TENT OR SWAG

[v85lover]

ive used a tent for the last 6 years
pros
space to get changed
space for ALL your gear
if you buy the right one can be smaller then a swag when packed up

cons
Ive been told they are colder then a swag as it has thinner walls
takes up more foot print when assembled 
..... i cant think of anything else


whats your thoughts??

[reidy]

For me I don't do well sleeping in confined spaces. Even some sleeping bags make me feel like I am bound up in a straight jacket. For that reason alone my vote is for a tent.

[1down5up]

I have foundd Swags are quite large when packed up, 1 man tents with a good quality sleeping bag take up much less room on the bike

[robebop]

Swags are definitely warmer but for me way too claustrophobic, I could hardly move inside mine.
No room to store any gear in either. I now have a 2 man tent with plenty of room for me and (if needed) all my gear, can also get changed in there, something you cannot do in a swag, think raining when you do this :) . Swags pack up huge compared to tents. just my 2 cents

[v85lover]

For me I don't do well sleeping in confined spaces. Even some sleeping bags make me feel like I am bound up in a straight jacket. For that reason alone my vote is for a tent.

Me to mate \

[chuck peterson]

Is this that upside down and backwards language I’ve heard about?

 

Oh yeah

Australia

I’ll take a Significant Wild A$$ Guess...

SWAG is a rolled up bedding outfit?

You guys have all the fun..can i move there?

[Dirk_S]

I had to look up what a swag is. Aussie thing, aye? I had a bivvy tent (similar enough) for a few years, thinking I was a pretty logical fella for carrying such a small and lightweight piece for camping. Then I smartened up, bought a 2-person tent for all the reasons robebop pointed out (aside from the claustrophobia). I even found that my 2-person tent packed smaller than my bivvy. Blow-up mattress + pillow, and I’m a happy dude. If I want to go minimalist, I have a lightweight tarp that I’ll grab instead.

[Kiwi_Roy]

OK, i'll ask what is a swag?
Are you referring to a hammock?
I use a small tent. I can set up and leave in the dark if I have to
Zippers on the openings to keep the creepy crawlies out.

[tazio]

TMI alert!

I'm using a 2 man tent.
If it's not tall enough for me to get up on my knees (a couple times a night) and pee into a (large opening! ) Gatorade bottle, I can't sleep in it. Totally rules out Hammocks.
Don't know what a Swag is...
YMMV

[reidy]

A swag is a shelter for sleeping in, generally made of canvas. A traditional swag was basically a sheet of canvas with some form of thin padding for a mattress and some bedding. In wet or cold weather you just put the canvas over you or tied it up. The swag has been part of Australian history for a bloody long time. If you have ever heard the song "Waltzing Matilda" with the line "Once a Jolly Swagman" you may have wondered what a swagman was. He was a bloke that had his worldly possessions rolled into his bed roll, or Swag and traveled around looking for work.

Like everything swags have gone up market. See attached link for one of many on the market https://www.snowys.com.au/biker-swag
I cannot explain the attraction to them and I am guessing Huzo junior is also curious as he posted the original question.
The other option is that he has an hereditary trait of unusual questions.

Steve

[Lannis]

A swag is a shelter for sleeping in, generally made of canvas. A traditional swag was basically a sheet of canvas with some form of thin padding for a mattress and some bedding. In wet or cold weather you just put the canvas over you or tied it up. The swag has been part of Australian history for a bloody long time. If you have ever heard the song "Waltzing Matilda" with the line "Once a Jolly Swagman" you may have wondered what a swagman was. He was a bloke that had his worldly possessions rolled into his bed roll, or Swag and traveled around looking for work.

Like everything swags have gone up market. See attached link for one of many on the market https://www.snowys.com.au/biker-swag
I cannot explain the attraction to them and I am guessing Huzo junior is also curious as he posted the original question.
The other option is that he has an hereditary trait of unusual questions.

Steve

That's what we would call a "bivvy sack" (short for "bivouac") in the rest of the English-speaking world ...

Too confining for me!

Lannis

[Dirk_S]

That's what we would call a "bivvy sack" (short for "bivouac") in the rest of the English-speaking world ...

From what I’ve read there’s a bit of difference. Swag is an all-in-one solution, comes with the mattress. Most bivvy tents are just tents, in other words, gotta bring along your bedding as well.

“Waltzing Matilda,” great song, but only most familiar with the Tom Waits version. Thanks for the historical ref!

