Joe Breeze (born 1953) is an American bicycle framebuilder, designer and advocate from Marin County, California. An early participant in the sport of mountain biking, Breeze, along with other pioneers including Gary Fisher, Charlie Kelly, and Tom Ritchey, is known for his central role in developing the mountain bike. Breeze is credited with designing and building the first all-new mountain bikes, which riders colloquially called Breezers.League of American Wheelmen, “Change Agents for Cycling” American Bicyclist, Fall 2005, pp. 10-19. (p. 15 "Joe Breeze," by Tim Blumenthal.) Retrieved March 1, 2013 “10 Men Who Changed the Sport,” Mountain Bike Action, December 1991, pp. 99-104 Koeppel, Dan. “Joe Breeze Wants to Change the World. Again.” Bicycling, Vol. 44 Issue 8, September 2003, pp. 32-40. He built the prototype, known as Breezer #1, in 1977 and completed nine more Series I Breezers by early 1978.Frank J. Berto, The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking. San Francisco: Van der Plas Publications, 1999. Pp 43-45. . “Joe Breeze /Inducted 1988" Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 1, 2013. Breezer #1 is now in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History.“Breezer 1” Smithsonian Institution. Collections Search Center, ID # 2012.0066.01. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
Breeze, a road bike racer through the 1970s, was among the fastest downhill racers at Repack, mountain biking's seminal race held west of Fairfax, California. He won 10 of the 24 Repack races, which took place between 1976 and 1984.Frank J. Berto, The Birth of Dirt: Origins of Mountain Biking. San Francisco: Van der Plas Publications, 1999. Page 41. . Breeze is a charter member of the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame; he was inducted in 1988.“Joe Breeze /Inducted 1988” Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (c.2001-2013)
Breeze developed mountain bike and road-racing bike designs through the 1980s and most of the 1990s, then focused his efforts on advocacy for bicycle transportation.David Hoffman, “Out of the Woods and Back Into Town” Urban Velo Issue 9, September 2008 (pp. 70-74). In the early 2000s he devoted his Breezer brand entirely to transportation, introducing in 2002 a line of bikes for everyday use, equipping them for local trips, errands in town and commuting.John Markoff, “Big Hopes for Commuting by Bike” New York Times, October 10, 2002.
In 2008, Breeze sold the Breezer brand to Advanced Sports International“Breezer: First Name in Mountain Bikes Sold” Mountain Bike Action, October 2008 (10/1/2008) and since then has worked for the company as Breezer frame designer, designing transportation bikes, road bikes and mountain bikes under the Breezer name.“An Interview with Joe Breeze” EcoVelo, August 20, 2010.
Since 2015, Breeze has served on the board and as Head Curator at the Marin Museum of Bicycling.
Background Breeze grew up in Mill Valley, California, at the foot of Mount Tamalpais, just north of San Francisco. He graduated from Tamalpais High School, which at the time had extensive technical training facilities.“Tamalpais High School, Notable alumni and students." Wikipedia. He studied architectural and engineering drafting there for four years. His father, Bill Breeze, was a machinist and owner of the Sports Car Center in Sausalito, California. An avid cyclist at a time when cycling was not a common activity for adults in the US, Bill Breeze sometimes commuted to work by bicycle, and he shared with his son an appreciation for efficient, lightweight vehicles and for the bicycle as king of such vehicles. The two often discussed the properties of metals and technical aspects of bicycle design. In 1974 Joe Breeze took a course in the art of bicycle framebuilding from Albert Eisentraut in Oakland, California, and began to build his own custom-tailored road racing frames, using his father's machine shop at their home in Mill Valley. He also studied Machine and Metals Technology at College of Marin from 1974 to 1976.
