The jack gear does not do gear reduction however you can give different gearing between the stoker and captain. That depends on whether the number of teeth on the chainrings are a match between the two. Our child stoker kit chainring is larger than the captains chainring giving them a larger gear than the captain. Which works out well, because I spin a little more than they do.

I like the bike alot for what it is. It allow us to ride a tandem with very wide cycling levels. I have no complaints about the handling or weight, but this is mainly a family tandem for us. If my wife sticks with cycling and after the kids get older, I'll probably want to try a traditional tandem. For now, she and the kids love the IPS. It's a good solid bike. It is expensive compared to other tandems so I think you would want to buy it for the IPS.