Everybody has their own value system but a couple comments:
- I get very frustrated at slow climbing speed unless I forget about how fast I would be climbing on a single. Might as well think about how fast a whole different person would climb. It is just not comparable to most couples' speed. If it is then you have a very fast stoker.
- My wife/stoker would never sit on a tandem with an electric motor. She would rather not keep up than ride with a motor in a group.
- For us the best idea is to get a slower group or ride alone. We have done both.
- A few times we actually met my usual single group and started with a head start or used a prearranged shortcut while the group tried to chase us down. This can work out to be very fun as the group has a rabbit to chase but extreme care has to be taken calculating the handicap. If you have a route history of GPS files on your tandem alone to compare to group GPS files it can be done. Somehow my stoker has no problem with this. In fact I think she has worked harder and longer on these rides than any other type of ride.