Breeze had taken up cycling seriously as a teenager in the late 1960s, sometimes going on rides of a few hundred miles. He also enjoyed cycling and saw such value in the bicycle as a vehicle, he wanted to spread the word. In 1970 he took up road-bike racing, figuring that publicity about races could show people how fast and far a bicycle could go. Breeze also studied bicycle history and while traveling for races he searched for early bicycles. He hoped to promote cycling by restoring and displaying examples from the 1890s, the high point of bicycle technology.
Development of the mountain bike
Joe Breeze raced road bikes throughout the 1970s, eventually racing in the top category. “Joe Breeze /Inducted 1988” Mountain Bike Hall of Fame (c.2001-2013) By 1972 Breeze was also competing in cyclocross races and often rode on the trails of Mount Tamalpais. “From Whence We Came” Merida Karapoti Classic. Retrieved March 1, 2013. In 1973, he and Velo Club Tamalpais teammate Marc Vendetti were looking for fine early bikes and found a less elegant relic: a 1941 Schwinn-built balloon-tire bike. Vendetti had a few years earlier ridden similar 1930s-40s “paper boy” bikes on Tamalpais at the periphery of the mountain's seminal group of off-road riders, the Larkspur Canyon Gang. Encouraged by Vendetti, Breeze bought the old fat-tire bike for $5, stripped off its extraneous parts and rode it down Mount Tamalpais. He loved it. “Larkspur Canyon Gang” Mountain Bike Hall of Fame & Museum. (2009)
Breeze, Vendetti and Velo Club Tamalpais teammate Otis Guy were soon riding Mount Tamalpais trails together regularly. They and other teammates including Gary Fisher, and other enthusiasts from Marin located old fat-tire “ballooner” bikes of many makes, used them off-road and settled on Schwinns built between 1937 and 1944 as the best. They would remove extraneous parts from the bikes, strip them down to their original paint and ride them on Marin's rugged fire roads and trails. Outer Edge Mag, . Retrieved March 1, 2013. Espinoza, Zapata. “Memories of Marin: Taking a Trip Back to Where it All Began.” Mountain Bike Action, May 1991. Pp. 48-56. Some, including Gary Fisher, added parts such as gears and derailleurs to their ballooners.
In 1976 Breeze began to compete in Repack races. A downhill time trial on fire roads in the hills west of Fairfax, California, Repack brought together riders from around Mount Tamalpais who stripped down older bikes for off-road use and fitted rugged parts to them. Repack served as a testing ground for off-road bikes. Kelly, Charlie “Repack Page” Charlie Kelly’s Website. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
The heavy old fat-tire bike frames, made of mild steel, were not standing up to the rigors of mountain biking. Breeze was asked by Charlie Kelly to build a mountain bike frame and in early 1977 Breeze agreed to do so. Kelly, Charlie “Charlie Kelly’s Mountain Bike Hubsite” Retrieved March 1, 2013. Kelly, Charles. “The Dirt Rag Interview with Joe Breeze,” Dirt Rag #27, November 1992, pp 22-24. While working on the design for the mountain bike, Breeze took orders to make mountain bikes for several other Marin County off-road cycling enthusiasts. He completed the prototype (Breezer #1) in Fall 1977 and rode it to victory at Repack. Breeze finished nine more Breezer mountain bikes by June 1978. He built up the bikes with all-new parts, which he sourced from around the world. Sutton, Rob “Interview: Joe Breeze, Founding Father of Mountain Biking.” Bike198.com, November 19, 2009. Those ten Breezer Series 1 bikes, made of chrome-moly alloy steel, are widely considered the first modern mountain bikes. “Breezer Timeline." Museum of Mountain Bike Art & Technology. Retrieved March 1, 2013. “Greatest Mountain Bikes of All Time,” Mountain Bike Action, December 1991. Pp. 58-68.
