Tandem Cycling - freeride vs tandem forces

i'm particularly interested about component interchangeability.
for example, can we use the freeride hubs on our tandems? i have seen some of the freeride hubs in 150mm spacing vs 145mm of common tandem use. if it's just a matter of shaving off a few mm of the spacers or removing some washers, will the hub itself be acceptable for tandem use? also, how different would the freehubs be?

Tandems place far more torque on the drive mechanism than freeriding or downhilling. If the drive mechanism can stand up to the torque, there's no reason not to use FR stuff. Rather than shaving off some of the end cap, I'd look to see if another endcap is available to change out.
Thru-axles would seem to be a good idea on tandems as well, but in reality, holding the rear wheel in place on off-road tandems hasn't been that much of an issue for our customers.
Most hub companies' tandem hubs are often the same hub body as the HD mtb or road hub body, with a stronger drive system.
More important than the niche target of the hub is the hub contruction, flange height, etc etc.

I'm being using Hope Bulb hubs for a few years front (20mm trueaxle) and rear with excellent results.


The flanges and really tall and spread out, so you can run really short spokes (154mmx152mm) with excellent triangulation.


The cassetes system is massive and super strong, no failures or even problem so far, even if my Ibis is only a 135MM spacing, running using only a Quick release.

If you need a stronger drive system could you not just replace the freehub?

If you need a stronger drive system could you not just replace the freehub?

In my experience (at least 20 years working on bikes) the part that usually fails is the interface in between the the hub and the cassete body (specially on "Small" diameter, Male {convex} on the hub, female {concave} on the cassete body type designs), not as much as the triggers at least.

Plus the axles can get bend or break, but is kind of uncomun.

Maybe this will a little overkill, but bikes like My nicolai m-pire downhill bike feature a 165mmRear hub (DT, Hadley, Ringle) with a 14mm solid axle that is kind of indestructible, plus they have sliding dropouts to correct the wheel base.



The sliding dropout.

We used to spec Hope Big 'Uns and BULB's on tandems as upgrades. But the drive mechanisms began to fail. Hope made good on them under warranty, but most tandem folks have shifted away from them for that reason. You guys may be light, and ride with a light touch, but beware of these rear hubs.

We used to spec Hope Big 'Uns and BULB's on tandems as upgrades. But the drive mechanisms began to fail. Hope made good on them under warranty, but most tandem folks have shifted away from them for that reason. You guys may be light, and ride with a light touch, but beware of these rear hubs.

Thanks Senor for the head up, We are about 350 pounds (mostly me, she is very light) and ride mostly on Hilly fire roads and single tracks and so far no even one hint of failure, but I will interested in your suggestions for even better hubs, I select the Hope's do to the exelent triangulation they provide for the spokes more than anything else, specially on my case since the Ibis is a 135mm rear end (i know I can spread it if i have too) but I'm very interested on a "Bullet proof" set up, since in the old days I have a few failures using lesser hubs (broken axles, splines failure, etc)




Ps: I'm really impress with the quality of the bikes, equipment and advice you provide at your shop (www.mtbtandems.com) I just wish I can afford you.


Ricardo