Tandem Cycling - power output?

reading the thread about tandem weight, one member mentioned 500 W and so forth [talking about climbing and such. i scanned but didn't read the whole thing].

my question: how IS power measure on these things? same as with singles? i have used a power tap the past couple years, so i'm familiar with their usages. i suppose it is just the same, no?

next question: what kind of power IS generated on these bikes? i'm accustomed to the numbers i produce, on easy rides, climbing, sprinting and all that. but what can i espect with a tandem? it can't be just a simple additive matter, can it?

if you are familiar with this, i'd love to know: will i regularly be seeing readings in excess of XXXX watts climbing?

You might check out this thread titled "Tandem Power Measurement"
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=582309
Not a lot of great solutions out there for tandems, but iBike looks interesting even though it is estimating rather than measuring power output

next question: what kind of power IS generated on these bikes? i'm accustomed to the numbers i produce, on easy rides, climbing, sprinting and all that. but what can i espect with a tandem? it can't be just a simple additive matter, can it?

if you are familiar with this, i'd love to know: will i regularly be seeing readings in excess of XXXX watts climbing?

It pretty much is a matter of adding the power of the two riders.

There have been studies that indicate that only about 93% of the Captain's power reaches the road, whearas the figure is around 98% for the Stoker, (the same as a single bike rider)

And depending how well the team works together, the riders may not be capable of putting out the same maximums on the tandem that they can put out on a single bike.

With those caveots the total power on a tandem should be the sum of the two rider's power.

And the W/kg should be (P1+P2) / (W1+W2)

My wife and I train with power and our climb times on the tandem are similar to the average of our climb times on our singles. Caveat...no formalized protocol just measurements from Garmin graph data. We suspect our FTP would be additive on the tandem as well as our 5 second power. Since we are both pursuit track racers, we can really boogie on the tandem for at least a couple of minutes.:D

Here is a new power meter with info courtesy of the Google wattage group.

Some photos from the pre-Interbike open house:

Information sheet, page 1:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djconnel/3930884632/

Information sheet, page 2:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djconnel/3931039857/

Blow-up from wall poster:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djconnel/3930768660/

Souvenir water bottles :):
http://www.flickr.com/photos/djconnel/3930768710/