[Ncdan]

When I DID camp I used a two person dome tent, light to carry and simple and fast to put up. However let me say that in my later years I refrain from primitive camping as I don’t like waking up Cold, hot, cramped or damp. Yep I’m am officially a wimp, about certain things.

[Lannis]

When I DID camp I used a two person dome tent, light to carry and simple and fast to put up. However let me say that in my later years I refrain from primitive camping as I don’t like waking up Cold, hot, cramped or damp. Yep I’m am officially a wimp, about certain things.

I don't camp any more unless I "have" to ... and "have to" in this case means "I want to be at this rally and there's no cabins or cheap motels and everyone else is camping, so I guess I will too".   

Traveling on the road, camping takes up half the day ... finding a spot in the evening, unpacking and setting up, cooking supper, scrambling out of the tent onto the dewy grass for a bio-break a couple times in the night, then getting up in the morning, either waiting for the gear to dry or packing it up wet so it will be dank and wet the NEXT evening ... I'll stay in a pretty cheap motel or (in Utah) a Mormon youth hostel to be able to ride instead of constantly breaking and setting up camp.

Others apparently have a better system or more tolerance for discomfort.   I blame old age and wisdom ....

Lannis

[Dirk_S]

You all probably cook your meat before eating it, too.

So domestically spoiled 

[kirby1923]

I don't camp any more unless I "have" to ... and "have to" in this case means "I want to be at this rally and there's no cabins or cheap motels and everyone else is camping, so I guess I will too".   

Others apparently have a better system or more tolerance for discomfort.   I blame old age and wisdom ....

Lannis

This is my op also, not a fan of sleeping on the ground anymore but can make the best of it. I have a one man that "can sleep two" if necessary but will hold me  and all my gear.

It will fold up and pack very compact and a couple of pounds and I can erect in less than 10 min.

[oldbike54]

 None of this explains "Once a jolly Swagman" , the old movie about speedway racing featuring my favorite British actor Bill Owen .

 Dusty

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

I used to carry a superlight 1-man backpacking tent, just about bivy or swag size-- and I would store all my stuff in my sideboxes since there was no room for gear in the bivy. I had to slide in feet first dukes of hazard style and shimmy out in the morning on the wet grass.

I realized I could get a 2-man tent on the bike just as easily, its only twice as large as the bivy w/ rain fly, plus plenty of room to store my boots, helmet, and gear inside-- not to mention room to change and a decent place to sit and read if it's raining at the campsite. 

I never considered peeing in there tho, why are you guys pissing in your tent multiple times per night? I sleep like a rock and climb out of the tent to water the bushes when I get up in the AM-- usually up before the sun when I'm camping anyway! I don't think I would chance pissing in a bottle in the dark inside my tent, seems like an accident waiting to happen!

[Blaufeld66]

For years, I have used a 3-man tent (in reality it is for two) with inflatable 15cm mattress + pump and a sleeping bag, all fit nicely inside a cylindric Touratech Rack-Pack 54cm long and 30cm round that sits on my California rear rack...

[JJ]

SWAG?  Never heard that one...This thing looks like a full-body condom!!





I think a modern, compact light weight 2-man tent is the way to go on a motorcycles.

[ozarquebus]

TENT

Swags (bivy) offers no advantage over modern ten except speed and ease of setup, but there are also instant pop-up tent, however nothing offers the smallest packed space and lightest weight as backpacking equipment does.
more TMI:

Fully stuffed navy sea bag tied vertically to sissy bar...NOT.

Free standing ultralight two man backpacking tent tent. Foam Pad (accordion-folding type because it can be packed in different shapes). Good small polyester fill travel pillow (they are fairly compressable). 40 degree Down bag for its extreme compress-ability or a (small home-made polyester fill silnylon hammock blanket if its hot). Small SilNylon tarp. Smallest folding tripod stool.
Everything goes in the panniers except for pad and a small duffel. Pad is unfolded partially on rear seat and duffel tied on top of that. Folded stool goes son top side case, under edge of pad.
Lower and firmer than a trunk. I don't even have a rack.
Enough room left over in panniers for the rest of a complete spartan backpacker's kit (sans pack),  moccasins and tool kit, air pump, qt gas & qt beverage. 

Cons: No cooler full of beer and steaks and no lawn chair. A roll up lawn chair could be taken in place of the tiny stool, but it would stick out would not look neat.

[motogoro]

in the beginning GT BE (before Gore-Tex), (imagine a misty Mesozoic meadow)
I used a tube tent.  100% waterproof material, mosquito net ends.
Compact, light.  Horrible sleeping.  I "transpire" a lot.  It was my personal rain forest. 

