The best tents for bicycle touring in 2024- buyer’s guide

Cycling tours are a great way to explore new places and get some exercise. But after spending a lot of time on your bike, getting a good night’s sleep is crucial. A good tent is one of the most essential pieces of gear.

There are a lot of different tents on the market, so it can be tough to know which one is right for you. But don’t worry – I am here to help. In this article, I’ll give you a rundown of the best tents for bicycle touring so you can choose the best one for your next adventure.

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How to choose a tent for bicycle touring?

I am going on my first trip by bike. Can you recommend a good tent for bicycle touring? I’ve heard and seen this question a thousand times. The problem is there is no right answer.

Every tourist and cyclist has different needs and a different budget. A perfect tent doesn’t exist. Finding the best one involves trade-offs between weight, sturdiness, price, and a few other factors.

Are you planning to wild camp or stay on official campsites?

If you’re not planning to wild camp but only stay on official campsites or in people’s gardens (yes, that’s possible thanks to great initiatives like Welcome to My Garden!), you don’t need to think about the colour of your tent.

If you’re going to stealth camp, you definitely want to stay unseen for your safety. In this case, dark green or brown will always be better than flashy yellow or red tents that look cool on Instagram.

What weather are you expecting?

Before choosing a tent for your bicycle tour, consider the weather you can expect. If you plan to cycle the Pamir Highway or Trans Patagonia, your tent must handle unpredictable mountain weather. Some nights will likely be windy and rainy, so you want a sturdy and resilient shelter.

If you’re travelling to the tropics, you want a tent with good ventilation. It also shouldn’t get too hot, so brighter colours that reflect the sun will be an advantage. Especially in countries where Malaria is common, it’s good to have a tent where you can use the mesh separately, without the rain fly. This will protect you from mosquitoes while giving you extra ventilation.

How much money can you spend and how long will you use the tent?

Outdoor gear is expensive. If you are only beginning your bike touring and camping adventure, you don’t want to spend a few hundred bucks only to find out you don’t enjoy it. Many of us also have a very limited trip budget and can’t afford to buy an advanced ultralight tent.

Luckily, there are some decent, cheaper options on the market. Most solid low-budget tents are heavier than the more expensive ones with similar features. Going for something really cheap and ultralight can be a recipe for disaster: breaking poles, leaking fabrics, unstable construction… So, if your most important criterion is the price, look rather at a bit heavier tent. In my rundown below, I will include some low-budget options recommended to me by other bike tourists and outdoor enthusiasts.

There are also other ways to save money when buying a good, cheap tent:

• Shop after the season. September/October offers many great deals, with savings of up to 60 %.
• Buy second-hand. There are many websites and Facebook groups where people sell their used outdoor gear. You can read more about it here.

How important is comfort for you?

Are you looking for a tent that will be only a shelter, a place where you survive the night? Or do you want something where you can sit down, play cards, and feel a bit more at home?

Every person has different expectations when it comes to comfort when camping. If you plan to travel for many months, you’ll probably need a bit more space. Are you more of a weekend traveller, someone who goes for short but intense bike trips? Then you’d rather want to save weight instead of carrying a big comfy tent.

Tent specs explained

Waterproof rating

Nobody wants to wake up in a tent with water dripping on their head. That’s why you should always check the waterproof ratings before buying a tent.

They express how much millimetres of water the tent can withstand before it leaks. For example, a tent with a waterproof rating of 1000mm can withstand the weight of 1000mm of water. Theoretically, the higher the waterproof rating, the more water the tent can withstand.

Yet waterproof ratings only tell part of the story. You need to consider the quality of the materials and the construction of the tent. A high-quality tent with a lower waterproof rating can keep you dry for as long as a tent with higher ratings made of cheap materials. Wear and tear, and abrasion also play a role, so it’s important to maintain your gear.

As a rule of thumb, you should choose a tent with at least a 1000 mm waterproof rating.

Packing weight vs trail weight

Most online shops list two values for weight in the tent specs: packing weight and trail weight. Which one is more important, and what do they mean? The trail weight is just the weight of the poles, the body, and the rainfly, unlike the packing weight, which also includes the pegs, guy lines, sack, and other accessories (like a repair kit).

Long story short, you should rather look at the packing weight, not the trail weight.

What are the best tents for bicycle touring?

It would make sense if I start with the tent I use myself. On my bicycle tours, I sleep in a Fjord Nansen Tromvik II. It’s a light (2 kg) 2-person tent that’s pretty spacious (even if I travel with someone, we can put our stuff in the tent).

I am not including it on my recommendation list for two reasons:

1. It’s sold out in all the shops I’ve checked.
2. I had a few issues with it – the fabric is quite fragile, and the poles let me down a few times. To do justice to the manufacturer, since I complained and received a replacement with an improved design, I haven’t had any problems. But the adventures with Fjord Nansen Tromvik II gave me enough experience to write an article about how to fix the most common issues with a tent.

The pros of this tent are magnificent weather resistance. I survived a few heavy storms in Normandy and windy mountain nights.

