Had a fun ride on the tandem on Sunday. My stoker is sick so I recruited a strong fellow about 30 years younger than I. Actually he volunteered, drooling. We have 52-39-26 in front, so I swapped out our usual 12-34 cassette for a 12-27. Could have used a 12-25, but didn't have one lying around. My temp stoker is a good spinner so we really flew on the climbs with this rig. We, uh, destroyed the fastest riders in our little cycling community over 60 miles and 3100'. Can't say that tandems can't climb. Great gearing. We stay in one ring or another, just shifting the back, until we are done with that terrain feature. Anyway, a chainring set like that makes a very versatile bike. Just swap out the cassette for touring load or change in weight or training status.