Choosing the right tent

Why camp?

While preparing our trip to Latin America, we planned to bring everything we needed to camp.

On our first motorcycle road trip, a loop around Brittany, we had booked an Airbnb for every night, and we quickly realised how restrictive that was. Sure, sleeping in a cosy bed was comfortable, but we always felt like we were racing the clock to reach the evening's meeting point. In short, it just wasn't our way of travelling.

So the very next year, we invested in proper camping gear to be self-sufficient: a tent, compact sleeping bags, lightweight mats, and so on. We spent two weeks in Ireland without ever feeling overloaded. The few bikers we met before the ferry home thought we were crazy when they saw our luggage and heard we'd camped the whole two weeks. Yet it remains one of our best motorcycle travel memories.

Needless to say, when we started preparing this big trip, leaving without our bivouac gear was out of the question. We knew we'd be crossing incredible landscapes, and we didn't want a booking to stop us from stopping wherever we fancied. And let's be honest: depending on the region, we weren't sure we'd find accommodation within our budget, or any accommodation at all.

Still, heading off for two or three weeks of summer touring is one thing; leaving for a year with all your kit is another. So we had to think hard about which camping gear to take.

The first topic on the table was the tent. Over our various trips, we've tested three models. In this article, we share our experience with each, pros and cons included. We hope it helps, and gives you some food for thought when the time comes to pick the tent that best suits your needs.

Our first tent: the Quechua Quick Hiker 2 Fresh & Black

When we went looking for our first tent for motorcycle trips, we had two main criteria: light and compact.

Weight matters less on a motorcycle than on a bicycle or on foot, but you still have to be careful. If you keep telling yourself "oh, it doesn't matter, the bike carries it", you soon end up overloaded, and you feel it in the handling.

We also didn't want to spend too much on a tent we'd only use a few weeks a year. At the time, we started browsing online, but big brands like MSR were well beyond our budget.

So we went to see what Decathlon had to offer. Some specialists may look down on the brand, but there's no denying they make clever products with unbeatable value for money for leisure use. And we found exactly what we were looking for!

The Quechua Quick Hiker 2 comes (came?) in two versions: Fresh & Black and standard. Being serious sleepers (forget 8 a.m. starts on our motorcycle rides), we were won over by the "Black" option. And having camped since we were kids, we know what it's like to sleep under canvas at 30 °C, so the "Fresh" part sealed the deal.

The other thing we loved was the two storage areas on either side of the sleeping compartment: perfect for stashing our motorcycle gear on the road. It's also particularly light and easy to pitch.

It served us well, by bike and by motorcycle (and at parties), for more than five years.

The downsides:

• Wear and tear. It quickly showed signs of wear compared with a standard tent. In practice, we're not sure the Fresh & Black option suits life on the move: packing and unpacking every day damages the fabric. And it certainly doesn't help with early starts! The standard version seems to age better: we met cyclists who had been using it for years without any major problems.
• Storage. Over time, we realised the storage areas were too cramped for all our motorcycle gear. On a bicycle it's perfect, but between the helmets, riding gear and personal belongings, things got a bit tight.

So for our Latin American adventure, we decided to look for another model.

The Lone Rider ADV Tent: the bikers' benchmark

When we decided to change tents, we compared loads of models: waterproofing, storage size, weight, price… What a nightmare! How can you be sure you're making the right choice with so much on offer?

Then one day we came across Lone Rider's ADV Tent. It ticked all our boxes and had a great reputation among bikers. So we bought it and put it to the test.

What it has going for it:

• several storage areas inside;
• easy to pitch, and bigger than our previous tent;
• discreet thanks to its khaki colour, handy for wild camping;
• unbeatable waterproofing for its category (10,000 mm).

However, we soon found it had a major flaw for our use: the vents sit quite low, so moisture doesn't escape well.

Even when Adeline used it alone on a bicycle trip, there was regularly condensation inside when she woke up; she rarely packed it away dry. Needless to say, with two of us inside, it was a disaster. At first we thought it was a manufacturing defect. We contacted customer service, who were extremely professional and responsive. But we had to admit that the replacement tent had exactly the same problem.

On top of that, even though the storage areas were bigger, they still weren't enough for all our stuff. You should know that we don't have hard panniers on our bikes: every evening we had to play Tetris to store everything safely in the vestibule.

To make up for the lack of space, we bought a small awning for 18 euros at Decathlon. But the day Thomas found slugs on our gear… we decided it was time for plan C.

The Big Agnes Blacktail Hotel 2: finally, some space!

After our trip through the Bardenas and the Pyrenees, we sold the ADV Tent and set off in search of the holy grail: a tent with a big storage area and good ventilation, yet still light, compact when packed and not too expensive (that budget again!). Challenge accepted.

Digging around on the interwebs, we stumbled on the Big Agnes Blacktail Hotel 2.

What convinced us:

• a large vestibule to store our gear and take shelter when it rains;
• reasonable weight and bulk: around 3 kg, 53 × 18 cm when packed;
• two doors, so each of us can get out without disturbing the other.

We tested it in the summer of 2025 on a trip through the Cantal, and it was really comfortable. Once packed, it fits perfectly in our bags, in the same spot as the old one: spot on.

On the other hand, we wouldn't recommend it for solo use. Adeline used it on a bicycle trip: it's too big and rather awkward to pitch alone. It's not rocket science, but you have to tame the beast. Once you've figured out the right pitching order (especially with the footprint) and there are two of you (particularly to attach the vestibule pole), it goes up quickly.

Ventilation: all good. The vents are at the top of the tent, and we haven't had the same problem as with the Lone Rider, at least in the sleeping compartment. The vestibule has no vent, so there's a bit of moisture in the morning. But the perfect tent seems hard to find.

The verdict

We're very happy with our choice. We've used the Big Agnes many times, notably in Argentina and Chile, and it lives up to all our expectations.

For a solo trip or a cycling duo, though, we highly recommend a tent like the Quechua Quick Hiker 2, but without the Fresh & Black option: its two doors make life easier for two, and having a vestibule on each side to store your gear is really comfortable. When we get back from our trip, we may well buy that model again for our cycling adventures. The Big Agnes will be kept for motorcycle trips as a duo!

Recap: our three tents at a glance

	Quechua Quick Hiker 2 Fresh & Black	Lone Rider ADV Tent	Big Agnes Blacktail Hotel 2
Weight	3.1 kg	3.5 kg	3 kg (2.5 kg minimum)
Packed size	?	42 × 14 cm	53 × 18 cm
Price	~€150 (discontinued)	€499	€349.90
Waterproofing (flysheet)	?	10,000 mm	1,500 mm
Doors	2	2	2
Strengths	Light, cheap, dark and cool sleeping area	Very waterproof, discreet, well designed for motorcycling	Large vestibule, good ventilation in the sleeping area
Weaknesses	Fabric wears quickly, storage too tight for motorcycle gear	Condensation, storage still too small	Awkward to pitch alone, no vent in the vestibule
Best for	Cycling, solo or as a pair (standard version)	Solo biker who can live with condensation	Motorcycling duo

Retail prices as of September 2026.