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Camping Equipment and all Clothing Tents, sleeping bags, stoves etc. Riding clothing, boots, helmets, what to wear when not riding, etc.
Photo by Sean Howman, The Pamir highway in an unseasonably cold late October, Tajikistan

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Sean Howman,
The Pamir highway in an unseasonably
cold late October, Tajikistan




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  #1  
Old 26 Mar 2009
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Strange Coat/Tent/Thing
This cropped up on a blog and I thought I'd post it here.



This is not a product yet, it's a concept, but it has some very interesting applications for motorcycle riders, specially adventure riders. You know what I mean. Going on a motorcycle trip and camping along the way. You've got pack a tent, which takes up a lot of room, sleeping bags, etc. Before you know it, you're heavily loaded, wishing that you could remove items of your bike.

More ....
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Old 26 Mar 2009
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These things are always conceptually interesting. Often they win some sort of dubious industry award and are heavily advertised on that basis. I remember several variations on wearable, down insulated bivy bags sold here in the States....but I never saw one in use--ever, anywhere. There's a reason for this.

Look at the guy in the photo. Imagine it's raining and windy, 6 degrees (C) and dark. How's he going to get out of his jacket and set it up as a tent without getting soaked through? That'll be the last time he ever relies on this particular apparatus; next time out, he'll carry either a real tent or a real foul weather jacket. End of story.

I'll add only that there are enough design and materials issues involved in making functional bivy tents without trying to make them do double duty. It's not for nothing that when I'm planning to camp, I bring a 1.5 kilo tent in preference to a 1 kilo bivy bag. Oh, and I also carry a rainproof jacket.

Mark

(just arrived home after months on the road....greeted by 6 degree (C) temps, rain, wind and general gloom)
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Old 26 Mar 2009
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I love this kind of thing precisely because of that type of reaction. Great idea but.....

Mind you the down romper suit I've actually seen, I've got one which is ex-Finnish army and is great in a slightly odd way.
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Old 26 Mar 2009
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When I was a lad I had an ex-army (Italian I think) sleeping bag that had sleaves and a bottom that opened up so you could walk and a big flappy hood that you put a hoop into to form a little tent over your head while sleeping. I did many Scout and then Army Cadet camps with it. It was great.
Unfortunatley I had to bin it after I left it rolled up wet...............for about six months !!
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Old 27 Mar 2009
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Forgot to add, the Finnish sleeping bag also has a cordura patch on the backside and down the back of the thighs which I believe is there to allow you to sledge on snow (well that's the use I put it to anyway).

But back to the tenty-coaty-thing, is there anyone who'd be tempted? I'm not certain I would.
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Old 27 Mar 2009
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Mondo Enduro dumped their tents in central asia, and used rain ponchos as tents , so it can be done, the guy going with me isn't taking a tent at all , and is taking a big rain poncho to double as water proof AND tent.

Me thinks when we get to the empty steppe of Mongolia and Kazakhstan he will want to share my tent.

A compromise are those single hoop tents they pack into a very small roll and if you replace the poles with ones I found in a camping shop you can reduce the size farther (its only that long in packing due to the poles which come in 3 pieces, I modified it by using poles I found on a scrap heap which fit into each other (you join the ends using R clips) so my tent packs down to 14x23cm.

But it isn't quite as study though and thus has to have part of it looped through the foot rests of the bike for stablity.
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Old 27 Mar 2009
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Topeak do the poleless Bikamper tent which uses cycle inner tubes to provide a frame, simply inflate to set up your tent. Even easier if you've got a small electric compressor.



Weighs 2lbs and pasks to a 10" x 5" cylinder. But it's a bit compact and bijou. more like a swag/bivibag than a tent.
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Old 28 Mar 2009
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"...the guy going with me isn't taking a tent at all , and is taking a big rain poncho to double as water proof AND tent.
Me thinks when we get to the empty steppe of Mongolia and Kazakhstan he will want to share my tent..."

Maybe he's planning on doing a Bear Grylls and finding a dead camel.
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Old 30 Mar 2009
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The Topeak tent is an interesting device. I do like the idea of making one item (in this case spare inner tubes) do more than one job. A cycle tourist will of course be carrying bicycle inner tubes anyway. But we bikers won't. Even if we do have an electric pump. I wonder if anyone has ever thought about doing a similar tent, but with m/c inner tubes. Probably not. M/c inner tubes are less suitable for this purpose, being fatter and of lesser diameter.

I'll stick with my Argos (UK) "Tiger Paws"/~ currently half price at £25 Amazon reviews (ignore the 5kg stated weight, that's rubbish, it's more like 2kg).
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Old 11 Apr 2009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Big Yellow Tractor View Post
When I was a lad I had an ex-army (Italian I think) sleeping bag that had sleaves and a bottom that opened up so you could walk
You can still get the German army ones, I saw one on e.bay today.
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