Tandem Rear Hubs

[The French Tandem]

That looks like a perfectly sound rear wheel! If you don't know where to get the replacement parts that you need, ask JDTandems. They helped salvaging a similar hub on our tandem 2 years ago.

[321up]

Synergy rear hub dismantled to regrease...







 

Looks like water got in, no grease on the seal and insufficient grease on the springs (could hear the springs creak as it was turned slowly which prompted the service).  Not impressed by the condition of the pawls (I'm waiting for a response from the supplier), they are much smaller than the pawls in the Shimano XT tandem hub.  It runs more smoothly with the new grease but the pawls still make a fairly loud clinking noise (the Shimano XT tandem hub was much quieter).

UPDATE (edit)...

It looks like the pawls weren't making contact along their full length.  The fact that some pawls deformed more than others suggest that they did not engage together (manufacturing tolerance issue?).  The pawls lasted another 80km before failing completely with very little warning.  Probably they did not go back in the same positions when I serviced it so having originally deformed until they engaged together they then did not engage together after the service.



What hub should we try next?

[The French Tandem]

You must be very strong to bend the pawls like that

[Morat]

Almost certainly not a solution for this topic, but it seems that the Thorn reinforcement of Rohloff hubs works OK. I would imagine that Mrs. Wow and I are the heaviest regular tandem pairing around, and we never stop grinding.

217 Kg (combined!) here... not that I'm boasting.
Need to get that back to 210.

Anyway, DT Swiss tandem hub is doing the job so far. Captain doesn't stand up for hills but I do so it's getting some hammer.