Tandem bicycle
Tandem popularity began to decline after World War II until a revival started in the late 1960s.
A song written in 1892 has a man asking "Daisy Bell" to marry him, saying, "It won't be a stylish marriage.
In the Columbia Pictures comedy shorts, The Three Stooges occasionally ride on a tandem bicycle for their recurring gags.
In the BBC and LWT TV series, The Goodies are famously well known to ride their main tranportion, the tandem bicycle for travelling English countrysides and London.
On flat terrain and downhill, most of the power produced by cyclists is used to overcome wind resistance, so tandems can reach higher speeds than the same riders on single bicycles.
[5] Tandem bicycles are used in competitions such as the Paralympics with blind and visually impaired cyclists riding as stokers with fully sighted captains.
Bicycles for three, four, or five riders are referred to as "triples" or "triplets", "quads" or "quadruplets", and "quints" or "quintuplets" respectively.
Originally a two-rider tandem with an extra "dummy" seat attached, a full three-rider version was built for them by Raleigh.
A marching band in Bruges, Belgium, uses a six-place tandem bicycle fitted to carry certain of their instruments in a way that allows them to play music while underway.
The Bilenky Viewpoint and the Hase Pino are hybrid upright/recumbent tandems steered by the captain who sits upright in the rear, while the stoker rides in a recumbent position in the front.
The Star Cycle Company, of Wolverhampton, England, marketed its "Combination Roadster tandem" in 1896.
[11] Several manufacturers offer folding tandems, either with small wheels or not, to facilitate packing and travelling.
[12] It is possible to add couplers either during manufacturing or as a retrofit so that the frame can be disassembled into smaller pieces to facilitate packing and travel.
Santana manufactures a "triplet" (or quad) that can be transformed into a tandem by simply removing the center section of the frame.
To work reliably, both of the left-side cranks must be tandem- or left-drive specific to accept the left-hand threading used on left pedals.
The second most popular solution, due to not requiring tandem-specific cranks, is called single side rear drive.
This also allows riders to select different crank positions, such as inphase (IP), or Out-Of-Phase (OOP), while pedaling together.
Davinci Tandems use a unique "Independent Drive" whereby the intermediate shaft transfers the power from the stoker and captain cranks into a converter which allows up to four chainrings.
To maintain the necessary tension on the timing chain, many tandems use an eccentric that is placed in the front rider's bottom bracket shell.
[15] On disc brakes tandems, it is important that heat transfer and dissipation has been engineered properly.
In particular, carbon tandem forks can provide all the benefits of comfort and control, but are also designed to handle the increased heat load.
To accommodate a large cassette, more space is needed on the drive side of the axle; this increases the complexity of manufacturing and truing the wheel.
Specialty wheels such as Aerospoke or Shimano "Sweet-16" may build "tandem certified" racing wheelsets.
For those who can get accustomed to the rear rider always being clipped in, the distinct advantage to this technique will become obvious when trying to start at the foot of a bridge or on a hill.
If the tandem team does not practice this, then they often reserve this type of start for when they are faced with a bridge or hill.
Generally, OOP provides the greatest benefits to the tandem team that has disparate leg-strength.
