After my first bikepacking adventure over the summer, my friends and I are planning another one. But this time we will be camping. What's the best way to pack a tent? I've just bought a cheap one man tent, a yellowstone matterhorn (want to make sure i'm happy cycling and camping before investing in something better). I'm on the short side (5'2") and my bike is 47cm. My bags are altura vortex saddle and handlebar bags and topeak mid and toploader. The poles will have to be attached to the outside of the saddlebag as there isn't enough room on my top or downtube to attach them

If you don’t have room in your bags, perhaps strap it to your handlebar roll. Or get a full frame bag and pack inside.

I have room, just not sure how to pack them

One good thing about a tent is, water won't hurt it. That means it can be packed outside of the panniers. Mine usually sits on top of a pannier, with the long axis of the bundle parallel to the direction of travel.
Different days and loads may change locations.
I wrap the drawstring of its stuff sack around the seat post and clip it just to make sure it doesn't come loose.

What have you tried so far?

Try this, wrap them with some velcro or rubber bands, Then wrap them again on the top tube. Start at the headtube, can extend past the seat too.

so, I had to google what the bags look like on your bike. It would have helped to see a photo of your bike with the bags but AFAK you can just stuff the tent into the handlebar bag, just like stuffing a sleeping bag. You do not have to ROLL the tent "per se" and then strap the poles to the outside of the handlebar bag under the dual straps that the bag comes with. Once you start the stuffing I would probably stuff the sleeping bag in the same handlebar bag too.

Thanks. These are my bags (without frame bag) on my road bike for a trip I did last summer. I will be using my CX/gravel bike for this trip as the frame geometry is slightly different and I have more frame clearance, bigger handlebars and better gearing. My problem with strapping the poles to the handlebar bag is they are too long (50cm poles, 40cm handlebars), so they will need to be secured to the outside of my saddlebag.

How you pack a tent really depends on the type of tent you own. I have a single walled Tartpent Contrail and this is how I pack it.

I have replaced the stock tent pole with a custom one that breaks down into sections that will fit inside my saddlebag see here

​​​​​​https://www.questoutfitters.com/tent_poles.htm

I put the pole sections and tent pegs at the bottom of my saddlebag. I then put the tent fly into a small compression sack so that
I can really reduce the packed volume and that then fits nicely in my saddlebag next to my sleeping bag which is also in a compression sack.

Trekking pole pryamid tent for me, I just find a fallen branch.

Keep in mind when packing a tent, many times it has to be packed wet because of rain or dew. I don’t know anything about bike packing bags but in a traditional touring set up it usually resides on top of the rear rack. I would think on the outside of bags or alone in a bag would be my choice.

Stuff it into a compression sack. Sea to Summit bags are great. We put everything made of cloth into a compression sack.

The space inside a bag of any sort is too valuable to waste on a tent. Tents are best carried outside of bags in whatever manner you can devise. For bikepacking, my tent is held in a Revelate Design harness along with my sleeping bag. My pad in inside the sleeping bag stuff sack.

Untitled by Stuart Black, on Flickr

On a road tour with racks, the sleeping bag is on the rear rack along with the sleeping bag.

2015-04-23 06.25.21 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Pre-bikepacking, I carried the tent on the back and the sleeping bag a front rack.

Rollins Pass, 8/10/85 by Stuart Black, on Flickr

Strap the tent to the top of your rack. Rear rack would be my first choice, but a front rack will hold it fine, too.

Even in dry weather tents flys are often damp with dew in the morning. So the first thing I do is to wipe off the fly. I leave the tent up to give it as much time to dry as possible. If it has to be packed wet I usually bundle it up and strap it to the outside of my saddlebag so that I can easily get at it to spread it out to dry if I stop for a while. If it's raining it goes in the compression sack and I will try to dry it out asap.

I always stuff the tent and rainfly into one front pannier. The pole fits under the top flap of my saddlebag.

Marc

I have a rectangular 2-man dome tent I use for most of my touring and camping. Because the poles for it are pretty long I cut them in half and then bought brass tubing to put on the cut part. Now the poles fold up compactly and are easily put on my rack.

Cheers

I use a Contrail. It preceded the Protrail shown here, but the two are similar

https://www.tarptent.com/product/protrail/

Here is how I pack the tent. Here is my saddlebag



In the picture below the tent poles and pegs are in the grey bag, the orange bag contains my sleeping pad
and the small red bag is my pillow.​​​​​​



There's quite a bit of space around these bags and that gets filled with clothing so that there is a level platform
for the next layer. That consists of the tent tarp in the orange compression sack and my sleeping bag in the blue
compression sack. There's lots of room left over for cooking equipment and even more clothes and my kung fu shoes.
which I like because the pack very flat.

I'm currently cycling around Asia at the moment; I've found strapping my tent atop the front pannier rack is best for me. I found doing the Mae Hong Son Loop with an extra 1.6kg in front of my pedals easier to push as opposed to behind my pedals.
I'm not sure if it's legit, or just psychological... but horizontally atop the front panniers are best for me!

I have never carried tents inside of other bags or panniers due mostly to moisture issues. Depending on the baggage style strapping it to the top of a rack or to a bar roll works great. I have found that when I use a minimal hoop-less bivy it is usually dry enough that I can pack it up inside other bags. That said, at 7 ounces my bivy is like a sleeping bag cover than what a lot of folks think of when they think of a bivy.

Re damp tent, as mentioned there are times were condensation can be as much as rain, I like having a small piece of shammy type foam or whatever that with wiping, can remove cups and cups of droplets all over tent. To me over the years is worth the very small size and weight as it greatly helps tent a bb fly to dry while doing last packing .
I like putting tent away dry, but of course can't always, so less water on it is nice.

I've also always pulled out tent and fly to dry during lunch if sunny if need be.

good luck with your specific pole length issues.

oh, salsa cowbells are a nice compromise for flare,I love mine, but salsa has numerous options of flare.

So far most responders have indicated where on the bike they have carried a tent. In another look at the issue, imagine it has begun to rain, maybe heavily, toward the end of the day's ride. When you reach the intended campsite you would like to set up the tent as quickly as possible so that you and your stuff remain as dry as possible during the setup. A key to a quick tent setup is to prepare the tent in advance from the previous days setup. If the tent is folded up to an appropriate size for where it is to be carried, then rolled up from front to back with rain fly still in place but with poles removed, then for the current setup, the tent can first be staked at the back end so it can't be carried away by strong winds. At This point the poles are inserted and staking out completed. If you have tried to set up a tent in a downpour, then this procedure will keep everything dry over multiple days of rain.

That's why I've started carrying a tarp with me. It's a lightweight one and I pitch it before I put up the tent which goes under the tarp. That way the tent itself stays dry during both setup and takedown.

Cheers

I carry a towel to dry the inside of the tent if setting up in the rain. Getting back to the OP’s question, my tent goes on the rack by itself, which keeps everything else dry. If you don’t use a rack, then find a way to attach to the bike or store in the bottom of a bag if wet.

If the poles continue to be a problem, many good quality camping stores can custom make poles that would fold up shorter. Or as noted by someone above that used some brass tubing, he did that as a DIY project. I have cut my own poles for a couple tents, but those poles were I poles, not flexible for a hoop shape.