So let’s move on to the other tents I chose, based on recommendations from fellow bicycle travellers.

I will start with the “premium” tents between 300 and 600 euros. Later, I will present a few less expensive tents between 49 and 250 euros.

Premium tents for bicycle touring

Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2-Person Bikepacking Tent

An ideal tent doesn’t exist, but Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL 2 is as close to perfection as it gets. Many 2-person tents are not spacious enough to provide a comfortable shelter to two people, but not this one! At the same time, it only weighs 1,59 kg.

As one of the first manufacturers, Big Agnes offers a special edition for bikepacking and bike touring. These tents have shorter poles to better fit on the handlebar or in the panniers. The stuffing sack has special loops enabling you to attach it with straps to your bike.

Buying an ultralight tent like this comes with a price: the materials are quite fragile, and you must handle the Copper Spur gently. For this price, many people would expect a more durable tent. The weak spots seem to be the floor and the poles.

Big Agnes Copper Spur HV UL2 Bikepack Tent

The regular version is about 50 euros cheaper than the bikepacking one. If you don’t care much about shorter poles and all the bike-specific gadgets, it can be a good way to save money.

Big Agnes Fly Creek UL2 Bikepacking

Another great alternative from Big Agnes is the Fly Creek UL2 Bikepacking. It’s also a two-person tent but significantly smaller than the Copper Spur. It’s a great option if you are willing to trade comfort for weight (only 1,19 kg) and price (about 450 euros).

Fly Creek also comes in a cheaper backpacking version with longer poles and as a 1-persons tent.

This model has many cool pockets and solutions to help you organise your stuff inside the tent and under the rain fly. If you are messy like me, you’ll definitely appreciate that.

Besides the limited living space, another downside of Fly Creek UL2 is the colour. The yellow tent looks awesome in the pictures. But, if you’re camping not far from civilisation, it doesn’t help you to be an invisible ninja.

NEMO Dragonfly 2

If you are looking for a lightweight 2-person tent, Nemo Dragonfly 2 is a great option. Weighing only 1,41 kg, it has enough space for two people with many pockets and large vestibules to store your gear. A special bonus for stargazing lovers: on rainless nights, you can camp without the fly and the non-transparent will still give you a sense of privacy.

Nemo Dragonfly is easy to set up, and the colours blend well with the landscape. The only downsides are the high price (about 450 euros) and the ventilation, especially when two people are in.

Dragonfly™ OSMO Backpacking Tent

Tarptent Moment DW

The Tarptent Moment DW is a lightweight tent perfect for fast-moving adventures.

This one-person tent is easy to set up (it shouldn’t take more than 2 minutes). It is completely freestanding which is super useful when camping on hard ground. The Moment DW is also very light – 993 grams (about 2 lbs.), so it’s easy to carry with you on your travels.

It’s also very water resistant – even in storms – so you can stay dry and safe even when things get rough out there! It has enough space to keep your gear inside.

The best low-budget tents for bicycle touring

In this section, I will present the cheaper tents for bike touring. I will start with the cheapest option.

Quechua MH100

This basic tent from Decathlon costs only 50 euros and is a decent option if you’re on a shoestring budget. It is sturdy and reliable compared to similarly priced tents (like the Vango Soul 100, which is known for its faulty poles).

Quechua MH100 is a two-person tent, and although it’s not very heavy (2,4 kg), it’s rather bulky. It should keep you dry and safe even during heavy rains, but the ventilation is poor when two people are inside.

Vaude Campo Compact XT 2P

If you are looking for a weather-resistant two-person tent for reasonable money, the Vaude Campo Compact XT 2P is a good option. It has excellent waterproof ratings and costs about 160 euros.

It is pretty spacious and has many inner pockets to store your belongings. The construction is simple and easy to set up, ensuring stability even during windy nights. It is available in two colours: red and green, the latter perfectly blending in with the environment when you are wild camping.

Unfortunately, Vaude Campo Compact XT 2P is quite heavy (3 kg) and has only 1 entrance, which is annoying if you share the tent with another person.

VANGO-Nevis 200

The Vango-Nevis 200 is a great low-budget tent for bicycle touring. It has great waterproof ratings (6000 mm floor, 3000 mm fly), is lightweight (2kg), and easy to carry around. And it’s green—perfect for discrete wild camping!

This tent can fit two people with gear, but it won’t be comfortable. The tunnel design can feel a bit claustrophobic, like a coffin.

You’ll have to be careful in windy conditions—the tent can be flappy in strong winds.

Big Agnes- C Bar 2

The Big Agnes C Bar 2 – 2-man tent is the best option if you want lightweight but don’t want to spend too much money. It’s not the most expensive tent on the market, but it’s not cheap either.

It’s light at 1810g and sets up easily, which means you won’t have to waste time fiddling around with poles. It’s also free-standing and has good head clearance, which makes it nice for tall people.

The only downside is the light colour of the fabric, which makes the tent easy to spot and get dirty.

What tent do you use on your bicycle tours? If you have good recommendations for a reliable bike touring tent, share them in the comments!