Cycling

I’m Still Wanted!

Iain – the guy I stayed with in Deal before setting off for the continent along the Eurovelo 5 – has been busy advising me on Reggie’s refit (thanks for that Iain – very useful). He’s also emailed with a question about tents;

Hello Andrew, a quick question for you about your tent. How did you get on with it? Would you recommend it to anyone? I’m looking for a lighter one man tent for myself and had picked that out as good weight and design and affordable at ยฃ150. I’m planning on a week in Switzerland at end of September hopefully it won’t be too cold then!

I did a lot of research about tents (click here for all the posts tagged with “tent”) before I eventually plumped for the Vango Helium 100 (which is currently, incidentally, screwed up and on top of the wardrobe in the spare room). Would I recommend it? Yes, I think I would; it was very easy to put up, very light to carry, kept me dry, didn’t break, dried quickly… Can’t really fault it apart from the vertical height. I had read about this being an issue before I left for the trek across Europe and occasionally, when it was pouring with rain, I did look jealously at the people (some of them cyclists) who had packed a bigger tent. But it was never more than a fleeting regret.

The competition was the (appropriately-named)ย Laser Competition – the one that the hard-core long-distance cyclists like Mark Beaumont use –ย but that was much more than ยฃ150. I think the Helium was about ยฃ150, certainly not more than ยฃ200. So yes, I’d say go for the Helium. There is a slightly larger version available – the Helium 200 (mine is a 100) – which may be better if you have persuaded Carly to go with you to Switzerland…..

Categories: Cycling

Tagged as: ,

2 replies »

  1. Cheers! Think I’ll go for that then. I’ve got a Vango tempest 200 http://www.vango.co.uk/tents/tempest-200.html for our dual adventures and is spot on for a bit more space with the storage at the entry but is too heavy really for me on my own. And Carly will be in Tunisia teaching Yoga when I’m away so it’s a solo trip this time!

What do you think?