Originally Posted by
oldacura
Agreed. Over many years of cycling, I have found that riding with another person who is even slightly different in ability isn't much fun for either the faster or the slower person.
However, whomever you plan to be the stoker must really be OK being a stoker. It is a much different experience than riding a bike on your own.
To the contrary, all the successful tandem teams I know have riders with great variation in ability. That's why they ride a tandem. Otherwise they couldn't ride together. If their abilities are similar, they always ride singles.
A tandem team must have team morality. It's perfect communist enterprise: "From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs."