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Old 03-04-03, 12:12 AM
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TandemGeek
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Regular guy nailed it.

Here's a little known tandem bicycle factoid: While current tandem folklore would suggest that "Captain" and "Stoker" are terms born in the past 25 years, there is some other tandem folklore that suggests the origin of the term "stoker" is well over a 100 years old. Under the alternative history, the term stoker's origins may be French and tied back to the steam-powered automobile where the co-driver was called a "Chauffer" which is the French word for stoker. The term Chauffer was eventually adopted as the label for the 'driver' of a limouisine.

Credit for this alternative history goes to Larry Black of Mt. Airy Bicycles, MD.
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