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Hydraulic Brakes and Separable Tandems
A bit of information for anyone wanting hydraulic brakes on a separable tandem.
When we bought our S&S coupled tandem we specified cable disc brakes as there didn't appear to be any good options for hydraulics other than removing the lever or caliper which would have meant a lot of hassle when splitting the frame as we do for train travel. Having recently seen the following from Taiwan:
Q-Connector - Bicycle Hydraulic Quick Coupler – zenocycle (zenocycleparts.com)
...we took a chance and ordered a quick connect and got our local bike shop to upgrade the tandem to hydraulics, fitting the quick connect. After a four-day tour in Scotland, the upgrade was worth it and the connector works fine. The LBS reported it was easy to fit. It's worth a look if you're looking at speccing up a separable tandem or upgrading.
We never had an issue with cable discs, we just wanted something that took less effort. We went with TRP Hylex levers and Magura 4 pot calipers on a Rohloff tandem.
My second-hand Thorn tandem has a hydraulic coupler which works very well, but is a silly price at £195 (https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/brakes/100-dry-hydraulic-coupling-fittings-no-hose-supplied/). After about 25 uncoupling/couplings, the brakes can start to go a bit soft so I bleed them which takes about 10 minutes so not a major inconvenience. If I were to do it again I would look at the hybrid options. The TRP Hy/Rd I have on my solo is phenomenal, especially considering its on a 160mm rotor