Originally Posted by andypdx
I bought the same model this summer. Our team weighs about 360 lbs, and I've found that while the breaks are adequate for stopping, they overheat coming down pretty modest hills.
Overheat in what way: are they fading or are the rotors just getting hot?
Is there a bias towards which brakes seem to be most affected, i.e., front or rear?
How many miles do you have on the tandem thus far?
Just curious and trying to get a better understanding of what you're experiencing and how much bedding-in the brakes may have. Note: The brake pad compound used by Avid is good but not necessarily the best for tandems; folks have reported good results with EBC Gold which are purportedly long wearing, offer excellent fade resistance, better initial bite, and better braking power overall. However, they wear a bit more hard on the rotors than the softer Avid or the organic pads.
There are also some modifications that you can make to the Avids to improve the feel of the brake lever which can also have an impact on brake performance, e.g., adding a secondary return spring to eliminate any residual rear brake drag as outlined by Bryan Boldt in this posting:
http://search.bikelist.org/getmsg.as...10405.0533.eml and depicted here:
http://itandem.home.comcast.net/tips/IMG_2371.JPG