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Depends on the riding you do and the chainring you choose, I don't think it would be that different to using a 1x on a touring bike. Reliability wise, 8spd is beefy but you'll have some huge jumps.
We have an 11-34 8spd cassette that is spaced to be usable across the range. The 11-34 used to jump 26 to 34 so I cobbled one together from a 11-34 and 11-32 (jumps 28-32). (See here.) They seem to sell this arrangement now which is useful https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/component/claris-r2000/CS-HG50-8.html
i’m thinking of going 8spd x1 11-40 on our tandem- any experience of 1x on tandems?