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  1. #1
    OlTrailDog's Avatar
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    Bike Travel Weekend with Chameleon Cloud 71

    Once again Adventure Cycling's Bike Travel Weekend rolled around. Gorgeous weather this year with a middle of the night thunderstorm on Thursday and light showers on Saturday evening and night. Spent three nights in the new Chameleon Cloud71. A few random thoughts on the Chameleon Cloud71, and then some pics.
    1) This is one of the most comfortable GE hammocks I've owned. I think it has to do with the stretch in the Cloud71 fabric. Most GEs I've had to length the ridge line to find the sweet spot. Not with this hammock as it seems the fabric and design does not result in calf ridge and yet provides excellent support for my legs without knee hyper-extension that I usually cure by lengthening the ridge line. Three great nights of comfortable sleep, sans the trips to the bush.
    2) As someone noted in a thread about the Chameleon Cloud71 there is considerable sag while sitting in the hammock during entry or preparing for exiting. To me that means the hammock needs to be sag closer to the ground so that your feet are able to touch the ground and take the weight off behind the knees. The sag factor with the Cloud71 also means the hammock needs to be hung higher than for other hammocks.
    3) I won't consider having anything other than a Double Layer. But the DL design needs some improvement as on several occasions the zipper sucked up the outer layer. This caused panic because I had visions of a tear starting in the fragile fabric when zipping or fixing the snagged up bottom layer. I learned to put tension on the bug net to stretch the fabric and prevent the out layer from getting sucked up into the zipper. But this needs to be designed better so that the outer fabric is safely away from the zipper, e.g. like the outer layer being sewn into bias tape or something similar in design.

    Lastly, it was another opportunity to utilize version two of my DIY bike trailer built from an Bob Ibex and a Burley Kazoo (or Piccolo). Works even better than my previous incarnation as I can quickly break it down and stow it in the Tacoma bed. Plus this one uses the aluminum Burleys and aluminum tubing, and therefore, is lighter.

    PS: one of the ladies is 83 and the group of three traveled 28 miles from Missoula for their Bike Travel Weekend trip.

    BikeTravelWeekend04042021_0.jpg
    BikeTravelWeekend04042021_17.jpg
    BikeTravelWeekend04042021_14.jpg

  2. #2
    LowTech's Avatar
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    Nice trailer mod. I have a BOB trailer as well. Of course I can't use mine until I score another wheel skewer since it was on one of the bike that got stolen.

    Working on replacing/upgrading gear and may be out this fall.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
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    Nice trailer and a good partner. 82 years young that's amazing. Just turned 62 leaves me a lot of biking time. Just found out about Adventure Cycling Association. Have to look into it. Glad the hammock worked out.
    Take care, Al

  4. #4
    OlTrailDog's Avatar
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    Thanks, here is another trailer I put together. For a hammock tarp I used a 10x12 silnylon that I have had for years. I just didn't feel comfortable using a CF Winter Palace and leaving it at the campground while I was off playing for the days.
    KazooBikeTrailer04022021_b.jpg

  5. #5
    LowTech's Avatar
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    Thanks for clueing me into Adventure Cycling's doings, not sure why I was unaware of them w/ a lifetime of biking. I'm now signed up for their news letter and have next years weekend on the calendar.

    On the trailers, why do you prefer the gooseneck over the attachment at the rear axle?
    I built a similar gooseneck style one (had loads of trouble coming up w/ a good u-joint connection), then turned a trashed Burley into a cargo hauler and hated the spring joint on dirt tracks. Was in the process of modding that when a friend passed on their BOB to me. Now it's just the cotter pins that I don't trust.

  6. #6
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    I met five friends on Friday and did 150 miles on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, starting in Cambridge and camping at Martinak State Park.

    Though we had a wonderful, albeit, hot weekend, I was disappointed to find that Maryland State Parks doesn’t allow hammocks, so instead, I slept on the ground with the worms and rodents.

    It’s too bad MDSP doesn’t cater to the hammocking Illuminati.

    75797221-7A0D-444A-8924-5D9825311422.jpeg

  7. #7
    OlTrailDog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by LowTech View Post
    Thanks for clueing me into Adventure Cycling's doings, not sure why I was unaware of them w/ a lifetime of biking. I'm now signed up for their news letter and have next years weekend on the calendar.

