Wingman of the Road Toucan Motorcycle Tent Review

When I was a young kid, my parents had a large canvas tent that they had used while they were building a weekend house in western Massachusetts. I used to haul it out of the garage to the backyard and set it up. It weighed a ton and was a four-person tent, so the poles were 1” diameter aluminum, and each segment had to be connected to the next. It took over an hour to get it set up, but this was my introduction to camping as a child.  That backstory leads to the Wingman of the Road Toucan motorcycle tent review.

Fast-forward a couple of years, and I was camping with friends in more modern nylon/polyester tents that were much lighter and quicker to set up. I did a lot of backpack camping, so I focused on the size and weight of my tents for many years. When I started moto camping about 20 years ago, I just used my existing backpack tents to get started. While backpacking tents are certainly viable for use on a motorcycle, we don’t need to limit ourselves to them.

Backpack camping is not motocamping

When you backpack camping, you carry everything on your back. You have the tent, your sleeping bag and pad, pillow, cook gear, fire gear, clothing, etc. Keeping your pack light is a big priority, and you either have to take a minimalist approach and give up comfort or spend a lot on high-end tents and sleep gear to keep it lightweight.

On a motorcycle, the gear isn’t usually on your back. You may have saddlebags or a cargo rack that you can store your gear on. Weight is less of an issue since the gear is on the bike rather than your back. If your entire sleep system (tent, sleeping pad, sleeping bag) weighs 30 lbs or 10 lbs, it won’t make a huge difference on your bike for normal paved riding.

On a motorcycle, we prioritize comfort since we want a restful night’s sleep after a long day’s ride. We also have to protect our riding gear from any weather, so we often get a tent one or two sizes bigger than we need. So, a single rider might get a two—or three-person tent to store their gear.

On a motorcycle, a quick setup is another benefit.  If we’ve been on the road for many hours and hundreds of miles, we don’t want to spend much time setting up our sleep system.  While many people will focus on how long it takes to set up the tent, that is just one part of your setup.  A more realistic scenario is getting your ground sheet set up, putting up your tent, putting the rain fly on your tent, unrolling your sleeping pad & filling it with air, and putting it into your tent.  Now unroll your sleeping bag and put it into your tent.  Even with good quality freestanding backpacking gear, these steps can take 15-20 minutes.

I’ve continued to tweak my motocamping gear over the years.  I currently have four setups, each with a different pack size, comfort, and feature set.  Most aren’t intended specifically for motorcycles.  The one I have that was built for them is the Redverz Series II.  This is a massive tent with a garage space to park your bike, a large vestibule near the garage, and a queen-size sleeping area.  The current version is called the Atacama & while it is a great setup & very convenient to change into gear inside the tent.  But, just setting up the tent is at least 30 minutes, plus your sleeping pad & bag, so I typically limit it to where I’ll be at a site for a few days.

Wingman of the Road Toucan Tent

I learned about the Wingman of the Road tents almost three years ago. This was only the second tent I’d ever seen designed specifically for motorcyclists, preceded only by the Redverz tents. But they took a very different approach than other tents.

Unlike most backpacking tents, the Wingman of the Road tents use canvas, like the tent I had as a child.  But, they also already have the sleeping pad & bag in the tent, and the ground cloth is the “bag” it is stored in.  Some readers from down under might think it looks like swag, popular in Australia, where the heavy canvas material is more rugged.  There is some truth in that, and the familial resemblance is evident.  But, the Wingman of the Road tents have some features for motorcyclists that make the details stand out.

Wingman of the Road has two tents available: the Goose and the Toucan. The Goose is a one-person tent, while the Toucan (Two Can) can accommodate two people. At my 6’3” height, I often find the length of tents limiting.  I emailed Wingman of the Road for advice, and they said the Toucan would have a bit more length to accommodate me, so I ordered my Toucan in the spring of 2022. It’s about 29 lbs, but that’s with everything, including your pad, bag, tent, and ground sheet/storage wrap.

Setup

The Toucan comes rolled up in the waterproof sheet with two compression straps attached with quick-connect buckles. The compression straps help keep the Toucan’s shape and compact the package. Your entire sleep setup, when packed up, is essentially a 26” x 16” cylinder that can easily be strapped to almost any bike’s rack or pillion seat. I attach a pair of ROK straps to my rack on my BMW R18 Classic, where the pillion seat would typically go.

The Toucan is off the bike within about 30 seconds from the two quick snaps on the RokStraps.  I undo the two buckles on the waterproof bag and unroll the whole thing.  A few ties hold the groundsheet around the tent.  A PVC pole pouch holding the tent’s poles and stakes is at one end of the groundsheet.  There are only three poles on the Toucan.  Two arch poles to use at either end and a thicker adjustable central ridge pole running the length of it that provides the backbone of the tent.