Graduated to a Sierra Clip Flashlite.  A proper one person backpacking tent with a fly.
Almost as compact as the tube tent.  Just enough to fit a Camprest pad
Packed into the top of the sleeping bag 30L(?) dry sack. 

Over the years (years and years, really) the tent began to leak.  Used an army surplus Gore-Tex bivy sack to keep dry. 

Today, as I approach Medicare (in 11, 10, 9, 8...  days), I use a 2, or 4, person tent. 
Not as compact, but fits in the 90L dry bag along with a sleeping bag, bivy sack AND a Mondo King sleeping pad. 

Bottom line?  I've considered minimal bivy camping.  It rains too often and I don't care to be cacooned in a hooded "body bag". 
Besides where am I gonna keep all my stuff!?!  LOL

Steve M in SE WI

[TN Mark]

Swag - certainly not intentionally or on purpose

Tent - it's been many years but I have a 3 to 4 person tent that rolls up very nicely that I can nearly stand up in it. The air mattress and the sleeping bag also roll up tight.

Hotel - that's my choice.

[ozarquebus]

 I thought Gore-Tex was going to be great and I replaced all my rain gear with it.
 As it turns out, Gore-Tex is neither waterproof or breathable once it saturates while you are actually using it in a steady rain with no shelter. I went back to nylon with ventilation. Cold hard dry wind also cuts through Gore Tex.
 Gore Tex is perfect for cool misty mountain mornings, but in bad weather, fully waterproof wind-blocking outer shell with vents is much better for rain. ie: baggy poncho

Gore Tex is a compromise, but makes a fairly good all around jacket except in really bad weather.

[tazio]

.......I never considered peeing in there tho, why are you guys pissing in your tent multiple times per night? I sleep like a rock and climb out of the tent to water the bushes when I get up in the AM-- usually up before the sun when I'm camping anyway! I don't think I would chance pissing in a bottle in the dark inside my tent, seems like an accident waiting to happen!

The "why" of it is directly related to the amount of "refreshments" consumed around the campfire, and a hanging light inside the tent keeps my aim true...
Bonus= I get to practice my ombromanie skills.

[malik]

Most swags pack too large to be conveniently carried on a bike, though great for the back of the ute. The only contender I've found is one from Swags for the Homeless - very well designed, warm in winter on concrete, packs to around half the size of the Bikers Swag more usually available, weighs some 3.5kg. Good for overnights, quick to erect & to pack. Not much good for sitting out the rain.

Theoretically, the best tents for our purposes, are tunnel tents, with one or two vestibules AND buit so the fly goes up first when erecting & last when packing - when setting up in the rain, you don't need the inside wet before you even start. These features are usually expensive, so compromises may have to be made.

There's got to be some decent bivvys around these days, so well worth the research. If you're thinking of a swag, you should look at these, got to be smaller & lighter. Can always use a fly (lightweight - under a couple of hundred grams, roll up to the size of a stubbie) to keep the excess rain off.

Personally, I now prefer the hammock - best of all worlds, at least for me.

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

you could get this silly thing, all the drawbacks of a swag and none of the benefits of a tent... all in a package that weighs 25lbs and rolls up the size of 3 sleeping bags!

https://wingmanoftheroad.com/

[JJ]

Swag - certainly not intentionally or on purpose

Tent - it's been many years but I have a 3 to 4 person tent that rolls up very nicely that I can nearly stand up in it. The air mattress and the sleeping bag also roll up tight.

Hotel - that's my choice.

This is the tent we use for "CAR CAMPING ONLY" (not for motorcycles travel), and it will hold two large cots comfortably, and one can stand up to put one's pants on!!  

We used it last year at Datil as well, but we had a truck and were towing two bikes.

These days, I'm with TN Mark - - HOTEL / cabin / lodge is my choice!! 

[Mayor_of_BBQ]

"Did you say.... 'Utes'?"

[Lannis]

I never considered peeing in there tho, why are you guys pissing in your tent multiple times per night? I sleep like a rock and climb out of the tent to water the bushes when I get up in the AM--

Oh my gosh, youngster ... you just wait.   You just wait.    You kids that are still sh!tting yellow have NO idea what's coming down the pike for you!    

I remember those halcyon days of my youth ... but today, when my grandson and I are walking together in the woods and stop for a pee, he's blasting the bark off a tree 4 feet away, and I'm leaning forward to keep from dribbling on my shoes ....

Your day is coming!

Lannis