    On the trailers, why do you prefer the gooseneck over the attachment at the rear axle?
    I built a similar gooseneck style one (had loads of trouble coming up w/ a good u-joint connection), then turned a trashed Burley into a cargo hauler and hated the spring joint on dirt tracks. Was in the process of modding that when a friend passed on their BOB to me. Now it's just the cotter pins that I don't trust.
    I too wish I had been aware of the multiple benefits of Adventure Cycling years ago. Regarding the hitch set up. The Burley/rack hitch is highly reputed and recommended over the seat post mounted trailers among parents who haul their kids to and fro. That is one reason I went with the Burley system. Plus, I picked up my first one from a local bike recycling center for a few dollar donation. The later aluminum versions I got for $30 off Craigslist and $70 off ebay. The Ibex I sniped off ebay for considerable savings too. I was thinking about purchasing one of the super nice French Aevon trailers, but they were over $1.2 K to purchase and ship here. Plus, they are seat post mounted. So I started tinkering. The reason I went with a rack mount was two fold. The axle mount yoke with the Ibex was for a 26" bike, that meant I would need to purchase a 29er yoke. But more importantly I started picking up used Rohloff hubs and didn't want the extra stress on the axle assembly area. I do see that Rohloff now makes a thru axle type system that would be stronger. Actually the axle I am using with the bike is the BOB style axle with the yoke mount attachments, but that is because it was the axle set up I had that was the right size for the bike rear end. In addition, the rack mount allows the bike to turn on a much shorter radius than having the axle attachment. What I really plan on doing is welding up an aluminum frame trailer to replace the Ibex as next winter's project. It will be lighter than the Ibex.

    Quote Originally Posted by TheWalkman View Post
    I met five friends on Friday and did 150 miles on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, starting in Cambridge and camping at Martinak State Park.

    Though we had a wonderful, albeit, hot weekend, I was disappointed to find that Maryland State Parks doesn’t allow hammocks, so instead, I slept on the ground with the worms and rodents.

    It’s too bad MDSP doesn’t cater to the hammocking Illuminati.

    75797221-7A0D-444A-8924-5D9825311422.jpeg
    Hey great to hear someone else made a bike foray for the weekend. Sounds like you had good company. Really too bad about the MDSP regs. I actually hauled my camp up on the evening of the 3rd with my truck, set up camp, and we stayed overnight. One the reasons for doing this was to make sure I could get a camp site as it is a very sought out campground and I took one of my portable hammock stands with me just in case I got stuck with a camp site that lacked proper hanging trees. Another reason was so that didn't have to haul gear and a forty pound dog up the hills, and so we would have all the comforts of a vehicle supported camp when we got there. Nope, that is not cheating, I'm just getting older and perhaps smarter.

  8. #8
    all secure in sector 7 Shug's Avatar
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    That is a very cool report.
    Good to hear your Cloud 71 report.
    Just got a Starlite Hammock from Superior Gear hammocks. Inside layer is a Cloud 71 and outside is a very light argon.
    Going to take it on my next trip. Like you...I would not totally be confident in Cloud71 as a sihgle layer after reading about a few fails on here.
    Shug
    Whooooo Buddy)))) All Secure in Sector Seven

  9. #9
    Senior Member rmcrow2's Avatar
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    Thanks for sharing really appreciate the pictures. Out on a bike is my favorite way to go camping.

    Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

  10. #10
    OlTrailDog's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Shug View Post
    That is a very cool report.
    Good to hear your Cloud 71 report.
    Just got a Starlite Hammock from Superior Gear hammocks. Inside layer is a Cloud 71 and outside is a very light argon.
    Going to take it on my next trip. Like you...I would not totally be confident in Cloud71 as a sihgle layer after reading about a few fails on here.
    Shug
    Although I'm confident the Cloud71 fabric is stout enough to hold me, my primary concern is inadvertently snagging it resulting in a run -> rip. Last week I bumped into a discounted printed chameleon on Dutchware in the Hexon 1.0. I thought that I'd experiment with putting the Hexon 1.0 inside the DL Cloud71 Chameleon. The reviews on the Hexon 1.0 seemed to be positive on the comfort and stretch of the fabric. I ordered it without the netting figuring I could use the Cloud71 netting if needed. I thought I would try inserting the Hexon hammock inside the Cloud71 hammock and leave both hammocks intact. This was very easy to do. For the past nights I have been sleeping and lounging in this setup. I find it very comfortable and having the Hexon fabric as the inner layer gives me confidence in the robustness of the hammock setup. Of course it adds more weight and bulk, but not as much as say my DH Sparrow, or the DL Trail Lair and DL WBBB XLC that I previously owned. I took some bungie shock cord and tied the inner hammock to the outer hammock at the tie out loops (which I have never used with any of the hammocks I've owned. The netting attaches to the outer DL Cloud71.

    If I had to do it all over again given the reports and experiences I would probably have done similar to what you did, i.e. a DL with Hexon 1.0 on the inside and Cloud71 on the inside. I like the anti-snag factor of having the Hexon as the inner layer. The only draw back to this is I really like the translucent qualities of the Cloud71 that provide a great view of the surrounding. In the end I will use the combo chameleons for home and truck camping use and the DL Cloud71 for UL backpacking. We will see how that works out.

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