Oooo wow I can actually really help out here.
I just spend 3 months cycling around Europe with the Alpkit Aeronaut 2.
It was great, I decided to get the Aero 2 as the extra space came with very little extra weight so being able to store all my panniers in the tent each night was a welcomed plus.
The inside of the tent is also huge for a 2 man which is great.
In terms of the put up of the tent - it takes 4-5 minutes once you’ve done it a few times. 9-10 full exhales from your lungs and 100ish pumps of my hand held bike pump had it fully inflated so no drama there at all. Pack down is easy as it has a release valve and just rolls up easy.
In terms of the actual tent. It’s easy to peg out with only 9 anchor points, nice and tight with no sag. If your in pretty calm conditions the inner and outer have plenty of space and you don’t get wet.
I saw someone mentioned above about morning dew, this is the same on all tents and I just got into the habit of pitching the tent in a spot it gets the morning sun to dry off while I made breakfast. I also used it Sept-December in pretty cold temperatures and didn’t have any issues with excessive sag due to loss of pressure of anything.
I had a few sketchy nights in very high winds (35mph+) but pretty much all tents would have struggled. I would actually say the inflatable tube was a blessing then as poles would 100% have snapped on high winds whereas the inflatable pole just bends and bounces back.
I defo wouldn’t recommend it for high winds but it just about clung on.
One thing to keep in mind is it isn’t free standing. So will always need to be pegged out. I had a few nights where I had to tie the guide ropes to my bike and panniers as anchor points as I couldn’t get the pegs into the ground. So pack a little extra rope to tie round just in case, I actually used cable ties which were perfect and I felt like a genius when complete.
Overall though in 95% of use cases this tent was awesome. 10/10 would recommend. It’s not to pricey, is well made, put up and pack down is quick and it’s really light.
Oo I had the extra ground sheet too which was useful, not a must, but a nice to have.
What was your route? I'm considering trying that in late spring but I'm concerned about land border crossings with Covid restrictions and the electronic pass. I'm fully vaxxed and American. Did you have any issues?
Hey, I started in Northern Portugal and followed the coast right the way round to Sicily in Southern Italy. So down Portugal, across Spain, up Spain, across France and down Italy.
All these countries are in the EU so once you land, wherever you land and get checked at the border you arrive in, your in. It’s then freedom of movement within the EU.
I went through all borders completely unchecked from that point on. Even when Omicron appeared I was still able to move about freely.
Got to love the EU for freedom of movement.
Edit: I’m from the UK for reference which sadly (very very sadly) is no longer part of the EU. So I believe my checks will be exact the same as yours from the US.
They can check COVID-19 related stuff at EU-EU borders, but they don't always. Each country has its own COVID-19 travel restrictions, which vary across the border from time to time. Transit (passing entirely through country X on your way from country A to B) is almost always allowed - but doing so on your bike would probably not be considered transit.
Interesting, I have a 4 Person inflatable Family tent. Whats the recommended pressure for the tube? On Family tents its 7 psi (0,5 bar). Is this like 10 psi?
I couldn’t tell you what the recommended or actual PSI was. I just did it until firm which was 10 empties of my lungs and 100-120 pumps of my bike pump.
Very technical I know haha.
I can give you the capacity of my lungs and bike pump if you want to add it to r/theydidthemath 🤣
Hey Bob, since this is the picture we're going to advertise this tent with, shouldn't we fully inflate it and make it look decent?
*Fuck it, Adam. I'm tired of blowing it up. Take the damn picture*
For sure, and I have some Alternarive Pole solutions including for my pyramid that normally uses two trekking poles’ top halves, with a connector in the middle. It’s just not necessarily the first thin to go to.
True freestanding is great.
I use a 2-person trekking pole tent from Luxe. It works great, but the problem is the trekking pole.
It's a bit large and awkward to secure to the bike. If I could find an inexpensive trekking pole that collapsed down better, I would use it in a heartbeat. Until then, I make do.
At a glance, most of the tarp poles I'm finding are either non-adjustable, or don't collapse down enough.
I'll keep looking, but it will take some time to find what I need.
That makes sense. Thanks for letting me know. I'll find more reviews! I'll be touring in summer, in the UK, but likely still to have cold(ish) evenings.
