Old 04-30-03, 10:29 AM
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TandemGeek
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You'll encounter both. However, as Brad suggests, your best bet is buying a hub that is marketed as a 145mm tandem hub. Tandem-specific hubs are designed to be built as asymetrical or dishless wheels, often time come with stainless steel axles and cassette bodies instead of aluminum, etc...

White Industries makes an excellent, lightweight disc brake hub that's rated for tandems. Phil Wood also markets disc hubs but they are very heavy compared to most others and quite expensive. Chris King -- as mentioned by Brad -- also makes a disc compatible hub for tandems but is pricey too. I must presume the DT/Hugi hubs that come as OEM on Co-Motion tandems are also up to the task otherwise they wouldn't be using them.

The sometimes tricky part of mounting disc brakes to tandems is getting the spacing correct for the disc brake caliper, noting that most disc brake systems are designed to be installed on mountain bikes with 135mm rear spacing or,in the case of Avid's BB road bike disc, for road bikes with 130mm rear spacing. I haven't fitted a disc to a Cannondale frame so I don't know if there would be any requirement for additional spacers to get everything lined up.
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