Originally Posted by
cyccommute
Sorry but your bike is set up completely wrong and a good example of wrong thinking on brakes. A long wheel base vehicle with a low center of gravity like yours will never be able to endo. You could actually lock the front wheel and slide it before you would be pitched over the bars. If you did lock the front wheel, your bike is less likely to crash as well (low center of gravity and small wheel). Your bike is more like a car in the physics of braking than a bicycle. All vehicles transfer weight to the front wheel. From bicycles to 80,000lb 18 wheelers.
Your bike you could actually brake up to the point where the front tire can no longer adhere to the road without pitching you over the bars. If you were to put the hub mounted disc on the front, you would see a vast improvement in your braking ability, especially with that huge rotor and metal pads.
Just working with the hand that I was dealt - it came with F/R V-brakes as the primary and the rear disc as the 'auxiliary'. Seeing as we don't do loaded touring in the mountains and only ride steep but short hills in Southern Indiana, a robust BB7 as an 'auxiliary' brake seemed not needed and a waste of a great brake. So, simply removed the rear V-brake and hooked up the disc as the primary rear. No disc tabs on the fork - not interested in a front disc at this point. Still have the option of putting the rear v-brake back on and using it as an extra brake - to bleed some speed - if we ever need it.
The bike stops great and yes, this tandem is not a candidate for an endo.
F/R V-brakes would be completely fine for this bike except that folks sometimes ride these down long mountain grades and sometimes that is done fully loaded for touring. An Arai drag brake used to be the standard for those uses but they are no longer available. RANS has opted to throw on a BB7, instead.