Used: MOTOTENT by Lone Rider

The not-so-alone, Lone Rider tent test

I opted for a crowded campsite in the heart of Sussex (not quite the wild environment the Mototent was designed for), open fires allowed, to see if the MOTOTENT is worth the £349 price tag.

On the face of it the MOTOTENT is essentially a two man dome tent with a porch, I can pick up one of those up from Argos for £100 or less so I took my Honda CRF250 greenlaning, strapped the tent on the back and found a campsite at the end of the day to give it a try. As it transpires there is more to the Mototent than meets the eye.

Here are my product highlights:

The tent is designed to have higher sides than normal dome tents so a bike fits in to the porch perfectly with none of its extrematies touching the tent fabric.

The bag it comes in is adjustable and has space to store more stuff, brilliant when you are trying to keep bags to a minimum.

The quality of the parts is very high. From the Red aircraft grade aluminium pegs, through to the waterproof zips and the thickness of the elasticated bands inside the tent poles. You can tell that the MOTOTENT is not made on the cheap.

It takes one man 10 minutes to put it up. External poles and a pre-attached inner tent mean setting up in the rain will always leave you somewhere dry to go at the end.

The attention to detail is superb, the access doors, vents, fly screens and internal pockets are perfectly placed. The way the guy ropes have been put together is excellent, tangle free and effective.

Two bikes fitted in the porch and you can still get in and out of the sleeping area, there's also a rear door for when the porch gets really full.

With one bike there is room to work on and around the bike if you need to, useful for track day and Enduro racers alike. If you have GS that will fit in too!

The inner sleeping quarter can be removed turning the tent into a large garage.

There's plenty of room in the porch but Fire-retardant rip-stop fabric means that hot motorcycles won’t burn it should the tent and a hot part of the bike come into contact.

I love the colours and you can stand up in it.

Is there a need for this tent in the UK?

The campsite I stayed on was a touch rough and an unattended CRF is a thieve-in-a-vans dream come true. I was very please to hide the bike away over night and thats when i realised why the Mototent makes sense.

The peace of mind the porch offers and the practicality of the layout being designed with motorcycle dimensions in mind plus the ease of setting up make it worth the £349.

You don't have to store your bike in the porch either, the space can be used for drying gear and cooking in.

I parked the bike on its side stand leaning toward the exit of the tent, but to be honest the tent is so secure and large enough that there was no risk of the bike 'falling over' on top of me, its just not a reality.

You can buy the Mototent from the UK distributor Twistmoto

Read our feature on motorcycle 'glamping' here