

Travelling to The Gambia last year, we pitched the MSR in skanky hotel rooms, on tarmac, in the desert and of course on grass. Superb investnent.

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+1 for the Hubba Hubba, Ive owned lots of tents over the years and currently have a 4 season VauDe, Hilleberg Nallo 2GT, Mutha Hubba, Big Agnes Copper Spur UL3 and several others, the Hubba Hubba is my "go to" tent that gets the most use. I do prefer the older green fly over the new white NX model for discreet bush camping, (mine is the burnt orange colour) the new ones are a bit lighter in weight and look ok, but they are expensive in the UK.

Series II Expedition
 

Does anyone have any good input on the Series II Expedition? It is a tent large enough to part your bike in and then more than enough room for one or two people plus gear. I live in Kyrgyzstan and while in the mountains it would be a good thing to keep the bike close and under cover. The bad, this puppy weighs in at 13 something pounds!

Tents - Series II Expedition Tent - Redverz Gear

Mac

I have and am constantly impressed with Declathon's Quickhiker Ultralight II

QuickHiker Ultralight II Hiking Tent, Grey QUECHUA - All Tents Camping - On...

It plays the same game as Vango's Banshee, but side by side seemed a better bet to me as it's a little lighter, packs a little smaller, and with some cunning little bits of wire in the corners allows 1m95 me to lie flat because you can use space right up to the edge. Also, the way you pitch it, you can lay out and peg down the inner and outer before you put the pole in to give it shape. Handy when it's rainy and windy and you don't have any friends to hold things down for you. If it's not stormy, both sides can be unzipped for maximum ventilation. Quality pegs too, plus a pole repair kit in the bag that has decent compression straps to cram it in when the fabric's wet.

Downsides? It's not a free-standing geodesic type, so you need pegs/rocks/bits of tree handy.

If you're looking for something really light with a compact pack size but don't want to drop mega money, I'd recommend the 'Zephyros 2 Lite' by wild country. Only 1.4kg (thats 3.2lbs for you weird foreigners). 40cm x 17cm pack size. Pitches in about 2 minutes. There's enough room in the porch and interior for two 25lt soft panniers and a 30lt rollbag, plus you and your riding gear, I can vouch for this.
If you shop around you can find them online for under £200.
If you want to spend even less there's the standard zephyros 2, which is still only 1.6kg, but pack size is almost 10cm longer (i'm not sure why because they are both the same dimensions when pitched.) and slightly wider.
It's a rip-off of the Hillberg atko design but at a fraction of the cost.
I done a lot of research before buying it and it was the best bang for buck i could find, if like me you're conscious about reducing weight.

I've used the Hubba, and it's good. Big Agnes has similar (less $$$) tents with the exact same design. The hubba is a small 2p tent that can't really fit 2 exped mats. The BA is slightly larger. I got rid of it because I got sick of that spider style pole system. Used to prefer free standing (doesn't need pegs) but moved to shelters (ultralight tents often single wall) to avoid tent poles altogether. You can use the bike (if you have 2) or use trees, or hiking poles (when hiking obviously). If you must use poles, some shelters are offered with lightweight/ low bulk poles and are also available by 3rd parties (I'll probably go that route; something I can use as a trail stand for changing tires etc as well). Most tent poles fold up too long, and they're bulky. None of that is good for bike packing. Low bulk and weight is everything.

There are plenty of shelter brands. I needed a 2 man for 2 people and settled on the Nemo Meta 2 which has almost vertical side walls (a big plus on tents) and can be used without poles. Sadly they've changed it to the Veda which "requires" (always depends on your resourcefulness) 4 hiking poles assuming that a 2 person tent is always used by 2 people.

My input:

Set-up time: How many nights do you camp on a trip? For me, camping every single night for months at a time means that I want something that is extremely quick to set up. A good, simple "dome" tent takes two minutes to set up in nice weather, 5 minutes in bad weather (after selecting your spot). Some tents looks fantastic but quite complicated to stake out and set-up properly.

Length: If you are tall, find a long tent. Mosquitoes can bite through a tent so it can be cramped if you can't stretch out 100% (197cm here) and you are in mosquito country..

Height/Color: If you're doing a lot of stealth camping, a lower tent will fit more easily behind roadside bushes. A darker color will be less visible at night.

I use an old REI dome tent. It's 2 person, it works comfortably for solo and passable with two people (on intimate terms). It was $45 used 5 years ago.

i lived in a cheap 1 man tent for 3 months, it treated me well packed down real small on the bike, it never leaked. It had the cheaper style ground sheeted floor which seems to prove more durable and waterproof than the lighterweight alternatives on more exspensive tents!!!

you could squuze 2 in at a push no problem but it was ideal for 1 and all the kit.

there are plenty of tents out there that pack small and weigh less than 2kg. try yellowstone matterhorn 1 (£19 delivered) or highlander blackthorn 1(£30).

The plus with buying so cheap is that you don't worry about it and at the worst you buy a new one.

Most cheap tents come with very heavy pegs so just replave these with something much lighter to save weight. I normally use the bike as an anchor point and wind break to set up camp.:scooter: