De-struttin Henry`s stuff...
Tough decision between the Moment and the Contrail, but I finally went for the Moment. The end struts in the Moment are the biggest problem as far as bicycling goes, so that turned out to be the bulk of the conversation that I had with Henry Shires. He says that minor differences between batches seem to cause thet confusion over how easy or dificult they are to install after removal. Apparently, humidity can also affect it- he says the nylon tends to shrink up slightly when its very dry, so wetting the it down will usually help if they`re feeling stubborn. Since I was pretty confused over that whole idea, here`s how the system works.
The struts just slide into long pockets that look to be formed by sewing along the edge of one inch webbing folded lengthwise. The seam stops about an inch from the bottom end, leaving a small opening to push them in through. On my particular tent, they go in very easily until the last 1.5 inches or so, then I have to wiggle, push, and cuss to get the last part in. As of now, I`m going to say I doubt I`ll remove them every time I pack it up, but I have an idea that will hopefully simplify the process enough to make it worthwhile. The issue isn`t the length, as I had thought previously,but the diameter of the struts. It`s because the top end of each of those long pockets has a piece of velcro sewn on, and the extra stitching for that velcro slightly reduces the width of the pocket.
The ends of struts are cut flat. I suspect that just capping them with a bullet shaped end and trimming the bottom to the original OAL will help a lot. I`ll report back after I try that. I also considered replacing them with a slightly smaller diameter tube, but at 0.291 inches, the carbon tubing is already smaller than any aluminum tent pole sections I can find. I think it`s probably arrow shafting, and will run one by an archery shop to ask. My bullet ends might be as simple as installing arrow nochs and grinding them to a rounded end with a belt sander.
As is, the package is pretty long, but it will fit on my bike. I need to ride a while with it tied under the TT to see if it`s going to bug me by brushing my knees on each pedal stroke (guessing that`s a yes). Otherwise, it`ll have to share the rear rack with my sleeping bag. That won`t be a problem with a dry tent, but I don`t think I want to snuggle the two together like that after a wet packup. The two pics on my bike show the tent without the long pole, but with the struts installed. The long pole will go on the underside of my rack no matter where I put the rest of the tent.
The other tent pic (not on bike) is with struts removed. I can just barely squeeze it into the bag that came with my full length Insulated Air Core matress, leaving it 10 inches long x 5 inches diameter. Note that a packed Contrail is only slightly bigger without any messing around- it just rolls up and stuffs right into the shorter bag. Oh, another note on the Contrail- I did throw my sleeping mat into one and climb in after it. Yup, very easy, and I did NOT have to back in.