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@ough
Just to chip in on the rear brake conundrum, from what I gather the drum/disc brake is only really useful when heavily loaded on long descents. Rim brakes will have enough power to stop a loaded tandem (different story if it's wet but that's the same for any bike), but if you use them too much the rim can overheat and burst the inner tube. A hub brake doesn't have this problem.
I know of a couple touring from NZ to London, loaded with shitloads of stuff including a trailer, they didn't have a disc on the rear and their inner tube exploded on a descent at high speed. Not nice. The frame builder at Longstaff was in the room too and he was not impressed.