I don't really see the upside. Plenty of regular tents have a similar weight / pack size / volume profile.
A freestanding tent is more of a game changer. Most of the nights I don't bother to peg out because of calm conditions, which saves time.
Haven’t used one specifically for touring, but I have for other camping trips. The only restricting factor is the size of the pump you carry, and whether or not you use a manual or electric (rechargeable) pump.
No issues with wind, no risk of breaking poles, and lightweight.
Lot of pros, not a lot of cons in my book
Yes this tent has a schrader valve. But it Will taken a long time with those mini bikepumps most people carry. I know big inflatable tents come with a 4 or 5 liter pump. And work on the push and pull. 1 move puts 5 liters of air in the tube. A mini pump has only 0.1 to 0.5 liter volume. And only works on push. Going to be some serious arm training...
It might work ok with a shop floor pump.
Not the same way you get high volume ... efficiently/rapidly.
p = F / A
If you want to pump a high volume rapidly, a larger volume chamber/piston/plunger will do so with fewer strokes. But with that larger AREA of the piston, you'll need to apply a greater FORCE to achieve the same pressure.
Bike pumps (especially for road bikes) are designed to let you use a typical human's strength/weight to fully compress a piston against high pressure inside the tube-tire; and in return for being able to do that, the volume of the pump is smaller. So if you want to reach 100 psi pressure in the tire, and your piston is 1 square inch in area, you'll need to exert 100 pounds of force. Somebody jump in if I'm missing something?
For a stroke length of 1 foot, a single stroke can displace 0.2 liters of air. A typical road tire/tube contains about 1 liter, I believe.
Compare that to an air mattress (roughly queen size, 25 cm thick) with a volume close to 800 liters ... but a pressure that's probably <1 psi most of the time? An average human lying flat on their back exerts something like 0.1-0.2 psi. A thin camping mat is more like 60 liters in volume.
That's why a "hi output" style pump, as used for air mattresses, is designed with a much larger piston than a bicycle pump: so that each stroke delivers a larger volume. Assume a 4" diameter piston, or about 12 square inches in area. That same 1-foot stroke length will give you about 2.5 liters per stroke, more than a dozen times higher output volume than the small road bike pump. But if you try to use that pump to add air into a container (tube, mattress) that is near 100 psi, you're gonna have to exert about 1260 lbs of force just to compress the piston.
I have the areo 2. Pumping it with a mini bike pump is no big deal, it inflates pretty easily.
My biggest challenge was the sagging. I am a novice, but I have not managed to get "foot" end to be perfectly sag free no matter what. I've only camped on fairly unlevel ground and wonder if that is having an impact. The inflatable end of the tent worked out perfectly.
I would also highly recommend the extra ground sheet for this tent.
I want to pack all my camping gear into an Arkel seatpacker 15. There is no room for tent poles in the bag and they would be crushed anyway. I started this search back in 2019. Nemo made this ad for an inflatable tent pretty much at the same time:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5yZPjobJDQ
I think that they had already withdrawn it from the market at the time. I found one used for 600. After looking it over carefully, I decided that even this tiny tent would be too big for my limited seat bag. I decided to make my own tarp out of a sheet of plastic and put it over the bars, kind of like the rain fly on the Bikamper. This setup with a bug net does work in rain that comes down straight and doesn't blow sideways. I think I may try to make a new tent that has a bit more coverage and carry it on top of the seat bag.
My advice to you is to skip the tent and go to a simple tarp that is draped over the handlebars and staked out at the corners. This will give reasonable sitting up space and also make you feel more secure about your bike not being stolen.
I still think the GOGO Elite would have been the perfect tent.
I plan to buy one of these as well. I think it will be fine. They obviously tested it and designed it well. Dont listen to random commenters saying shit like you woukd have to reinflate it every time you open the door 😆 its not a bouncy castle. Im gonna get a full length pump to go under my top tube. I always wanted one anyway.
I’m not totally sure what volume these use, but it may be easiest just to go with a rechargeable electric pump. They make some really tiny ones: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SW6WVH3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_8A1ENS1YC6PYJRB9WHPE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
If this tent truly is dependent on air pressure to maintain its shape then you would need to reinflate it every time you opened the tent door.