The two arch poles are the hardest to use as they go through a curved section of canvas, but it’s still a handful of seconds to get each setup and engage the metal tab to lock it at the bottom, plus the clips along the outline of the tent.  The ridge pole is much easier with a pin on either end that engages with some grommets in the canvas at either end of the tent.  Adjust the length to make it taut, wrap the velcro loops around it, and the tent is up.

I like to set up the tent with my bike leaning away from it. This does two things. First, in the event of high wind or soggy ground, the bike is unlikely to come down on the tent. Second, it helps create a larger area under the awning to store gear.  I would do the same inside my Redverz garage, leaning the bike away from the sleeping area. It is a good safety approach, so ignore some images on the Wingman of the Road site that show the bike leaning toward the tent.

You can tether the long awning flap on one side of the tent to your bike, creating a tarp which combined with the ground sheet provides a water resistant place for your gear.  A couple of tethers on either end of the tent allow you to pull out the window covers.

In less than 5 minutes, I’ve got the tent up, staked, and tethered to my bike.  Now I need to move onto the pad & bag…. Wait, they were already set up inside the tent when I unrolled it.  So, I’m done.  My entire sleep system is up and running with space to hold my gear in <5 minutes.

There is a convenient hook under the window cover where I can hang my helmet, protected from the elements.  The rest of my riding gear can go under the flap I have connected to my bike.

While I thought many of the freestanding backpack tents were fast to set up, if you compare just the tent setups, they are about on par with the Toucan. Once you add in the sleeping pad and bag setup time, the Toucan becomes much faster.

Many backpacking tents will have vestibules that sit under the rain fly where you can store some gear, just like the Wingman of the Road tents.  But many of those don’t have a ground sheet covering the vestibule area, so you must leave your gear directly on the ground.  In heavier rain, your gear might get wet from underneath.  The groundsheet protects against this and can even be rolled up on the edges to provide more protection for your gear, essentially packing your gear in the same setup the tent is on the bike.

Comfort

Unzipping one canvas side of the Toucan reveals the mesh to keep the bugs out.  The other side also has mesh but with a second canvas wrap over it.  At your head and feet are a couple more windows where the canvas can be unzipped to reveal more mesh.  For maximum airflow, you have four sides with full mesh.

The pad is thick, at least 2”, and provides enough cushion from the ground to absorb any rocks, sticks, or other bits you may have neglected to clear under the tent before you set up. The sleeping bag is attached to the pad, so it won’t shift around you in the night. In fact, the pad covers the full floor of the tent.

You may think that, aside from the built-in pad and bag, this doesn’t sound all that different from a normal backpacking tent. This is where the advantages of the canvas material become evident.

Sunlight heat

If you’ve ever used a typical nylon backpacking tent in the summer with the rain fly on, you know that by the afternoon, the interior of the tent is much warmer than the outside air. Light passes through the material, and with a lens effect, it starts to bake the inside. But the canvas of the Toucan doesn’t have that. When fully sealed up, it stays at air temperature.

Cold nights

Conversely, on cold nights, a nylon tent provides no insulation, so body heat escapes quickly through the material. The canvas of the Toucan, on the other hand, acts like insulation and keeps the cold at bay.

No built-in alarm

In a typical backpacking tent, I always wake up at sunrise, no matter how tired I am. This is because the light immediately comes through the tent material, and the tent starts to heat up quickly, acting like an alarm clock. But in the Toucan, the canvas acts like black-out curtains. I can sleep in and get up when I want to.

Canvas is naturally waterproof & better breathing

Cotton canvas fibers swell when wet, tightening the weave to provide better waterproofing.  At the same time, canvas breathes better than nylon on most backpacking tents.   I’m used to having a bit of a clammy feeling in most nylon tents.  The Wingman of the Road Toucan almost feels air-conditioned by comparison.

Motorcycle features

The Wingman of the Road tents have some features that will benefit motorcycle riders. Some are happy byproducts of the creators’ design choices, while others are specifically aimed at motorcyclists.

No plastic melting by a hot exhaust

Nylon tents quickly melt if they are too close to a hot exhaust or engine. Like textile riding gear, getting a nylon tent too close can soon result in melting and even a hole in your tent that can’t be repaired. Canvas, on the other hand, isn’t so quick to be affected by the heat. Any damage can easily be repaired with a needle and thread.

Hooks at either end to hold your helmet

The small windows and hoods over them at the head and foot of the tent have hooks to hold your helmet. As the Toucan is a two-person tent, there are thoughtfully two hooks to keep your lid out of sight and protected from the elements.

