Freestanding tent recommendations

[mr_diver]

Being a tent-aholic here's my tuppence:

Most of the free standing (stands up without being pegged or guyed out) tent to be either:
-Basic dome tent (cheap) but heavy weight and larger pack size
-fancy geodetic mountaineering designs (expensive) -  smaller pack size, but time consuming to put up and potentially fragile
neither of these options tend to give you much height.

Tunnel tents tend to give you the best space & height vs weight & pack size and the designs are numerous.
I like the smaller Vango options - I have a Spirit 200+, Banshee 200 & 300, but I'm getting dressed lying own mostly.
My Gamma 300 isn't too low, but not much porch, but I've got the tunnel gear store for this. but it's another decent little bag to pack.
But you will get the whole tent in a decent sized top box. - I do always take a tarp to add a bit of extra shelter and usually the banshee gear store to add extra storage to the banshee, but don't usually use the tarp and gear store together - I'm far too lazy to put that much effort in.

Up from that you get the lone rider style (never ever park the bike inside unless you'd like the bike on your face in the middle of the night)
I have the Vango Turini, but the earlier ones were called the Stelvio and later model the Tour 200-
I can nearly stand up inside, comes with groundsheets that can be removed, but there is a gap around the bottom meaning you'll get a nice draft. - fits on it's own in my Givi V47 topbox (48ltr).
great for space to weight, but fragile - I've had to replace all three poles, due to metal fatigue (one snapped first night of a week away) the replacements from vango are different and seem to be better quality.

Then you get the bigger family tents - I have a Vango Icarus 500, which I have seen carried on bikes to Fat Rats' gaff, but they will take up the whole of the back seat on most bigger bikes and weights around 16-20kg

At present I think the best bike camping tent around is the Vango Galaxy 300 - the sleeping compartment is the same dimensions as my gamma 300 which is comfortable for 2 and has a larger living area with sewn in ground sheet.
Pack size is sensible.

[nigel s]

Yep, also be careful how you park/ pitch your tent. See mr-divers pics above and notice the tent /sidestand / bike relationship.
I was once woken up by shouts ( which took some doing ...it was a biker party  ) from the nextdoor tent.
He was trapped under his Harley that had gone over on the soft grass trapping him in the tent due to dodgy sidestand choices
 If you only have a side stand and space is tight , make sure it falls away from the tent.
I am guilty too,
Another biker party, this time at a friends liveaboard boat, maybe 30 of us. I had pitched too near the river in the evening ( already a good few beers in  ) and the river was tidal...Not a boatbuilder then 
Woke up cold and damp as the tide came up soaking the lovely soft grass I had pitched on.....

Ho Hum

[The Doctor 46]

If I was a Harley rider I would take your advice but I would rather my V-Strom fell onto me and the tent than on the dirty wet grass.   

Oh! and in the top picture the tent leaves the occupant rolling sideways across the tent all night. if the ground has even a gentle slope it's best to have your head up slope. Obviously wind direction comes into the sighting of the tent too. I used to camp for a living. 

[nigel s]

Nice to hear from a pro...