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Now retired but busy still living..

Thursday 30 August 2012

IN PURSUIT OF COMFORT.....

Helinox chair packed in zipped bag
 Regular visitors to this blog will remember that this time last year JD and I were on our Rock2UK ride.....
One thing that became pretty important for us as the ride developed from days to weeks, was something comfortable to sit on when we had finished our daily distance and were chilling out around camp..... 
The desire for something comfortable on which to park ourselves became a bit of an obsession....on arrival at a new campsite we would cycle all around the site checking to see if there were any unused picnic seats or benches....we were even known to pass a site by if we couldn't find anything suitable..........

Well all that searching could be over....
Let me introduce to you the HELINOX 'CHAIR ONE'.

This folding camp chair was first shown to me by a friend of mine who also knows how much comfort is important when on a cycle tour.....
I ordered one straight away and since I have received it I have managed to put in about 15 hours of sitting time and yes it seems to be pretty comfortable.... 
The folded and packed chair in it's zipped  bag fits into the bottom of one of my panniers and doesn't really take up much space or add much weight at all. 

It is made from the same type of DAC TH72M alloy that quality tent poles are made from. 
I have added a short specification list after the last image for anyone who is interested. 

One of my initial concerns was the possibility of the legs sinking into soft ground when the chair was in use, but my friend had thought of that and suggested using plastic milk bottle caps one on each of the legs and it works..!! 
The HELINOX 'CHAIR ONE' retails for around £70.00 in the UK right now which might seem expensive, but believe me it's worth every penny.
Helinox chair out of the bag.

Helinox chair tubes assembled and ready for completion.

The fully assembled Helinox chair.

Helinox chair with my Tilley hat for scale.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Weight: 900g / 2lb
Capacity: 145kg / 320lb
Chair size: 52 x 50 x 65 cm (w x d x h)
                   20.5 x 19.7 x 25.6 inch
Packed size: 35 x 10 x 12 cm (w x d x h)
                      13.8 x 3.9 x 4.9 inch
Current UK Retail Price £70.00

9 comments:

coastkid said...

Now that is neat!
That will re pay itself in no time at all Trevor, all we need is the rain to go away for a bit!

John Romeo Alpha said...

I have a Crazy Creek chair that I use for camping. Yours is cooler though.

TrevorW�� said...

*coastkid*
As you say it is pretty neat....I've always been a sucker for this type of kit.

*JRA*
Yeah...I thought it looked quite cool too. Hopefully my day's of cycling around campsites looking for something to sit on are now over...

Anonymous said...

Hi Trevor, I bought one at the beginning of the season and so glad that I did. It's great to to not have to sit on the ground. I used Hartleys best jam jar tops. We don't buy milk in bottles so these deep metal lids are just great to stop them sinking into the ground or ruining a ground sheet.
Brenda in the Boro

GreenComotion said...

Nice find! I have been lucky in that during my S24O's I have had benches to sit on where I camped. I will likely get something similar if and when I do extended tours.
Peace :)

The bike shed said...

Looks excellent - be good for bothy / backpack trips too

TrevorW�� said...

*cyclingthesixthdecade*
You know how good they are then Brenda...

*Chandra*
On a longer tour having your own seat makes a huge difference to your trip Chandra....

*The bike shed*
It certainly would Mark....

J_on_tour said...

Fantastic idea. I'll be looking into that fir a few different reasons... looks like it fits into a back pack :-)
I had to take a garden chair to a party recently for extra seating ... now there's a great party piece !

TrevorW�� said...

*J_on_tour*
They are pretty good J....

Six weeks off.

 The visit to see the Consultant went quite well really ...   My ' numbers' have started to creep up again so I am going to be given...