Originally Posted by
fietsbob
They do ..
Shimano tandem hubs are in 40 and 48 spoke , they come as a 145,
but can be narrowed down with a few parts swaps, like a 135 axle , skewer,
and a few shorter spacers on the left end
Myself,
I put a decade of loaded touring trips on my Phil Wood 48 spoke freewheel hub, seven speed freewheel.
specialized 40 spoke front ..
I bring my wheel builder under my hat.
Shimano tandem hubs may not be the best choice for heavy loaded touring in hilly terrain or mountain biking. The freehub body can sometimes crack from the high torque caused by extremely low gearing and steep hills. But for recreational road riding, which most people do, and for weekend trips, they hold up very well, and are a great value. I like them a lot.
http://www.peterwhitecycles.com/Tandemparts.asp
Well, that was weird.
Anyway, I just wanted to point out that Shimano HF-08 tandem hubs can be expensive
http://www.jensonusa.com/store/produ...andem+Hub.aspx (to give an example) and not readilly available in 135mm. I mean $100 is 5 times the cost of the Shimano Tiagra I found on sale once. Peter White says the Shimano hubs are the best for the type of hub they sell though.
Here's a thread on re-spacing the hub though:
http://www.tandem-club.org.uk/cgi-bi...mes;read=11418