I can only imagine why this never caught on!

[Deafie]

The guy in the store said he'd ridden it with his daughters. Looks like it deserves a Darwin award to me

 

[alicat]

Can't see what 'it' is....

 

[Deafie]

It's a side by side tandem

 

[PeteXXX]

It's a side by side tandem

It's like a pedalo, but for land, not water... 👍

 

[Profpointy]

The guy in the store said he'd ridden it with his daughters. Looks like it deserves a Darwin award to me

See a very similar one in Coventry transport museum

 

[T4tomo]

It's a side by side tandem

"Sociables" I believe. Popular with "courting couples" back in the day.
Probably less popular if you stacked in going too fast into a corner though....

 

[slow horse]

https://onlinebicyclemuseum.co.uk/c1910-side-by-side-sociable-tandem/

Other tandems of the era required the woman to sit at the front, with the steering controlled by the man seated behind

I'm not touching that.

 

[HMS_Dave]

What happens when one wants to turn left and the other wants to turn right? Strongest wins? Or does the bike split in two?

 

[Ian H]

It's not a tandem.

 

[rikki]

The guy in the store said he'd ridden it with his daughters. Looks like it deserves a Darwin award to me

The outer cranks must surely snap off as soon as one or both riders stomp on the pedals. That is, on the first climb.

 

[Deafie]

It's not a tandem.

I googled it and you are right, but the riders would be working in tandem

 

[Deafie]

The outer cranks must surely snap off as soon as one or both riders stomp on the pedals. That is, on the first climb.

I don't see it getting that far

 

[Dogtrousers]

It's not a tandem.

This bit of pedantry intrigued me. So I did a bit of a search.

Tandem is/was a way of harnessing two horses to a cart/carriage with one horse in front of the other, in contrast to the more normal side by side arrangement. Therefore a tandem bicycle is one with two riders where the riders are in front of one another.

It would seem that this bike is a sociable which is distinct from a tandem. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociable

This left me wondering whether, if it just means "in front of one another" does it apply to three or more horses or riders in front of one another? Is that still "tandem"?. Or is it strictly two? (Remember the Goodies) Well, it seems that some horsey people coined the word "randem" for three horses - but it doesn't seem to have caught on.
https://www.carriageassociationofamerica.com/tandem-vs-randem/

However, like so many words, it has a blurry meaning. Common usage has it as meaning "two things/animals/people working together" regardless of their relative positions. Many dictionaries give a definition like that.

Edit: It seems that in the world of track cycle racing, where multi-rider pacing bikes were once common the accepted terminology was tandem, triple, quad and quint for 2,3,4 and 5 rider bikes.

 

[Deafie]

What happens when one wants to turn left and the other wants to turn right? Strongest wins? Or does the bike split in two?

Dunno about you but I just do what she tells me

 

[presta]