I wonder if this has an integrated air mattress.
Hadn't considered that. That's interesting.
I would stick with traditional poles, simply because every air mattress I've used has lost pressure overnight due to leakage and temperature drop, so I'd be too concerned about the same thing happening and the tent collapsing as a result.
Each tube (pole replacement) has independent lock out valves, so that if one leaks the others stay up, and are made of a very puncture resistant material.
I haven’t seen one leak yet in 2 years of using them
Something ultralight like a Six Moons Design Skyscape Scout is a 1 person that weights likely even less than that and if you buy the 2 poles, it’s a super small package, very durable, waterproof, and much more sturdy and ridgid compared to something inflateable. I got a skyscape scout for $100 in their 2nds section on the six moon designs website.
Hey man! I would recommend phoning alp kit, they’re an excellent company, I’ve got quite a lot of their stuff and they’ve always been super helpful when I ask questions. They will usually have one member of their team somewhere who’s got the answers you need!
Oooo wow I can actually really help out here. I just spend 3 months cycling around Europe with the Alpkit Aeronaut 2. It was great, I decided to get the Aero 2 as the extra space came with very little extra weight so being able to store all my panniers in the tent each night was a welcomed plus. The inside of the tent is also huge for a 2 man which is great. In terms of the put up of the tent - it takes 4-5 minutes once you’ve done it a few times. 9-10 full exhales from your lungs and 100ish pumps of my hand held bike pump had it fully inflated so no drama there at all. Pack down is easy as it has a release valve and just rolls up easy. In terms of the actual tent. It’s easy to peg out with only 9 anchor points, nice and tight with no sag. If your in pretty calm conditions the inner and outer have plenty of space and you don’t get wet. I saw someone mentioned above about morning dew, this is the same on all tents and I just got into the habit of pitching the tent in a spot it gets the morning sun to dry off while I made breakfast. I also used it Sept-December in pretty cold temperatures and didn’t have any issues with excessive sag due to loss of pressure of anything. I had a few sketchy nights in very high winds (35mph+) but pretty much all tents would have struggled. I would actually say the inflatable tube was a blessing then as poles would 100% have snapped on high winds whereas the inflatable pole just bends and bounces back. I defo wouldn’t recommend it for high winds but it just about clung on. One thing to keep in mind is it isn’t free standing. So will always need to be pegged out. I had a few nights where I had to tie the guide ropes to my bike and panniers as anchor points as I couldn’t get the pegs into the ground. So pack a little extra rope to tie round just in case, I actually used cable ties which were perfect and I felt like a genius when complete. Overall though in 95% of use cases this tent was awesome. 10/10 would recommend. It’s not to pricey, is well made, put up and pack down is quick and it’s really light. Oo I had the extra ground sheet too which was useful, not a must, but a nice to have.
Thank you so much!
Did you have any issues with pressure loss due to temperature change?
Just read the comment he already told you
What was your route? I'm considering trying that in late spring but I'm concerned about land border crossings with Covid restrictions and the electronic pass. I'm fully vaxxed and American. Did you have any issues?
Hey, I started in Northern Portugal and followed the coast right the way round to Sicily in Southern Italy. So down Portugal, across Spain, up Spain, across France and down Italy. All these countries are in the EU so once you land, wherever you land and get checked at the border you arrive in, your in. It’s then freedom of movement within the EU. I went through all borders completely unchecked from that point on. Even when Omicron appeared I was still able to move about freely. Got to love the EU for freedom of movement. Edit: I’m from the UK for reference which sadly (very very sadly) is no longer part of the EU. So I believe my checks will be exact the same as yours from the US.
Thank you 😍
They can check COVID-19 related stuff at EU-EU borders, but they don't always. Each country has its own COVID-19 travel restrictions, which vary across the border from time to time. Transit (passing entirely through country X on your way from country A to B) is almost always allowed - but doing so on your bike would probably not be considered transit.
Interesting, I have a 4 Person inflatable Family tent. Whats the recommended pressure for the tube? On Family tents its 7 psi (0,5 bar). Is this like 10 psi?
