Show us your BREEZER

[Breezin]

That American Breezer looks box fresh! How did you alter the design to allow for the Browning transmission? And how did you find it worked?

Assume most (or all) of your 70s/80s stuff was fillet brazed? Did you TIG weld any of your frames back then? Or did you favour the more traditional methods?

Also interested in the design of your current frames. Quite unusual to see such a shaped down tube on a steel frame as your current Lightening, what was the rationale behind this?

John,

1986 American Breezer frames had conventional chainstays--two separate tubes with a bridge. The 1987-90 AB frames had loop stays. This gave more chainwheel clearance. On the Browning system each chainwheel had a hinged quadrant. The extra clearance allowed the quadrant to swing inward during the shifting process. Shifting was real positive, but the unit a bit complex and expensive. Shifting was electric with a push button and solenoid. I had it on my bike, but a friend talked me into selling it to him.

All my frames in the 70s and 80s were either lugged (road only) or fillet brazed (both).

I myself am moving through this thread chronologically. Thanks for an intro to my new Breezer MTBs, but hey, ain't this a retro site? Maybe the paint job qualifies them...

Moving along, following are pics from my Breezer Kite from 1989 (which I had inadvertently posted on the "1976 Joe Breeze road bike" thread now over on the Road Bike pages.)

BTW, you might notice that the brake in the photo on the call-out card is different from the close-up shot. The final version wasn't ready until after the Brainstein-Quay photo session. It wasn't in place for my Brian Fessenden studio shoot either, but it was on the bike at the B-Q Gallery. This here might be the first public showing of this brake outside B-Q and 1989 Interbike. One arm is aluminum, the other SS. The brake design worked well, but Ross Shafer (Salsa) was busy with a lot of other things.

Two more in a moment.

-Joe

 

[Breezin]

Here are two Kite photos by Brian Fessenden. After Mush Emmons moved to Brazil, Brian shot our Breezers (and many other brands).

Paint is by master builder and painter, Ed Litton. He put stars in the night sky.

Those dropouts are my first with the 3D "Breeze In"-like shape. I got the idea from the Trailmaster bikes in 1980. One of those "duh" moments, yet I didn't get my BreezeIns onto a Breezer production frame until 1993. In the meantime, by 1991 anyway, Mitchell Garvin had fabricated some for Otis Guy Cycles. Good things can take a while.

-Joe

 

[mrkawasaki]

My new favourite thread!

I could look at that Kite for hours - oh, I just did! Where is that bike now??

Must start my Thunder rebuild now...

Mr K

 

[legrandefromage]

Wow... (looks at own collection, sighs)




Wow...


Mr. Breeze, I'd be interested in your opinions on the UK's early efforts found in this thread: http://www.retrobike.co.uk/forum/viewto ... unofficial


Mr. Cheese

 

[FirstFlight]

Few of our Breezers. More @ http://mombat.org/Breezer.htm

 

[Martin]

Couldn't have dreamt these would come up in this thread.


The Breezer Kite, like said before, I can just sit an stare

 

[Sidewinder]

Couldn't have dreamt these would come up in this thread.


The Breezer Kite, like said before, I can just sit an stare

+1 How about a ltd edition rerun Joe?

 

[Breezin]

Couldn't have dreamt these would come up in this thread.


The Breezer Kite, like said before, I can just sit an stare

Thanks, Martin. And thanks for posting this thread.

Here are some pics of a frame I built in 1991. Fairfax Pat was working with Mert Lawwill on the Lawwill Leader fork. I made this frame to fit the fork's 17.25" length. I had it done in time for our trip to the October 1991 Moab fest.

I welded a gusset around the head tube and down the sides of the down tube. This was my first try at mitigating the hot spot on the low side of the down tube at the head tube -- the Achilles Heel of frames. At the same time I was designing tubing that accomplished the same end. When this tubing went into production in 1997 I called it Breezer D'fusion. It diffuses the stress across the bottom of the tube.

The dropouts were machined by Paragon machine works for Otis Guy and saved fabricating the tips from plate and tubing. I whittled away at these CNC dropouts to arrive at my Breeze Ins, which first appeared on production Breezers in 1993. BreezeIns are half the weight and twice the stiffness as conventional dropouts. BreezeIns allow for more tubing between BB and rear axle. In a frame, tubing is the true star of the show. Joinery should be kept to a minimum.

-Joe

 

[Sidewinder]

This thread should carry a dribble warning every time a new post from Joe comes in I just sit and drool

 

[FairfaxPat]

The Lawwill Fork Breezer is a sweet riding bike. It is also, I think, one of the last bikes completely hand made by Joe. The Leader fork was just in the prototype stage and we only decided to take it to Moab at the last minute so I could Demo it for the Press and other bike builders. Joe designed and built that frame in just a couple of days, sent it to the paint shop and we assembled the bike on the day we left town for Moab. That trip for me ended up in the Hospital with a lengthy recovery, but that's another story....