Originally Posted by
Dean V
I guess the loading on a stoker stem would also be something that is very variable between teams. A stoker that isn't especially strong wouldn't load it much at all compared to a strong stoker that liked sprinting or cranking up hills out of the saddle in big gears.
+1
This is the problem with tandems. No two teams are exactly alike. We have friends who top out at 600lbs and we tip the scales at 270lbs. When I bought them a new wheelset as an anniversary gift I had our friend Mel at Tandems East build a bomb-proof 48 spoke wheelset using robust components because that's what they needed... not what they thought they wanted. It was a long, long time and several hundred pounds ago when they could get away with those OEM C'dale 36° XTR hubs and Sun rims that I rebuilt twice before putting them on the right wheels that I knew they needed.
Folks need to be honest with themselves when making equipment decisions. I'd like to think I'm still a hard core 30-year old cyclist like I used to be. Sadly, I'm now a card-carrying member of AAPR who can only dream of pushing the big gears and running at the front of the pack. Reality is, I work 60 hours a week and feel fortunate to get in 60 miles of riding on the weekends... not 600 miles a week a like I used to ...and am just barely able to run with the B-Teams when we attend rallies. Sure, we'd like to ride every day, but when you go to work at 5am and get home at 7pm, it just ain't happening. Call it poor vocational choices: should have taken a gov't job.. I'd be retired by now and living large on the tax payers backs.