The Buddy Bike Is The Two Person Ride Nobody Asked For

Photo: SSPL (Getty Images)

Bikes as we know them today are pretty sleek machines. At the top of the pile, they’re all aerodynamic carbon fiber, tubeless tires and electronic gears, while an entry-level machine will still get you a handsome looking ride with some reliable tech. But to reach this point we’ve had to endure some freaks of the cycling world.

Early suspension bikes looked a bit off, gears took a good few years to reach the bicycle and don’t even get me started on the penny farthing. But riders who prefer sharing their bike with a friend might feel left out in all this experimentation, as the tandem has remained pretty unchanged since its inception at the tail end of the 19th century.

But don’t worry friendly cyclists, as I’ve unearthed a two-person monstrosity to match your demand for weird bikes from yesteryear.

Making the sociable bike look like a hoot! Photo: J. Wilds/Keystone/Hulton Archive (Getty Images)

It’s called with the Buddy Bike or the Sociable and, like a tandem, it’s a bicycle built for two. But unlike the tandem, instead of having its riders sit one behind the other (and one passenger has to yell to the other), you sit side by side.

To make space for two people on one bike, the seat posts are extended out either side of a central frame, and each has its own set of pedals to utilize paired with a set of handlebars for each rider to cling to for dear life. But, importantly, just one rider handles the bike’s steering.

Apparently these things have been around for more than 100 years, with bike blog Rolling Spoke reporting that the ride came about at the end of the 19th century thanks to, you guessed it, those kooky Brits. Over the years, the design has been tweaked and finessed, with Robert C. Barrett reportedly inventing the modern version of the buddy bike back in 1979. He subsequently sold the patent to another outfit that manufactured the bikes.

Sadly, that firm went out of business, so a new Buddy Bike is hard to come by. But, if you know how to weld, there are some handy instructions for how to build your own side-by-side bicycle online.