it will get better! After a couple years of m/c camping, we have gotten the packing down to science. And we now have a couple different sized tents.
The Mansion is a Big Agnes Big House 4. With vestibule. It is HUGE. We only take that one if we are staying in one spot for 2+ nights. For 1 night stands, the Big Agnes Emerald Mtn is smaller, and easier to set up. If its just Pete headed x/c to MN and he just needs a couple hours sleep, he has a Puppy Pile tent. it weighs about 2 lbs and has enough room for one person.
Sleeping bag for me is a Big Agnes RoxyAnn 15. There is no padding on the bottom and it has a sleeve where the BA pad slips in. Bought the proper one for the bag (BA Q-core insulated pad). Gave my Thermorest pad to Pete, he loves it. Pete has a down bag with no zipper that packs to the size of a small Nerf football.
Clothes. rule is: No jeans, no cotton. too bulky and cotton doesn't breathe as well as I'd like. lots of microfiber stuff that packs small, doesn't wrinkle and dries overnight.
Chairs. Had a couple of regular camp chairs, but they are too big to pack. Just picked up a pair of Helinox Chair One's. REI has a similar chair, but I found out that DAC, the company that makes the rods for both chairs, are no longer going to make the rods for the REI chair. So....if you happen to break one, your REI chair is now garbage.
Lights: petzl Zipka's.
Food: I try and bring along snack stuff (cheese, jerky, nuts) and at least 2 ltr of water in a Platypus bag. We usually will find a grocery store to pick up stuff for dinner/breakfast. we have a small alcohol stove, but I can't decide if I want the Whisperlite that burns all kinds of fuel or the Biolite that burns wood and can trickle charge your phone, tablet, etc. Since we travel on two bikes, I may get both..... hahaha
packing it in: Ortlieb dry bags. Moto Fizz bags, BMW tailbags, etc. What bags get used depends on how long we'll be gone and what bikes we'll be on
These are the NTs on a 10 day ride to central CA.
My bike (on the left): The BA tent is stuffed into the Bestem bag on the right side, the left has my heated gear, sleep pad, pillow and misc stuff. The MotoFizz bag on the top has food, water, Rockstar drinks, beer, foldable dishes, cutlery, my toiletries. The yellow Ortlieb has my clothes. The little black bag is a Kriega that has my sleeping bag in it.
Petes NT has the old camp chairs (blue) tent poles (orange), Ortlieb (clothes, 2 laptops, etc) right side pannier tools, left side sleeping bag, pad, etc. He was packed much lighter than I was. hahaha