[tornadobass]

My wife would like to try drop bars on our '98 Burley Rumba for next season. It now has bull horns.

What should we look for in stoker drop bars? Suggestions for the dummy brake hoods?

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[zonatandem]

The stoker's bars should be wide enough to allow the captain's thighs not to rub against stoker's hands; bigger captain thighs require w-i-d-e-r bars for stoker.
Stoker handrests are a nice addition. If you have some old brake levers laying around in part box, remove the actual levers themselves and install on stoker bar. A pair of ready-made stoker 'dummy levers' will set you back around $20 to $30; a pair of carbon fiber round handrest (stoker pegs) from ariZona tandems will cost about $40.
Stoker Kay has always preferred the round stoker pegs over the dummy levers.
Hope this helps a bit!

Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

[WheresWaldo]

I just did this for our tandem. Of course I did not go as wide as the bull horn bars. Diacompe makes a dummy lever, they tend to be smaller than the STI brifters found on most bikes, better suited to the smaller hands of the typical stoker. I would think that if the stoker also rides a ½ bike then these dummy levers may feel more comfortable than round pegs. Prices are as Rudy describes.

BTW for our Cannondale I did have to replace the stoker stem as it did not have a separate face and could not be manuvered around all the bends, chose the Dimension Adjustable, but I still may have to cut off ½ to 1 inch to accommodate the stokers upper body.

[R900]

When we bought our new Trek we went back and forth comparing it to a Cannondale tandem. The Trek had drop bars, while the C-dale had the bull horn style. My wife really liked the drops better. Our Trek has the little Diacomp fake levers and she likes them as well. I think the front uses a 44cm bar and a 42cm for the stoker. Just needs to be wide enough to clear the captain.

John