There's been a number created using kit motors of course, but I'm sure it was BikeTech who make the Swiss Flyer bikes who made a Panasonic motored tandem at one time. It had the motor unit in the stoker position, but it doesn't seem to be listed any more.
As for the popularity, I think they don't really fit in with the image of the emancipated woman of today, and there would be few pairs of men who would ride one. There are plenty of
adult and child ones though, mostly in Europe but a few are imported here.
.
Tandems of all types have always interested me (so far, from a safe distance). I understand that a tandem is generally faster than two equivalent solo bikes with riders of similar ability, which is easy to accept as some of the drag components will obviously be much reduced.
They require more than a little co-operation though, and cycling is hard work even without trying to get some other masochist to pair up. You can't (effectively) use it at all solo, it's far too long to take on a train (or in any other vehicle smaller than a large van) and of course it has to fit both users, which limits the choice even further.
I did see a family version parked up against the wall at Euston station last week by coincidence - that was a tandem with a child trailer, which was probably about 5 metres long in total, so would have been an 'interesting' thing to ride in London traffic. I suppose I should have hung around to see what happened, but as usual on these occasions there was somewhere else I needed to be.
I did hear they had (maybe still do have) some popularity as a means for a blind person to experience cycling - although I suspect being a 'stoker' when you have no idea of where you're going might be an even more daunting experience.
If money were no object, how about a tandem with two Panasonic drives? That might actually work, if you used it as a single-speed and the drives could be made to balance evenly. I suspect you might have trouble getting any sort of gear system onto it though with so much total power to deal with.
I always loved the 'doctored' version of that song:
'It won't be a stylish marriage;
We can't afford a carriage,
But you'll look swell
Pedalling like hell
On a bicycle built for two'
If that doesn't put off any modern miss, I don't know what will!
Rog.
