Originally Posted by
Onegun
You need to change your brake pads to either KoolStop Salmons or SwissStop greens. I can tell you from personal experience that the salmons will DRAMATICALLY increase your braking power, and I hear the same thing said about the SwissStop greens.
Secondly, clipless pedals or toe clips and straps are a necessity on a tandem if you plan on doing any serious riding. Otherwise, this will not be the last time the stoker gets hit with a pedal, and before long ..... no stoker.
Riding by myself on the tandem, the brakes are very responsive (front, rear just locks up as expected with no weight in back), so I have a feeling it's the ~400lb team, not the pad composition. I had Kool Stop salmon on my old single speed mtb until I sold it, they worked very well.
Great advice on the pedals, sounds like a tandem-specific issue and makes sense. She's dead set against clipless, so I'll be looking for clips/straps.