scycheng

Swaged/butted spoke would make a more durable wheel. We use 2.0-1.7 (I think - a long way from the tandem right now) spokes on our 26" wheel. Butted spokes are less likely to break.

About 10-15 years ago, we were credit card touring along the Canal du Midi in southern France. We were using 700x37 Continental Top Touring pumped up to 10 lb over max recommended pressure which had worked fine on other tours. This time on the rougher stretches of the tow path when there were quite a few rocks we had to ride over, we had enough snakebites that I used up all the patches and the spare tubes. We had to abandon riding along the Canal and go back to the roads.

After that trip, because of this and a few other reasons, our builder built us another frame using 26" wheels which will clear 2"+ tires. The snakebites problems went away. There is no such thing as too wide of a tire on a touring tandem.

Something to think about. Your tandem has to be able to handle the worst road condition you may encounter when you least expect it in a far away land. For us this was on tour in a civilized place and I didn't expect it. It was after all, Provence, a land made for credit card touring if there ever was such a place. I had never expected to go through 2 patch kits and 2 spare tubes over 2 days.