Hubba Hubba Tent (Bike) & Footprint
8th Jan 2026
I've had a good few tents in my life. Often when I am lying awake at night I try to tot up the approximate number of nights I've spent under 'canvas'. For starters it's virtually impossible and a I usually get lost somewhere around 2 years. But more pertinently to this review, it's been a good few years since I owned or even slept in a tent made of actual canvas!
My first MSR product was a Whisperlight stove purchased from the Mountain Equipment Coop in Vancouver at the start of a 3 month trip around western Canada in the early 90s. Believe it or not I still have the stove. Its had a replacement pump kit and some O-rings, but other than that it still works. That should be testament to the quality of MSR kit.
So I was quite excited to try out one of their Hubba Hubba tents. I opted for the 2 person Bike tent. It weighs an incredibly light 1.7kg (though 1.4kg if you ditch the bags - more later). The tent also comes in a 1 and a 3 person model. The optional extra footprint weighs an additional 200g.
First of all what's with the 'Bike' bit in the title? Bikepacking and gravel biking is obviously a big deal now, growing in popularity all the time. This variant of the tent comes with shorter sections of pole meaning that when disassembled, the bag of poles is short enough to go on your handlebars or even inside a frame bag more easily than the standard length (31cm long as opposed to 50cm long). Obviously this means more sections of pole to assemble, and more joints which are usually the weak spots on tent poles, but conversely, shorter sections are more structurally sound than longer ones. The weight will be marginally more due to the higher number of joints. The tent also comes in a more durable than usual bag, waterproof, and complete with straps, buckles and removable rubber spacers for attaching quickly and easily to your handlebars. It's a very neat bit of design and clearly thought out by keen bike packers. I love it.
As for the tent itself I've used it a number of times in fine weather on flat, grassy ground, and it's of course a doddle to put up. However a few days ago I gave it a far sterner test camping on the 914m summit of Y Garn in Snowdonia in deep snow and strong wind. With the footprint pegged out on the snow using some blade pegs (I judged the supplied pegs, excellent though they are, to be too thin to get any grip in snow so swapped them for this trip for something a little fatter). I then laid out the inner on top of the footprint using the same four pegs. At this point I put my rucksack inside the un-erected tent to keep it weighed down and stop it from blowing away if the pegs were pulled from the snow. Next I connected the poles. They make a single large H shape. The four ends connect to small metal eyelets on the four corners. I then connect a series of plastic clips to the now domed poles to raise the inner. There is a second, short, straight pole which crosses the mid point of the H, raising the sides of the inner. The fly then goes over the top, with four more small metal eyelets connecting at the corners, and two further eyelets inside the porches connecting to the ends of the short, straight pole. Once it's all on it’s a simple matter of pegging out the two porches, and then tightening all 6 pegged points with their generous pull chords. As it was windy I supplemented the pegs with an ice axe, avalanche probe and walking poles, along with some rocks and snow. In the dark, at the end of a long day, with the wind and gloved hands hampering things I'd say it took me around half an hour to get it erected. I was happy with that under the circumstances. As I was alone, I then had ample room inside the tent to set myself up, cook, sit upright (I'm 6 foot five), and store my snowy boots and rucksack. It was an adventure I look forward to repeating.
Inside there are ample mesh pockets in the ends and the ceiling, along with an adjustable hanging line which was a handy touch for airing snowy kit. The porches are equal sized and plenty big enough for kit storage if there are two of you.
Retailing at £600 (the footprint is an additional £52) it's a well priced piece of performance kit. More information on the Cascade Designs website.