The Breeze way: mountain-bike pioneer Joe Breeze shares his love - Things to Do in Northern California

Sunset, March, 2004 by Ben Marks

There's nothing extreme about bicycle designer Joe Breeze, even though between 1976 and 1984 he finished first 10 times--more than any other rider--in the legendary Repack mountain-bike races held on Marin County's Mt. Tamalpais, the place where the sport was born.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Races like Repack are the sorts of things that today cause most people to lump mountain biking in with other "extreme sports" (the twisting course plummets 1,300 feet in a little more than 2 miles). But Breeze's involvement in mountain biking did not evolve out of an irrational infatuation with risk; his motivation was a straightforward love of cycling.

For him, bicycles have always been first and foremost a means of transportation--a way of getting from point A to point B. Sometimes that means gutting it out from the flats of Fairfax up onto the flanks of Mt. Tam, but more often cycling is about getting to and from school, commuting to work, or riding to the store for a sack of groceries.

That's why Breeze's latest line of Breezers, as his bikes are called, are what he terms "town bikes," which is to say they are lighter-weight, ergonomic versions of the classic street cruisers your paperboy probably rode. The new Breezers come equipped with fenders, lights, a chain guard, reflective tires, and a rack. They even have a built-in lock. "It's more like a car," Breeze says. "You just get on it and off you go."

In an age in which buying a bike can be as complicated as buying a car, Breeze has a refreshingly simple bit of advice for aspiring cyclists: "Two wheels are good."

Pedal pusher

Breezers sell for $399-$949. www.breezerbikes.com or (415) 339-8917.