Definitely tents to suit the job.
My current 'flying solo' tent is a Vango Tempest 200. Pack weight and build quality is great, and it was IIRC less than �80, but it is (one man) small and particularly low. It's for sleeping in, not living in.
I've got a Quechua tarp these days which I'd definitely carry if I expected foul weather and to be spending a lot of time around the campsite - consider me thoroughly converted by last year's Lakes trip
.
The downside is the tarp is almost the size and weight of the tent again, and I suppose you could argue that I could just carry around a bigger tent. It's quite a flexible solution though.
I've also got a Black's '3 man' tunnel tent (can't remember exact model) which is used for travelling with Mrs Thumper. It doesn't pack well at all, although that matters less with two bikes, but it is enormous, both in sleeping area and porch area. When we went away last summer we took the tarp as well, and had a mansion wherever we stopped
. It did mean the bikes looked like this though:
(that's the tent on the back of the ER6 - I said it doesn't pack small)
Having seen Tom's, I am intrigued by the idea of tipis.