Awning to protect your gear or cover your bike

One side of the tent has a larger canvas flap that can act as an awning to cover your gear in a vestibule. You can tie it to your motorcycle to provide the stand on the far side. Wingman of the Road also offers awning poles if you can’t park your motorcycle nearby.

Another option is to have your bike closer to the tent and use the awning to cover a part of the bike.  I’ve found this works well, for example, to cover the seat to avoid a wet seat in the morning.  I run the rope to the far handlebar and tie it around the mirror stalk, and on the other end, I tie it behind the seat either on a frame rail or the rack I have on my R18 Classic.

Tear down

Tear down is nearly the reverse of setup. I remove the tethers from the bike, allowing the awning to hang down. I then take my helmet off of the end window hook, loosen the tethers holding the window covers out, and place the stakes in the PVC pouch of the ground sheet. Now, I loosen the main ridge pole, remove it, and place it in the pouch. Finally, I removed the two hoop poles at either end and put them in the pouch.

I now place the tent on the ground sheet with the PVC pouch. At the end, I’ll start rolling on.  I tie the edges of the groundsheet around the tent, helping to wrap it inside at about a width of 26”.  I can now begin rolling from the pole pouch side.  This approach keeps the poles in the center of the cylinder and well protected.  As I progress, I’ll kneel on the cylinder to keep it tightly packed.  As I reach the end, I take the built-in straps and buckles on the ground sheet and click them together to seal the whole package.  Tighten them to ensure a secure bundle, and I can put it back on the bike.

On my R18, I have a Wunderlich cargo rack where the pillion seat typically goes.  I have the ROK straps connected at either end and with a cross pattern, I secure the Wingman of the Road Toucan roll to the cargo rack.  The elastic of the RokStraps makes it easy always to have tension and keep it secure.  From throwing the tent on the rack to securing the straps from flapping is <1 minute.

I’ve ridden hundreds of miles on backroads for a full day with this setup and never had anything come loose. It’s a reliable and secure method, despite being so simple to set up, giving you the confidence to enjoy your ride without worrying about your gear.

Prepare for the delay factor

People who ride Ural motorcycles with sidecars often describe the UDF or Ural Delay Factor, where people will stop them to ask about the bike.  It’s so unusual that people’s interest is piqued, and they want to learn all about the bike.

While the Redverz Atacama can also get a lot of questions because of its unique motorcycle features,  I find the Wingman of the Road tents are even more unusual and attract a lot of questions.  Most riders have nylon tents, so seeing a canvas tent that can have the flap tethered to the bike is unique.  People will ask why you use that tent, the advantages, and many more questions.

These types of questions often arise when you arrive at camp, once it is set up, and, of course, when you are preparing to leave. While your setup and teardown may be swift, the social interactions that come with them might delay your departure a bit. However, these delays are not just about the time; they are about the shared passion and camaraderie among fellow motorcycle riders and camping enthusiasts.

Ideal bikes

The Wingman of the Road tents are a throwback to an earlier camping era with canvas material.  It reminded me of the canvas tent I used as a young child.  It’s a bit bulky, so that the tent won’t fit in panniers, but it is better situated on a rear rack or in a pillion seat.  But that means your panniers don’t have to hold any sleep systems.  You can throw cook gear or camping coffee tools in them, along with a camping chair.

It’d look weird on my sports bike, but it is right at home on a cruiser, a modern classic motorcycle, or a classic bike like my 1972 BMW R75/5.  It looks like the old bedrolls you’d see in old bike movies or on the back of a horse.  They can also work on an adventure bike, but the centralized weight up high may not be ideal if you are going off-road.

The company that makes the tent has added new products in the same back-to-basics style as the Toucan to their catalog.  These include:

Road Kitchen

The Road Kitchen is a flat-pack stove and cast iron pan combo in a canvas travel bag.

Iceman

The Iceman is an ice chest that can double as a storage bag on the bike.

Canvas table & chair

A camp chair and table are available, made of the same tough canvas material as the tent. These are similar to the Helinox chair and table I use on my trips.

Fleece liner

If you plan some cold-weather motorcycle trips, the fleece liner works with the Goose & Toucan tents and supplements the sleeping bag to keep you warm in the colder months.

Conclusion

The Wingman of the Road Toucan Tent is a beautiful option for a motorcyclist.  It’s not your typical backpacking camp and has several features perfect for motorcyclists.  The speed of setup and teardown of your complete sleep setup by being all in one is a huge benefit after a long day on the road.  If you have a retro-style bike or a cruiser, it’s the perfect accessory and looks right at home.