Originally Posted by salmonchild
i noticed a few of you run the front and rear chainsets at different positions, is this just personal preference of does it have performance results i.e. power applied on the dead section of the other rider?
There are quite a few postings in the archives that deal with this subject, but this one is not too long or drawn out and has a few links to other resources:
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...t=out+of+phase
Originally Posted by salmonchild
ialso, i'm not sure if it is common to all tandem setups but the front brake lever also actuates the rear brake.
Thankfully, it's becoming quite rare to find a tandem set up this way. The dual brake control levers were originally used on tandems to allow captains to operate three brakes by two levers before integrated shifting systems were widely available and bar-end shifters precluded the use of the bar-end shifter as a drum brake control. Any of the available configurations were sub-optimal in that if you elected to run the rear rim & drum brake off the same lever you had to bias the brake cable pull to favor the drum brake, rendering the rim brake of marginal utility. If you ran both rim brakes off of one lever you lost the ability to independently operate the front and rear rim brake which was also not desireable. All that said, you'll still find a few tourists who favor the Diacompe 287 tandem levers with their dual cables. As for adapting to a flat bar bike, you can install a cable splitter or "yoke" that allows one brake lever to actuate two brakes, brake control.
Originally Posted by salmonchild
finally do you have any tips when starting riding a tandem in terms of controlling the bike or is it just a ride and learn situation? i don't mind too much causing myself small injuries but would really like to avoid toppling a tandem and hurting my friends!
You may want to peruse some of the articles linked off of my Web site:
http://www.thetandemlink.com/Learnin...l#anchor356041