It’s a blast. It’s a gas. It’s awesome. It’s ‘way fun’. That’s not me saying all of that – because I’m from the United Kingdom – it’s the folk appearing in the promotional video for the RidebySide, a tandem bike where you ride side-by-side.
Welcome to the second instalment of our (apparently) annual feature Stuff We Noticed On The Web.
The RidebySide is, as far as we can tell, an actual thing.
According to the website, Steve and Karen Teerlink had the idea after renting a pedal driven cart in Bear Lake in Utah.
“It was great sitting side-by-side talking as we explored the area around the Lake. From that experience, the idea came to us; wouldn’t it be fun to ride side-by-side on two connected bikes.”
Most people would answer that question by saying: ‘No, it would not be fun. It would be 100 per cent the opposite of fun’ – but Steve and Karen pressed on anyway.
They came up with a thing that allows two people to ride side-by-side in much the same way that two cyclists are already able to ride side-by-side, but which also anchors them together, forcing them to endure one another’s inane chatter about whatever the hell they read in the news that morning.
They priced it at $2,450 – albeit that also seems to include two Specialized Alibi Sport bikes.
Going off the video, the RidebySide does actually seem to work and one of the testimonials even goes so far as to proclaim it, “much more fun than expected.”
The video does raises a couple of scenarios where the device would be very beneficial and there’s a fella on their Facebook page waxing lyrical about it because it allowed him to take his blind friend on his first bike ride in years. We can’t fault that.
That’s the most recent update on the Facebook page and it’s from 2016, while the website’s still listing a 2017 version of the product. The video at the top of the page, appealing for investors, is from 2015.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.