Originally Posted by lordoftherings
I have an observation that leads to a question that the manufacturer may have to answer. How far back on the tandem can the center of mass be moved without changing the handling and braking characteristics of the tandem?
On any bike, handling changes as soon as you start shifting weights around. As someone who tours regularly, I had already experienced first hand the different characteristics of a single bike with and without load in rear panniers only and with a full load in 4 panniers (a.k.a. loaded touring). The same issues exist with a tandem, except that part of the load pedals and wiggles around. I have yet to try my tandem with an adult stoker, but I have used it with and without my oldest child (50-60 lb soaking wet), with and without trailercycle, and with and without 6 panniers.
Generally speaking, if you put the lighter person in front as the original poster plans, the frame will be more rigid than if you place the heavier person in front. But the rear wheel will be more sollicited. And in extreme cases (i.e. 100 lb female captain and 300 lb male stoker), front wheel traction would be critical.
Definitely, as with any new vehicle, one must get used to it gradually. And unless they – and especially she, the captain – have previous tandem experience, I would suggest that the captain does a few solo rides at first, then short tandem rides in places where space is not critical. I know that my first tandem rides were 2-3 km long (in heavy traffic, I might add) and that was more than enough for me. Then came the 50 and 100 km rides.