Originally Posted by
bikeriderdave
In my opinion -- based on over 30 years racing and 25 captaining tandems -- your normal road 'bar width is also entirely suitable for your tandem. I use 40 cm on all my road bikes, including two tandems and a triple. Never had a reason to go wider. Steering a tandem is about balance and finesse, not brute strength and leverage -- same as steeering a single.
That's good news which I'll take into consideration. Thanks.
Originally Posted by
merlinextraligh
Ok, if you've broken 4 sets of bars (other than in a crash) either 1) you've ridden about 6 billion miles, 2) you weigh 400 lbs, 3) you are the world's most unlucky person, 4) you severely over tightened the clamp, or 5) you need to spend a little more time on maintenence and inspection.
So far, people have responded mostly with reports indicating long-term lack of breakage, which I find kinda interesting actually, with the experiences I've had. How about riding style? I used to be on the Canadian team for track sprinting, and did strength drills on the road. I think that killed the aluminum bars. It's been a long time since then, and I ride always in aero bars now (once up to speed and up to a certain grade of incline) but my riding style still favors large-gear starts, accelerations and uphill bursts when the situation allows, and this might still probably be enough to exceed the fatigue endurance of aluminum bars after a few years' use. The problem with aluminum is that it fails pretty spontaneously without prior warning, so regular inspections may not be a safeguard.