The first ten Breezer mountain bikes can be recognized by their twin lateral tubes, which Breeze included to stiffen the long frames for high-speed tracking.“Exhibitions - International Terminal. From Repack to Rwanda/ Image 3” FlySFO.com, SFO Museum. Retrieved March 1, 2013. Breeze revised his designs shortly after, and shared his ideas for the next generation of mountain bikes with other framebuilders, including Tom Ritchey (of Palo Alto, 50 miles south of Marin) who built his first mountain bike frames in 1979. Brandt, Jobst, “A Brief History of the Mountain Bike” SheldonBrown.com, October 2005. Ritchey became the frame supplier to the Marin County company MountainBikes, founded in 1979 by Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly. Kelly, Charlie “MountainBikes History and Advertising” Charlie Kelly’s Website. Retrieved March 1, 2013. The mountain bike's progression from local San Francisco Bay Area builders to the larger industry was complete in Fall 1981, when Specialized Bicycle Components introduced a lower-priced production mountain bike, the Specialized Stumpjumper, built in Japan and based on the Ritchey-built bikes sold by Fisher and Kelly. Ruibal, Sal “Still Shredding After All These Years.” USA Today, March 22, 2006.
Early mountain bike racing, events
Joe Breeze raced in 19 of the 24 Repack races, winning 10 times.Charlie Kelly, “Repack Results” Charlie Kelly’s Mountain Bike Hubsite. Retrieved March 1, 2013. Twenty-two of the Repack races, downhill time trials organized and promoted by Charlie Kelly, were held from 1976 to 1979. Repack is known as mountain biking's first recorded competition. The last Repack race in 1979 was filmed by a TV crew for a San Francisco Bay Area news program, KPIX Evening Magazine."Wende Cragg Pictures." Mountain Bike Hall of Fame - Archives – Photos (photos 43-54). Retrieved March 1, 2013. That filmed account aired nationally, spreading the word about mountain biking to a larger audience. The Repack race was revived for two more runs, in 1983 and 1984, becoming the first officially sanctioned downhill mountain bike race.Charlie Kelly, “Repack Page” Charlie Kelly’s Mountain Bike Hubsite. Retrieved March 1, 2013. Mike Ferrentino, “It Was 20 Years Ago Today: Repack’s Birthday...” Bike, March 1997, pp 61-63. A mosaic tribute to Repack was installed in downtown Fairfax in 2013.“Repack Mosaic" Fairfax Chamber of Commerce California. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
In 1978, Joe Breeze was one of five riders from Marin County to travel to Crested Butte, Colorado, to participate in the Pearl Pass Tour, a two-day, off-road ride from Crested Butte to Aspen, over 12,700 foot Pearl Pass. Joe Breeze, Charlie Kelly, and Wende Cragg rode their 1977 and 1978 Breezers, while the other participants, including Gary Fisher and Michael Castelli of Marin County and several Crested Butte residents, rode modified Schwinns from the 1930s to 1950s.Upslope Brewing, “Crested Butte to Aspen Pearl Pass Klunker Tour, September 1978.” Upslope Brewing Co., April 14, 2010. Charlie Kelly, “Crested Butte to Aspen” Charlie Kelly’s Website. Retrieved March 1, 2013. Charles Kelly and Nick Crane, Richard’s Mountain Bike Book. Oxford Illustrated Press 1988. Pages 37-46. Crested Butte became an important destination for mountain biking; the Pearl Pass Tour, founded in 1976, is the sport's longest running annual two-day event.“Pearl Pass Tour Info” Mountain Bike Hall of Fame. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
In 1983, Breeze and several others founded NORBA (National Off-Road Bicycle Association), the first sanctioning organization for off-road bicycle racing. Breeze designed the NORBA logoCharlie Kelly, “NORBA History” Charlie Kelly’s Website. Retrieved March 1, 2013. and championed the rule requiring that racers do their own repairs during races. He maintained that a self-sufficiency rule for racing would ensure that manufacturers would keep their focus on durable bikes for all riders.Joe Breeze, “Jack Ingram Passes Away.” Decline Magazine.com. December 19, 2007. Amici Design, Fat Tire: A Celebration of the Mountain Bike. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1999. (Foreword by Joe Breeze pp. 5-10.) Page 8.