Originally Posted by
ptabakaru
is the secondary person able to stop pedaling and coast or will the pedals keep turning as long as the primary is pedaling, or visa-versa?
Depends.
Most tandems require both riders to pedal at the same cadence all the time.
There are IPS (independent pedaling systems) which are really independent coasting. Either rider can coast at will but, when they choose to pedal, they usually have to pedal at the same rate as the other rider. We had that on out Screamer recumbent tandem and liked it a lot.
Mrs. Grouch and I have two Kettweisel recumbent tricycles that we can link together to ride as a tandem (The Redundant Recumbent). On that rig Mrs. Grouch gets to choose her own gear ratio and pedal at whatever rate she chooses.