EVOLUTION OF THE TANDEM.
In 1868 Mrs. Grundy objected to the idea of a woman sitting astride a bicycle seat, and therefore the female rider of that period sat on one side of the saddle, as is usual in horseback riding, and pedalling with one foot. Just how she managed to handle her full skirts and a parasol, which was frequently carried, seems incomprehensible to the latter-day rider; this, indeed, is a feat that is usually only performed by one of our modern up-to-date trick riders. A number of early attempts were also made to make a successful type of tandem safety. The first one, however, to attain any success in that line is known as the Lightning, made by Hall & Phillips, and which was afterward produced by many of the English makers with modifications thereof, and at this period in the history of the sport we find that R. J. Mecredy and Gerald Stoney, in their work entitled The Art and Pastime of Cycling, say that “tandem safeties should theoretically be extremely fast, but the stresses are very great, and somehow no tandem bicycle records equal the records of single bicycles, although the tandem tricycle is faster than the single tricycle.” Since that time, however, the conditions have been reversed, and tandem and multicycle records are much better than the records of the single bicycle.
TINKHAM TRICYCLE.
The Columbia tandems, which were among the first made in this country, were double steerers, and the two handlebars were connected by rods having a ball and socket or universal joint fastened to the end of the grips. The objections to this style of steering rod was that the bicycle could only be mounted or dismounted from on one side, and that in case of a fall the front rider was always hemmed in on the right hand side between the steering rods. The building of tandems in this country was evidently a difficult problem to the early makers, as is evidenced by the fact that the makers of the Columbia, after having made a tandem for a year or two, suspended making them for two or three years after that. A tandem bicycle must not only be strong, but must be light in weight, and as two riders are rarely matched as to ability, power and style of riding, there must be some universal harmonization of contradictory requirements in flexibility and stiffness.