I wanted to wait a little bit before posting this here. I bought one of these tents recently:
Kirkham's Springbar Tent
I got kinda fed up with dome style tents and wanted something old school. I'm pretty sure the design hasn't changed much over the years. The stitching and canvas quality is incredible. The price is a little steep, but they are made here and to order. Very roomy. Hopefully it will last me for the years to come.
I wanted to do a follow-up to my earlier post about the
Kirkham's Springbar Tent. After having used this tent for a few seasons, I can say this is easily the best tent I've ever owned. It holds a constant comfortable temp well, and is ideal for the Spring, Fall, and Winter. I've come to the conclusion that Summer camping just plain sucks; it doesn't matter what tent you're in.
The biggest draw back about the tent is that, once broken down, it's not as compact as the lightweight nylon/ripstop tents. There are a lot of pieces to this tent and most of the parts have their own bag. It nickel and dimes your storage. So, if your Cruiser is crammed for space, this may not be the solution for you. That being said, a roof basket would help in this case. As I mentioned in the previous post, this thing is heavy. The tent canvas is only part of the weight. The tent's metal springbar set up is also of considerable heft. I guess this is the price you pay for well made.
Cons aside, this is still the best camping set up I've ever used, short of a camping trailer. I set this tent up at the Christmas party with a flannel tent rug, cushioned cot, table, and buddy heater. The whole set up was perfect. I hadn't had a chance to try this tent out in the rain until that same weekend. The previously mentioned set up made the early rainy morning incredibly cozy. The silicone treated canvas did its job, it kept the inside bone dry and warm. Drying the tent afterwards was a breeze.
If you've got the space, this tent is top notch. I highly recommend it.
Still thinking about buying it:
