@HankChief - Is there any advantage with having a 3rd braking arrangement for this rather than just having the locking lever on my rear disc?
Your disc brake might be hydraulic, so might not suit the locking levers which are cable only. The industrial rubber band approach might still work with hydraulics.
The obvious advantage is redundancy and indeed some touring tandem setups routinely included redundant braking in case the primary brakes faded on a descent and for use as drag brakes (i.e. not for stopping, but for continual use to control speed), often with some sort of hub brake.
Rim and disc brakes can overheat if used continually - resulting in explosive loss of a tyre (rim) or brake fade (disc). I think rim brakes overheated less (larger surface area), but the consequences were more catastrophic.
Conventional wisdom would be that rear brakes can be locked with rim brakes alone, so disc brakes aren't going to be that much of an upgrade however that doesn't take into account bad weather (discs being more consistent) or a tandem's weight distribution! I suspect that (unless ridden solo), locking the rear wheel might not be possible with rim brakes and once the trailer is added in, the upgrade would be worth it.
I'd be happy with the additional redundancy of running a rim brake, having it mounted on the stoker bar (assuming your stokers can be trusted not to brake mischievously or in panic) with a locking lever - gives the option of a drag or parking brake, with the primary braking from the pilot's bars.
Robert
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