Yep, [MENTION=20548]JohnDThompson[/MENTION], exactly correct. I really like the Arai drum brakes (aka drag brakes) on tandems and this Mercian had one when I acquired it. I'm usually captain and I typically prefer the setup I have on another tandem where I have an Arai drum brake controlled by a friction level from the front (captain's) cockpit (in addition to the cantilevers). lol... lots of aeronautical talk... you'd think I was describing an aircraft!

I love climbing (and there are a lot of great hills around where I live) and bombing down them with the wife on a tandem can easily get us up to freeway speed (she's 6 ft and I'm a bit taller). She's not as keen on that sort of speed as I am... but in the case of this bike, I'm planning on moving that rear drag brake control from the rear hood to a friction level on the front captain's handlebars. I typically don't "leave it on" during descents, I tend to apply as needed just to augment the cantis unless the gradient is really steep.