The Long Lost Mythical Tandem Bike Has Been Resurrected with Electric Power

What we see is the most modern tandem bike around, unless you consider the world's longest bike a tandem. Even though we haven’t heard anything about such designs for years, apparently some people still love them enough to make a production line for one.

It’s called the Samedi 27 X2 TRK, and aside from looking all kinds of difficult to ride, it is full of modern components. But before we get into that, we must bring to your attention that this ride is electric. Yes sir. A fully electric tandem bike.

Now, anytime you’re looking to fit two full grown adults onto anything like this, structural integrity is extremely important. The frame must be able to take the stress of bumps, rough roads, vibrations, and several other factors that may appear while riding. To make sure you and your significant other have no issues when riding this fun machine, it’s constructed entirely out of aeronautical grade aluminum alloy, all of which is hydroformed for the highest strength possible.

And now for the juicy stuff. You may have noticed that unlike other e-bikes this one does not have an integrated downtube battery. The reason being the structural integrity of the frame and the fact that this bike design needs some big guns to move two adults around for enough time to get their kicks. To make sure you do get your kicks, the team strapped not one but two Bosch li-ion PowerPack 500’s. Each one packs 500Wh pushed with 36v and 13.8 Ah. In total 1000Wh will be there to carry you around.

I’m sure you’ve already picked up that name, Bosch. Well, they put together the motor for this bike too. A Bosch Performance Line CX 250W cranks out 40/75 Nm of torque. On top of it all, this little powerhouse can offer pedal assistance anywhere from 40-300%. More than enough for the two of you to get up some decently demanding paths.

Another very important in e-bike design is the use of a suspension. Because battery packs and motors weight a considerable amount, coupled with not one but two riders, this bike needs a suspension. Don’t worry, this creature has one. The front fork features a Suntour Aion 35 RL that’s been optimized for e-bike use. A hydraulic lock-out and 140mm of travel will take anything you toss in front of it except drops.

But that set-up is mostly for the lead rider. The rider behind however, is covered by a completely different suspension system. If you look closely at the rear seat post, you’ll see a sort of parallelogram component. That’s exactly what it’s called too. Suntour brings the NCX seat post suspension with 50 mm of travel. Some of the bikes suspension capabilities also come from the Schwalbe SuperMoto tires with high air volume.

To give you complete control over the five different ride modes Bosch brings the Kiox monitor. Here you’ll find everything from battery life, ride time, speed, and even heartrate monitors, all at the touch of your fingertips.

I bet you were wondering if the name Shimano would ever come up. No doubt it does. They bring their game to the derailleur and shifter systems. Oddly enough, the team also threw on some Sram parts too. To really give this unicorn some mythical properties. But braking is offered by Magura MT5 4-piston hydraulics that clamp down on giant 200mm rotors on both the front and rear. This stopping power is more than necessary for such heavy loads, especially since it can be fit with a number of carriers for goods.

Don’t believe me? Here's a scenario. 50 miles an hour, downhill, carrying 350 pounds easy. Stop in the next 10 feet. Honestly, bigger brakes than even the 200s wouldn’t hurt one bit. But I'm sure the boys did the math on this one.

Maybe it’s time we get out with our loved ones a bit more. And to help you do that, the tandem bike is making a social comeback.