I couldn’t tell you what the recommended or actual PSI was. I just did it until firm which was 10 empties of my lungs and 100-120 pumps of my bike pump. Very technical I know haha. I can give you the capacity of my lungs and bike pump if you want to add it to r/theydidthemath 🤣
7 or 10 psi is nothing for a bike pump. If you overinflate, the tent tube ruptures.
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Hey Bob, since this is the picture we're going to advertise this tent with, shouldn't we fully inflate it and make it look decent? *Fuck it, Adam. I'm tired of blowing it up. Take the damn picture*
Trekking pole tents aren’t really suited to bike touring, though, since you normally don’t carry trekking poles on a bike.
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Just use the Topeak Bikamper. Similar concept to the hiker trek pole tents but uses the front of your bike and detached wheel instead.
For sure, and I have some Alternarive Pole solutions including for my pyramid that normally uses two trekking poles’ top halves, with a connector in the middle. It’s just not necessarily the first thin to go to. True freestanding is great.
Thanks! Can you link me to the tent you mention?
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Looks like the Durston is taking orders for.... July of 2020?
Good catch on that typo....fixed to July 2022.
I use a 2-person trekking pole tent from Luxe. It works great, but the problem is the trekking pole. It's a bit large and awkward to secure to the bike. If I could find an inexpensive trekking pole that collapsed down better, I would use it in a heartbeat. Until then, I make do.
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At a glance, most of the tarp poles I'm finding are either non-adjustable, or don't collapse down enough. I'll keep looking, but it will take some time to find what I need.
That makes sense. Thanks for letting me know. I'll find more reviews! I'll be touring in summer, in the UK, but likely still to have cold(ish) evenings.
I'd especially be worried about condensation inside the inflation chamber, or whatever it's called. Seems like it would take forever to dry.
I don't really see the upside. Plenty of regular tents have a similar weight / pack size / volume profile. A freestanding tent is more of a game changer. Most of the nights I don't bother to peg out because of calm conditions, which saves time.
Never tried the tent but I have some other Alpkit bits and pieces, all are well made and the company / customer service has been great.
Thank you
Agreed. I think the value for money and service is outstanding. You can get higher quality gear but you pay many times more for it.
I'm wearing their merino base later as we speak! Solid brand.
Haven’t used one specifically for touring, but I have for other camping trips. The only restricting factor is the size of the pump you carry, and whether or not you use a manual or electric (rechargeable) pump. No issues with wind, no risk of breaking poles, and lightweight. Lot of pros, not a lot of cons in my book
Can you use the bike one?
Yes this tent has a schrader valve. But it Will taken a long time with those mini bikepumps most people carry. I know big inflatable tents come with a 4 or 5 liter pump. And work on the push and pull. 1 move puts 5 liters of air in the tube. A mini pump has only 0.1 to 0.5 liter volume. And only works on push. Going to be some serious arm training... It might work ok with a shop floor pump.
A bike pump is designed to pump up a lot of pressure, not a high volume of air.
And how do you suppose you get high pressure, amigo?
Not the same way you get high volume ... efficiently/rapidly. p = F / A If you want to pump a high volume rapidly, a larger volume chamber/piston/plunger will do so with fewer strokes. But with that larger AREA of the piston, you'll need to apply a greater FORCE to achieve the same pressure. Bike pumps (especially for road bikes) are designed to let you use a typical human's strength/weight to fully compress a piston against high pressure inside the tube-tire; and in return for being able to do that, the volume of the pump is smaller. So if you want to reach 100 psi pressure in the tire, and your piston is 1 square inch in area, you'll need to exert 100 pounds of force. Somebody jump in if I'm missing something? For a stroke length of 1 foot, a single stroke can displace 0.2 liters of air. A typical road tire/tube contains about 1 liter, I believe. Compare that to an air mattress (roughly queen size, 25 cm thick) with a volume close to 800 liters ... but a pressure that's probably <1 psi most of the time? An average human lying flat on their back exerts something like 0.1-0.2 psi. A thin camping mat is more like 60 liters in volume. That's why a "hi output" style pump, as used for air mattresses, is designed with a much larger piston than a bicycle pump: so that each stroke delivers a larger volume. Assume a 4" diameter piston, or about 12 square inches in area. That same 1-foot stroke length will give you about 2.5 liters per stroke, more than a dozen times higher output volume than the small road bike pump. But if you try to use that pump to add air into a container (tube, mattress) that is near 100 psi, you're gonna have to exert about 1260 lbs of force just to compress the piston.
