The tandem bicycle or twin is a form of bicycle (occasionally, a tricycle) designed to be ridden by more than one person. The term tandem refers to the seating arrangement (fore to aft, not side-by-side) instead of the number of riders. A bike with two riders side-by-side is called a sociable.

Patents related to tandem bicycles date from the late 1800s. Modern technology has improved component and frame designs, and many tandems are as well-built as modern high-end road and off-road bikes. Compared to a conventional bicycle, a tandem has double the pedalling power with only slightly more frictional loss in the drivetrain.

It has about the same wind resistance as a conventional bicycle. High performance tandems may weigh less than twice as much as a single bike, so the power to weight ratio can be slightly better than that of a single bike and rider. On flat terrain and downhill, most of the power produced by cyclists is used to overcome wind resistance, so tandems can reach higher speeds than the same riders on single bicycles.

They are not necessarily slower on climbs, but are perceived as such, in part due the need for a high level of coordination between the riders, especially if the physical abilities of the two riders are very different, requiring a compromise on cadence.

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