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Concept
Tandem bicycle
Summary
A tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle (occasionally a tricycle) designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement (fore to aft, not side by side), not the number of riders. Patents related to tandem bicycles date from the mid 1880s. Tandems can reach higher speeds than the same riders on single bicycles, and tandem bicycle racing exists. As with bicycles for single riders, there are many variations that have been developed over the years.
The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement (fore to aft, not side by side), not the number of riders. A bike with two riders side by side is called a sociable.
Tandem bicycles are sometimes called "Daisy Bells". This is in reference to "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)" which is a popular song, written in 1892 by British songwriter Harry Dacre, with the well-known chorus, "Daisy, Daisy / Give me your answer, do. / I'm half crazy / all for the love of you", ending with the words, "a bicycle built for two".
On conventional tandems, the front rider steers as well as pedals the bicycle and is known as the captain, pilot, or steersman; the rear rider only pedals and is known as the stoker, navigator or rear admiral. On most tandems the two sets of cranks are mechanically linked by a timing chain and turn at the same rate.
Patents related to tandem bicycles date from the mid 1880s. In approximately 1898, Mikael Pedersen developed a two-rider tandem version of his Pedersen bicycle that weighed 24 pounds, and a four-rider, or "quad", that weighed 64 pounds. They were also used in the Second Anglo-Boer War. Tandem popularity began to decline after World War II until a revival started in the late 1960s. In the UK The Tandem Club was founded in 1971, new tandems came on to the market from the French companies Lejeune and Gitane, and in the USA Bill McCready founded Santana Cycles in 1976. Modern technology has improved component and frame designs, and many tandems are as well-built as modern high-end road and off-road bikes.
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