Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent

Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent – Superb Bike Touring Tent.

Picking out the perfect tent for long distance bike tours isn’t as easy as just picking out a good tent. There are a lot of other factor to consider. One of the biggest factors of course being size. While many single person backpacking tents fit the bill as far as weight and overall size goes, many of their required items such as poles, do not fit this bill. It is for these reason that finding the ideal tent for bike touring can be a bit hard, but it doesn’t have to be. With the Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent you get a tent that was made especially for bike touring.

As I mentioned above, the size and weight of a tent is only part of the equation when it comes top finding a tent for bike touring. You also have to consider the size of the tent poles and accessories. Many tent poles are light weight, but tend to be a bit long to comfortably fit in your pannier. The Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent has taken all of this into consideration. The tent poles for the Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent break down into super small sections to make them easy to pack.

Aside from the tent and its parts being made specifically for bike touring, the other really cool feature of the Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent is it’s vestibule. Just about every tent these days has a decent sized vestibule, some bigger than others. But few, if any, have a vestibule big enough for a bike. That is unless you count the Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent. That right, the Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent has a vestibule to keep your bike in and protected from the elements. Its like a built in garage for your bike!

The quick & dirty:

Where you can get one:
Amazon.com: $349

Why they rock:

• Ghisallo features 1 mesh door with dry-entry vestibule, plus a 2nd vestibule that stores your bike upright and fully enclosed out of sight
• Bike vestibule is accessible from inside the tent through a zippered porthole
• Ghisallo is made with lightweight materials including a coated nylon ripstop canopy and fly, a durable nylon taffeta floor and Atlas 7001UL aluminum poles
• Ghisallo’s tent poles break down into small sections that fit easily inside your pannier
• Evolution Tension Arch technology results in a lighter, stronger tent; added fabric reinforces the poles and stabilizes them in 3 dimensions
• Welded SVX window lets light in and allows views out; SVX window film offers excellent UV- and cold-resistance, and it’s is cold-tested to -60°F
• For extra stability each guyout point clips to the frame on the interior side of the rainfly via welded attachment points
• Reflective starter points, color-coded pole end locations, Power Clips and superlight 0.25 in. buckles/webbing ensure a quick and easy setup, at night, with gloves on
• All guyout points and zipper pulls are reflective for easy identification and mesh pockets keep tent organized
• Pitch Light Option: Footprint (sold separately), fly and poles pitch without canopy to create a lightweight, warm-weather shelter
• Comes with stuff sacks, wire-peg stakes, guylines, owner’s manual and illustrated pitching instructions

Seat-of-the-pants rating: 10 out of 10

I have seen a few other innovative and interesting tents geared toward bike touring, but I don’t know that I have ever seen one that was as well thought out as the Mountain Hardwear Ghisallo 1 Tent. It really does have all of the features that you could want and need, and even a few you might not have ever thought about.

Looking to Buy? Check out these sites:
Amazon.com: $349