Here is Joe Breeze himself at Practical Cycle with our display of Breezer Bikes. He is a very friendly, down to earth man, and it is obvious that he is passionate about biking- especially for transportation.
Joe Breeze will forever be known as one of the original mountain bike pioneers and the designer/builder of the first successful modern mountain bikes in 1977. But what most people don’t know is he often says the greatest joy he took from the mountain bike movement was the huge new opportunity to simply get more people out on bikes.
Before he was fully immersed in the world of mountain bikes, he was a teenager traveling all over the roads of Northern California with his brother Richard, eventually touring the great cycling cultures of Northern Europe. These trips permanently etched in his mind the freedom and possibilities that the common bicycle, as an efficient transportation tool, offered. It was with this mindset, in 1999, that he moved away from mountain bikes and by 2002 committed the Breezer brand fully to transportation bikes. The mountain bike was mature and fully accepted worldwide and was steadily evolving under its own energy. It was time for the simple and efficient bicycle to help bring about a sustainable transportation paradigm shift for the car dependent cultures of the world.
The bicycle is unequivocally the most efficient form of transportation yet created. When comparing a bicycle to a car, a conservative estimate has a human on a bicycle averaging 600 mpg. 600mpg! A car just can’t compete on efficiency. The goal of our transportation bike design is to make it as easy, simple and fun as possible to choose your bike over your car. We believe that a truly useful bike is a well used bike, which means a Breezer should come fully equipped with all the amenities that your car offers: lights that never need batteries, fenders with mudguards,a chainguard to keep your trousers or skirt clean, an oversized rack for carrying stuff, a built-in lock, a kickstand, and bell.
A fully equipped bike has been part of Joe’s vision since his very first mountain bikes – every one of those 1977 Breezers came stock with an innertube, patch kit, and tire levers wrapped in a blue handkerchief toe-strapped under the seat, a frame pump, water bottle and cage. He would always say that a mountain bike shouldn’t just get you into the woods, but back out of the woods, too. His vision of a truly useful bike is one that is simply ready-to-go, right out of the box, and this continues today.
Breezer transportation bikes are simple, well thought out, and complete. They don’t require extra parts or special clothes, give you confidence if the roads are dry or wet, or even if you’re caught out after dusk. Breezer bikes truly are transportation for a healthy planet and guarantee you more smiles per mile.
