Tandem Columbia’s

by Kenneth Kowal · September 7, 2020

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Columbia Tandem bicycles, there are basically two categories I will use to identify them, antique and modern. The antique were made from 1887 to 1899 and the modern from 1961 to 1991. The following pictures and descriptions are all from Columbia Catalogs and I will let them speak for themselves. One thing I will add is the serial numbers on the modern Tandems do not seem to correlate to the posted serial number charts for 1961 to 1972. I have no explination for this other than these were extremely limited production bikes and the company did not seem to keep good records. My hopes are that visual identification can be made by the pictures from the catalogs and narrow down any search for year identity of one’s tandem bike. Here it is and good luck.

Here are the Antique Columbia Tandems;

1887….The first Columbia Tandem was an adult tricycle.

1887

1889….The first “Safety” Columbia Tandem.

1889

1890….

1890

1895….The Model 43 Men’s / Ladies is introduced.

1895

1896….A Men’s / Men’s is added to the Model 43 line.

1896

1897….Models 47 and 48 are introduced.

1897

1898….

1898

1899….

1899

1899 was the last year a Columbia Tandem was produced for 61 years. In 1961 they were re-introduced into the Columbia line-up and continued there until 1991.

The following are the Modern Columbia Tandems;

1961….