Originally Posted by
NickJP
I built the wheels 36h both front and rear (140mm spacing on the rear, Bullseye tandem hubs), and 33 years later we have yet to break a spoke or have a wheel go out of true, though I've needed to replace rims a couple of times due to sidewall wear from braking. The all-up weight of us plus tandem plus camping load is about 400lbs, and we've had it over some pretty rough unsealed roads in the outback.
On our racing tandem, where it's only ever ridden without luggage (Co-Motion Robusta) I used 40h rear 32h front with Phil Wood hubs and Velocity Deep-V rims, and they've similarly remained dead true.
Thanks, this is good info. For some reason, I'd assumed tandems needed 40-48 spokes. Our used Santana came with 40front/48 back and our used Co-Mo was 40/40. So I've been looking for 40H rims, and there are precious few. If 36H is a reliable option, especially for the front, that opens things up a bit.