Originally Posted by
moleman76
If you do stick with quad brakes, I'd suggest that you set them up so that both front brakes are actuated by one lever, and both rear by the other.
Or, give your stoker control over the rear hub, and you handle the rim braking. You could check that out before doing the front hub brake/wheel build, since most any front wheel would fit that dropout.
I think that the quad braking is overkill.
I thought about this (right lever actuates both rear brakes, left lever actuates the front), but Sheldon Brown advises against this. His argument is that the pull required is different between a drum brake and a center pull brake.
http://sheldonbrown.com/tandem-brakes.html
Originally Posted by Sheldon Brown
Control Setup...3 X 2
So, for a heavy load in hilly terrain, you need 3 brakes: 2 on the rims, and 1 on the rear hub. How are you going to operate 3 brakes with 2 hands? Dual-cable levers.
One traditional solution has been to use a special brake lever for one hand that pulls two cables. I don't recommend this setup; here's why:
* If the dual lever operates both the rear rim brake and the rear hub brake, the hub brake will not engage. This is because hub brakes generally require more cable pull than rim brakes.
* If the dual lever operates both rim brakes, you have no way to operate the front brake independently of the rear. The ability to use the front brake alone is essential for safe riding, especially with a lighter stoker, or while riding stokerless.
I'm wondering if the these types of levers will be able to solve this problem by having the front brake engage first and the rear slightly after the front as I grip the lever harder?
BTW, the Quad brakes is a done deal. The wheels are at the builder's as I type.