Tent
 

I'm planning to go on a brief tour camping out for perhaps two nights. It could be hot or might even snow.
I want my wife to come but she's a not keen (yet). Can anyone give any pointers on buying a tent. What if my wife goes; two tents??
What sort of cooker do you usually take on a bike?
Thanks

With two people I find a three-person tent to be the most comfortable, but it's always a tradeoff between weight and space. If you live in a place with trees, you should try a hammock.

For 2, you can get the Eureka Spitfire 2 for about $130. At 38 sq ft, it's plenty big enough for 2 and weighs about 5 pounds. Very durable, with good peak height and double doors. You do have to do some seam sealing. There are a lot more, usually much more expensive options.

As for cooking, I'm a fan of the MSR Pocket Rocket. Uses gas cannisters. No 'fiddle' factor.

3 person size is about right for 2 cycle campers.
You can get serviceable cheap ones and excellent expensive ones. The most significant difference is the ability to withstand high winds. At low winds they should all shake off rain and light snow. A large vestibule is useful in the rain for food prep and cooking (with care).
I dont think the stove design matters much for a weekend tour. The easiest to buy, use and store is probably a simple gas canister style. I have used a Trangia alcohol stove a lot; it is tough, simple, stable and safe and used by youth groups.
If you intend to ride for weeks or travel solo, it becomes worthwhile investing more in lightweight gear.

On the tent, like most things, it depends. Personally, I find the rated sizes on tents to generally be fine and do not feel the need to up-size to a 2 person for solo or a three person for two. I do not take much inside the tent for the night and don't feel the need for much sprawling room. I really like the Eureka Spitfire 1 for one and am assuming that the Spitfire 2 would be an equally good value for two.

Stoves, I like the MSR Pocket Rocket and similar cartridge stoves, but... and this is a big but in my opinion, I have not found fuel all that readily available in many places I have toured. This includes my trip in the Sierras and even this year's trip on the coast. I rarely saw cartridges in the small towns on the coast this year and last year in the Sierras the first place I saw it was on day 20 in the camp store in Yosemite. If you are doing short tours that you do not have to fly too that probably is not a problem.

Because on the fuel availability issue, I have taken to mostly using home made pepsi can alcohol stoves. If you don't want to mess with that you can buy a Trangia for pretty cheap. I have had zero problem finding fuel for it, most often in the form of yellow bottle Heet! dry gas. It comes in a nice 12 ounce bottle that is a handy size and is easy to pour from.

3 fuel options Unleaded pump gas , you can find everywhere ,
Alcohol you can find in hardware stores, and marine supply stores
on waterways ( best in Boats , because leaks dont settle in the bilges
like heavy fuels.)
and the canister stoves mentioned before.

Alcohol stoves are simple . a few little holes, in a tank , lit as it evaporates,
, recycled drinks cans , are building materials
so .... cheap .. a DIY project in fact.

Oh, if you snore, 2 tents wont help.. ear plugs may.. :innocent:

There are literally hundreds of 2-4 person tents available from $50-$1000.

There are thousands of archived threads on BF.net pertaining to this subject. I suggest you read a few of them:

http://www.google.com/search?q=tent+site%3Abikeforums.net&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a

You can learn a lot from Google searches too:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=tent+buying+guide

I'd add that Heet! (yellow bottle never red) is also available in general stores, mini marts, big box stores, gas stations, auto parts stores, and even the tiny automotive section at many grocery stores. It tends to come in what I find to be a more convenient size container than alcohol at hardware stores and marine supply stores. Heet! comes in 12 ounce bottles which I find to be just right while at the hardware or marine supply store they often have it only in quarts or gallons. 12 ounces lasts me 4 days to a week or so depending on how much I cook.

Also in a pinch, while not ideal, alcohol stoves can burn rubbing alcohol in a pinch. The heat output is less due to the fact that it is usually 30% water, but if you don't have anything else you can get by.

Additionally some folks burn grain alcohol like Everclear from a liquor store. Too expensive to suit me, but it is an option.

So far Heet! has been available enough that I have not needed to resort to anything else.

If you're going to be going someplace that might snow ( and presumably will have sub-freezing temps ), canister stoves can be iffy, unless you get one that can be manually pressurized.

There's a persistent belief that alcohol stoves are also inadequate for cold weather operation, but I've never had a problem as long as I provide insulation from the ground and/or snow. I use a white-box alcohol stove ( http://www.whiteboxstoves.com/ ) and it works great, though you can also find a few zillion homemade pepsi-can stoves plans on the net, if you prefer.

And thousands more pertaining to stoves...

http://www.google.com/search?num=100...1266l3.5.1l9l0

If you're going to buy a canister stove, the MSR Superfly is much more stable than the Pocket Rocket; the Pocket Rocket's pot supports can be kind of iffy, but the superfly is solid.

Thanks everyone. I'll post later when I choose one.

I have done extensive winter camping, have tested stoves in the field (on mount rainier in the winter among other places) for MSR, and can authoritatively state that alcohol stoves lack the BTU output for effective snowmelt capacity for winter camping. you spend a lot of time melting snow for water in the winter, and alcohol stoves just don't cut it.

they work in the cold well enough, just don't pump out enough heat to melt the scads of water needed to survive in the winter. for bike camping at campgrounds when there's snow on the ground when you wake up, alcohol stoves should present little to no problem. Middle of canada in february an alcohol stove would be impractical.

as to tent, for a couple of nights out, just go with whatever. i'd go cheap if the OP is uncertain of interest, a large discount retailer has reasonable tents for 50 bucks or so that you can survive in quite comfortably.

+1 on the tent front. I lived in a Big Agnes Copper Spur solo tent for 7 months, I never wanted something bigger. I recently shared a 2 person MSR Hubba Hubba with a friend, and I thought it was roomy enough. Especially with a significant other, where I assume you wouldn't mind sleeping close to each other. But only you can decide for sure. If you have a local REI or outdoor store you should climb into some tents and see what you think. Another advantage to a smaller tent with another person is the body heat factor, at least when it's cold out.

What about this one:

http://www.equipoutdoors.co.nz/conte...ture_Tent.html