My 1990 Burly Bongo Tandem has never had a blowout. This is probably due to having a drag brake and never running tires below 1.5" wide. The original wheels with Susie hubs and 36 spokes were not adequate. At least on the rear. The rear bolt on hub wheel had two bent axles and breaking spokes before I replaced the wheel set. I have two sets of wheels I built up with Phil Wood Tandem hubs. One set with 40 holes and the other with 48 holes. If you are still going to use a Son alternator hub the larger diameter hub and strong rims will be plenty strong on the front with 36 spokes. If you order a new fork from Co-Motion have them modify the right fork end for the Son SL model. The SL model puts the power through the axle so you don't need to unplug any connectors when removing the wheel. They did this for me on my Pangea Rohloff.