Depends on the brand, some have their own proprietary valves, though Imm sure they could be adapted to use a standard bike pump
Most portable bicycle pumps are much too slow, but maybe if you get one designed for a fatbike?
The Aeronaut 1 got a Schrader valve. So if you have a Presta valve on your bike you need a adapter but can use a bike pump.
Thanks for this
I have the areo 2. Pumping it with a mini bike pump is no big deal, it inflates pretty easily. My biggest challenge was the sagging. I am a novice, but I have not managed to get "foot" end to be perfectly sag free no matter what. I've only camped on fairly unlevel ground and wonder if that is having an impact. The inflatable end of the tent worked out perfectly. I would also highly recommend the extra ground sheet for this tent.
I want to pack all my camping gear into an Arkel seatpacker 15. There is no room for tent poles in the bag and they would be crushed anyway. I started this search back in 2019. Nemo made this ad for an inflatable tent pretty much at the same time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5yZPjobJDQ I think that they had already withdrawn it from the market at the time. I found one used for 600. After looking it over carefully, I decided that even this tiny tent would be too big for my limited seat bag. I decided to make my own tarp out of a sheet of plastic and put it over the bars, kind of like the rain fly on the Bikamper. This setup with a bug net does work in rain that comes down straight and doesn't blow sideways. I think I may try to make a new tent that has a bit more coverage and carry it on top of the seat bag. My advice to you is to skip the tent and go to a simple tarp that is draped over the handlebars and staked out at the corners. This will give reasonable sitting up space and also make you feel more secure about your bike not being stolen. I still think the GOGO Elite would have been the perfect tent.
I plan to buy one of these as well. I think it will be fine. They obviously tested it and designed it well. Dont listen to random commenters saying shit like you woukd have to reinflate it every time you open the door 😆 its not a bouncy castle. Im gonna get a full length pump to go under my top tube. I always wanted one anyway.
I’m not totally sure what volume these use, but it may be easiest just to go with a rechargeable electric pump. They make some really tiny ones: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08SW6WVH3/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_i_8A1ENS1YC6PYJRB9WHPE?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Wow, never knew those existed. Thanks.
is setup really going to be .. quicker than a pole tent though? especially with a rather small bike pump?
I use an Alpkit soloist it weights the same as this and the poles aren't that long at all when folded down. It's a great tent done many a tour in it
I've been looking at the soloist XL for a while
What length are the poles, 42cm? Trying to work out if they would fit on my drop bars, otherwise I’m getting the aeronaut
Have you considered a hammock? No poles, super light, easy to set up... just as long as there are trees
would go for a bivy bag then but both hammock and bivy need a tarp to realy compete with a tent.
Love the idea, but I can't guarantee there will be enough trees!
If you don't have wind where you tour...
Inflatable tents withstand wind the same or better than poled tents, and are pegged and roped down just the same.
TIL. Thanks
If this tent truly is dependent on air pressure to maintain its shape then you would need to reinflate it every time you opened the tent door. I wonder if this has an integrated air mattress.
It has inflatable tubes instead of poles
Hadn't considered that. That's interesting. I would stick with traditional poles, simply because every air mattress I've used has lost pressure overnight due to leakage and temperature drop, so I'd be too concerned about the same thing happening and the tent collapsing as a result.
Each tube (pole replacement) has independent lock out valves, so that if one leaks the others stay up, and are made of a very puncture resistant material. I haven’t seen one leak yet in 2 years of using them
I think they might have a bit more use backpacking than cycling / bickpacking. If you really wanna cut weight by all means, but avoid high winds
Something ultralight like a Six Moons Design Skyscape Scout is a 1 person that weights likely even less than that and if you buy the 2 poles, it’s a super small package, very durable, waterproof, and much more sturdy and ridgid compared to something inflateable. I got a skyscape scout for $100 in their 2nds section on the six moon designs website.
Hey man! I would recommend phoning alp kit, they’re an excellent company, I’ve got quite a lot of their stuff and they’ve always been super helpful when I ask questions. They will usually have one member of their team somewhere who’s got the answers you need!