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
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….

1961
1962….Now officially called the “Twosome”.

1962
1963….

1963
1964….

1964
1965….

1965
1966….

1966
1967….

1967
1968….

1968
1969….

1969
1970….

1970
1971….

1971
1972….

1972
1973….

1973
1974….

1974
1975….

1975
1976….

1976
1977….

1977
1978….

1978
1979….

1979
1980….

1980
1981….

1981
1982….

1982
1983….

1983
1984….

1984
1985….The only year a Tandem is badged with the “Classic by Columbia” name badge.

1985
1988….The “Double Eagles” are introduced.

1988

1988
1989….

1989

1989
1990….

1990
1991….The last year a Columbia Tandem is produced.

1991

1991