You might consider wiring both rim brakes to the same lever, with the drag brake on the second lever - that was the setup on the first tandem we tried. I don't think I'd like using a bar-end shifter for a brake - it would need too much pressure to maintain it on.
Thanks for the advice. I'll consider anything!
I'm told, by the guys at SJS amongst others, and from reading the various forums, that with a caliper rear and old skool wide canti front that way lies madness and endless near permanent fettling. The bar end shifter is indexed/has detents which
seem to hold it in place ok but only time, and more experience, will tell if that is what will work two up. What with me being a big unit.
TLH may have to become queen of the stoker operated drag brake otherwise. I guess it is all setup for captain operation now given the back seat was strictly children-only in its former life.
First challenge is to convert the brakes from European to UK setup with the front on the right lever, and get the front brake working better, the picture shows it post fettling which improved it to the level of merely slightly unsettling one-up rather than utterly terrifying, and I've got some Koolstops on order. After that I have a cunning plan involving some Shimano CX70 canti's which, according to the
Shimano tech docs can cope with 65mm bosses with rims 22 mm wide. My rims are wider so I'd need to find an extra 4 - 6 mm which looks do-able by swapping out washers and/or using thinline pads/holders and I can retain the existing straddle if need be, albeit shortened and cut, as the CX70/CX50 has a clamp on one end and ball on t'other. Only source of the correct 250mm straddles I can find is in US of A and they don't ship outside North America!
(Edit: before fettling the straddle wire was resting on the canti pivot and the canti arm was pointing down at a shallow angle, towards the floor)
Current back brake is for decoration only.