What is a two-person bike?

A two-person bicycle is type of tandem bicycle, usually equipped with two seats and two sets of pedals, with riders aligned along the frame. The earliest known patented design of a tandem bike belonged to Danish inventor Mikael Pedersen.

In 1898, Pedersen introduced his two-rider bike and had a photo taken of himself and his wife Dagmar riding it. Tandem bicycles may have more than two seats, but Pedersen's original model was built for only two. On two-person tandems, the front rider steers and pedals while the rear rider only pedals. Originally, front riders were called captains and rear riders were called stokers, but the modern nomenclature is simply front and back riders.