By far the most common trouble spot for folks new to tandems is disagreement about what the cadence should be. If you put a computer *with cadence* at both positions, then captain and stoker can have an informed discussion about cadence. Without computers, you're both guessing, particularly if one or both of you are inexperienced cyclists that haven't ridden enough to have a sense of what cadence is.

We actually bought two Cateye Astrale 8's and spliced the wires so they both run off the same set of sensors. This way the stoker has her own display -- with cadence -- right in front of her. I quickly found out that her cadence comfort range was *way* narrower than mine. I'd prefer to be 100-115. She is comfortable from 85-95. I learned to watch the display, and when we get to 95, shift. Being a little low (e.g. 82) is much better than being too high. The display helps her, too -- once she can see you shifting and keeping the cadence low for her, she will appreciate that. If she doesn't have a reference for how fast the cadence it is, she might just subjectively feel like it's too fast all the time. And, when your legs are tired, the same numerical cadence feels faster than it did when your legs were fresh. After all, however accurate *your* sense of cadence is, hers is less accurate -- she may not have the foggiest idea what it is. After watching the display a little, you will both be able to have an accurate conversation about what you want the cadence to be.